RP330 The incredible Sled Dog

 RP330 The incredible Sled Dog

Sled dogs have been used to transport supplies over difficult terrain for thousands of years, and it's easy to see why. These amazing animals can pull one and a half times their own weight, often over vast stretches of arctic territory. Whether it's a frozen river, a jagged mountain peak, a massive glacier, or a winding forest trail, sled dogs can handle it. They don't just survive in the bitter cold and unforgiving geography of the Arctic—they thrive on it.
The Arctic is a huge region that borders several countries, so it should come as no surprise that there are many different breeds of sled dog. For example, the Inuit sled dog is popular among aboriginal communities in Canada, and the Samoyeds are used as sled dogs in northern Russia. Some people believe that the Inuit sled dog's extraordinary endurance and wolflike howl are the result of Inuit populations crossbreeding dogs with wolves over 35,000 years ago. However, some members of the scientific community are skeptical about this explanation. They think that the Inuit sled dog's toughness comes from living in arctic regions for so long.
Sled dogs have been an important mode of transportation in harsh arctic environments for a very long time. They were there when early explorers set out to map the Arctic and the Antarctic. They helped Canadian and American police authorities in remote gold mine areas in the late 1800s. In 1925, a team of sled dogs even helped prevent an epidemic by transporting a critical shipment of diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska. Yet no matter how hardy these sled dogs are, they can't compete with modernization. Nowadays, snowmobiles have taken over as the primary mode of arctic transportation.
Despite this, every year on the very same trail that the famous sled dog team once transported medicine to Nome, the "last great race on earth" is held in Alaska. The Iditarod Trail Race spans 1,150 miles of harsh arctic territory and sled teams of 12 to 16 dogs must finish it in fewer than 17 days. The growing popularity of the race is proof that man's best friend will continue pulling sleds for a long time.