Tuesday 12 July 2011

Igloo Facts



- The term “igloo” comes from the Inuit word “iglu” which means “house”.
- Igloos were usually temporary winter shelters built by Inuit hunters for their families while on a hunting trip.
Skilled Inuit hunters could be build an igloo in about an hour.
Some igloos would even have windows built from a block of ice or seal gut
An igloo could be any size, but normally, they built them just big enough for the family
Although other countries such as Alaska and Greenland had igloos, the structure was predominantly seen in central and western Canada
To see a real igloo being built, watch the 1922 silent film documentary “Nanook of the North”
The only tools required to build an igloo are a snow spade and a saw. In traditional times these implements would have been fashioned from bone.
A full-grown man can stand on an igloo without collapsing it


A properly-built igloo can withstand hurricane force winds on the open snow.

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