do people really live in igloo's??!?!?!??

Question

lif they do. do they have electicity? how big r they? is the floor ice? where do they sleep?? ..this is wierd..

Answer 1

Alaskan natives live in houses that do have electricity. Igloos are temporary shelter for when they go hunting; and yes Alaskans still make them and sleep in them. As counterintuitive as it sounds, the walls of ice actually acts as an insulator that keeps the cold out...

Answer 2

I am not an expert on this, but I have a friend who is Yupik (Alaskan Native American tribe). She told me that people don't really LIVE live in igloos. (and never did) T hey were used as short term houses while on hunting trips. Some people still apparently make and stay in them sometimes.
Surely someone out there has better info than foaf...

Answer 3

yes they do. they are called eskimos. there is no electricity as you would imagine. they are probably 10-20 in diameter. the floor is snow probably cover with animal hide, most likely from seals or artic fox, artic hare, or musk ox, caribou, and what not. they sleep on the floor. this is their life. wierd to you, absolutely normal to them. ice shelters are actually able to keep you fairly warm. they usually have a fire going inside. with a small hole in the top for a chimney or escape for smoke.

Answer 4

In most cases igloos were not used as permanent dwellings for obvious reasons ie snow melts, they were used as winter dwellings because of the superior insulating properties of snow in a land where fiberglass/styrofoam insulation didnt exist and wood for construction was scarce.... Today people do not live in igloos like they once did because they now have the means to build permanent wooden dwellings... but inuit may still use them as temporary shelter or a gathering place in winter. Obviously they dont have electricity since most places people build igloos would not have access to electricity lines not to mention the fact that wiring an igloo would be difficult, dangerous and once again temporary because it would melt in spring. The floor is usually snow covered ground or ice and is generally covered with hides, sleeping shelfs are built into an igloo and are likewise lined with skins, furs and blankets and used as beds. Igloos can be as big as it is possible to build them without running the risk of collapse.

Excerpts from Wikipedia...
An igloo (Inuktitut iglu / ᐃᒡᓗ, "house", plural: iglooit or igluit), translated sometimes as snowhouse, is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. Although igloos are commonly associated with all Inuit, they were predominantly constructed by people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenlands Thule area. Other Inuit people tended to use snow to insulate their houses which consisted of whalebone and hides. The use of snow is due to the fact that snow is an insulator (due to its low density). On the outside, temperatures may be as low as -45 °C (-49 °F), but on the inside the temperature may range from -7 °C (19 °F) to 16 °C (61 °F) when warmed by body heat alone


There were three types of igloo, all of different sizes and were used for different purposes.

The smallest of all igloos was constructed as a temporary shelter. Hunters while out on the land or sea ice camped in one of these iglooit for one or two nights.

Next in size was the semi-permanent, intermediate sized family dwelling. This usually was a single room dwelling that housed one or two families. Often there were several of these in a small area, which formed an "Inuit village".

The largest of the igloos was normally built in groups of two. One of the buildings was a temporary building constructed for special occasions, the other was built near by for living. This was constructed either by enlarging a smaller igloo or building from scratch. These could have up to five rooms and housed up to 20 people. A large igloo may have been constructed from several smaller igloos attached by their tunnels giving a common access to the outside. These were used to hold community feasts, traditional dances (see Inuit music) and Katajjaq.

For more info about igloos... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo

Answer 5

I don't know a lot about the topic. What an interesting question though. I'll bet that the history channel or thehistorychannel.com has some cool shows or articles about it.

Answer 6

of course they do,. coz the temp inside igloo is warmer than outside then it could make people to life in it. and coz of that the igloo had a longer timed to melted compare than normal ice.

Answer 7

now don't think that all alaskans live in igloos or anything.

But many alaskan natives live in igloos.
They're not very big. Big enough to be comfortable, but nothing ridiculous.

Answer 8

yes they live in iggloos in the arctic.Its cozy in an igloo.they have fur pelts and skins on the floors. the have oil lamps and cooking fires.they sleep bundled up in furs ..they are generally short and wide.lovely people...called eskimos have you never heard of them? go to goole and type in eskimo and see what you come up with

Answer 9

they do, they can , if it is'nt it is cold enough for it, usually in animal skins....what is weird is totally realtive....try telling a Scotishman he should'nt wear a kilt....watch him kick your