Famous Dogs of Polar Exploration

Admiral Richard Byrd's constant companion was Igloo, a stray Wire Fox Terrier. Igloo joined Byrd's first Antarctic expedition in 1928, dressed specially for polar blizzards, flew on the first flights over the North and South Poles, and got his own book, 'Igloo', in 1931. He lies in the pet cemetery at Dedham, Massachusetts, beneath an iceberg-shaped marker inscribed 'Igloo - He Was More Than A Friend'.

Frank Debenham, Scott's young geologist, told of two remarkable lead dogs from the Russian postal service. When all twelve dogs bar the lead dog Osman fell through a crevasse, Osman held them while Scott abseiled to the rescue. Stareek, deemed too old and sent north, chewed through his trace and ran south. Eighteen days and 200 miles later he was found alive on the sledge after at least twenty days without food, 'a feat that should be preserved in the annals of travel.'

In the 1925 'serum run', or 'Great Race of Mercy', 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 1,085km across Alaska to Nome, saving the town from a diphtheria epidemic.

• Record time: the relay reached Nome in a record five and a half days
• Balto: led the final stretch and became a household name
• Togo: many mushers considered Leonhard Seppälä and his lead dog Togo the true heroes, for running the longest (146km) and most hazardous leg across Norton Sound, almost twice any other team's distance
• Legacy: statues stand from Central Park to Japan, Sweden and Norway, and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race honours the run each year

Vivian 'Bunny' Fuchs led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition that first crossed Antarctica in 1955-58, but earlier, over three years at Stonington, made major journeys with his Labrador-looking lead dog Darkie. Of Darkie crossing a bridged crevasse he wrote: 'He advanced cautiously in the fashion of a heraldic lion, each paw extended as far as possible to test the surface in front of him.' Darkie led a team at the Festival of Britain in 1951, then retired to Cambridge, pulling Fuchs on his bicycle.

Plenty of other dogs earned their place in the hall of fame.

• The Moomins: ten dogs who floe-hopped and swam back to the mainland after being lost on the bay ice in 1958
• Steve: travelled 80+ miles alone across fjords and glaciers to rejoin his hut
• Taro and Jiro: the Sakhalin Huskies survived a year chained in Antarctica and inspired 'Nankyoku Monogatari' and 'Eight Below'
• Boo Boo: born at Halley Bay in 1961, he ran 10,474 miles and had a secret 'Lost Mountain' named after him
• Bothie: Ranulph Fiennes' Jack Russell, the only dog to visit both Poles (polar suits by NASA)
• Droopy: survived a dramatic crevasse rescue by Mick Pawley on Pourquoi Pas Island