Arctic Fox
The Arctic Fox, also known as the White Fox, Polar Fox or Snow Fox, is a true fox belonging to the genus Vulpes. A number of subspecies are recognised including the Iceland Arctic Fox.
The Arctic Fox is a small fox. The average body length of the male is 22 inches with a range of 18 to 27 inches. The average body length of the female is 20 inches with a range of 16 to 22 inches. In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about 12 inches long in both sexes and the height at the shoulder is 10 to 12 inches. On average males weigh 7.7 pounds while females average 6.4 pounds.
The Arctic Fox has a deep thick fur which is white in winter and generally brown-grey in summer. It has a beautiful white (sometimes blue-grey) coat that acts as very effective winter camouflage allowing it to blend into the tundra's ubiquitous snow and ice. When the seasons change, the coat adopts a brown-grey appearance that provides cover among the summer tundra's rocks and plants.
The Arctic Fox lives in some of the coldest extremes on the planet and amongst its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage providing excellent insulation and a good supply of body fat. The fur is considered to provide the best insulation of any mammal. It also has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the cold, less heat escapes from its body. Its paws have fur on the soles for additional insulation and to help it walk on ice.
The Arctic Fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia and north America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice but it is also present in boreal forests in Canada and Alaska. It is found at elevations up to 9,800 feet above sea level and it has been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. The range of the Arctic Fox during the last Ice Age was much more extensive than it is now and fossil remains have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia.
The Arctic Fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland when it arrived on the isolated north Atlantic island at the end of the last Ice Age walking over the frozen sea. The excellent Arctic Fox Centre in Súðavík in the Westfjords region of Iceland contains an exhibition on the ecology and conservation of the Arctic Fox.
The Arctic Fox does not hibernate and it is active all year round. It builds up its fat reserves in the autumn and sometimes increases its body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. It lives in large dens in frost-free and slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels which have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes.
The Arctic Fox generally eats any small animal that it can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish and carrion. It also scavenges on carcasses left by larger predators such as Wolves and Polar Bears. In areas where they are present, lemmings are the most common prey. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, the diet consists predominantly of birds and their eggs. The Arctic Fox also consumes berries and seaweed so it may be considered an omnivore. When food is over-abundant, the Arctic Fox buries the surplus as a reserve. The abundance of the Arctic Fox itself tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3 to 4 year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes.
Arctic Foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season and maintain a territory around the den. Breeding usually takes place in April and May and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters tend to average 5 to 8 cubs but very exceptionally they contain as many as 25. Both the mother and father help to raise the cubs which emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.
The conservation status of the Arctic Fox is generally good and the IUCN has assessed it as being of "least concern". The world population is thus not endangered but 2 Arctic Fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia) and the other is in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula). The latter is acutely endangered despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals.
The Arctic Fox is losing ground to the larger Red Fox. This has been attributed to climate change since the camouflage value of the Arctic Fox's lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. The Red Fox dominates where their ranges begin to overlap and it is known to kill Arctic Foxes and their cubs. An alternate explanation of the Red Fox's gains involves the Wolf. Historically, the Wolf has kept Red Fox numbers down but as the Wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the Red Fox population has grown larger and it has taken over the niche of top predator.
Date: 6th June 2015
Location: Kjálkafjörður area, Westfjords, Iceland
The Arctic Fox is a small fox. The average body length of the male is 22 inches with a range of 18 to 27 inches. The average body length of the female is 20 inches with a range of 16 to 22 inches. In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about 12 inches long in both sexes and the height at the shoulder is 10 to 12 inches. On average males weigh 7.7 pounds while females average 6.4 pounds.
The Arctic Fox has a deep thick fur which is white in winter and generally brown-grey in summer. It has a beautiful white (sometimes blue-grey) coat that acts as very effective winter camouflage allowing it to blend into the tundra's ubiquitous snow and ice. When the seasons change, the coat adopts a brown-grey appearance that provides cover among the summer tundra's rocks and plants.
The Arctic Fox lives in some of the coldest extremes on the planet and amongst its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage providing excellent insulation and a good supply of body fat. The fur is considered to provide the best insulation of any mammal. It also has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the cold, less heat escapes from its body. Its paws have fur on the soles for additional insulation and to help it walk on ice.
The Arctic Fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia and north America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice but it is also present in boreal forests in Canada and Alaska. It is found at elevations up to 9,800 feet above sea level and it has been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. The range of the Arctic Fox during the last Ice Age was much more extensive than it is now and fossil remains have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia.
The Arctic Fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland when it arrived on the isolated north Atlantic island at the end of the last Ice Age walking over the frozen sea. The excellent Arctic Fox Centre in Súðavík in the Westfjords region of Iceland contains an exhibition on the ecology and conservation of the Arctic Fox.
The Arctic Fox does not hibernate and it is active all year round. It builds up its fat reserves in the autumn and sometimes increases its body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. It lives in large dens in frost-free and slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels which have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes.
The Arctic Fox generally eats any small animal that it can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish and carrion. It also scavenges on carcasses left by larger predators such as Wolves and Polar Bears. In areas where they are present, lemmings are the most common prey. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, the diet consists predominantly of birds and their eggs. The Arctic Fox also consumes berries and seaweed so it may be considered an omnivore. When food is over-abundant, the Arctic Fox buries the surplus as a reserve. The abundance of the Arctic Fox itself tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3 to 4 year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes.
Arctic Foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season and maintain a territory around the den. Breeding usually takes place in April and May and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters tend to average 5 to 8 cubs but very exceptionally they contain as many as 25. Both the mother and father help to raise the cubs which emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.
The conservation status of the Arctic Fox is generally good and the IUCN has assessed it as being of "least concern". The world population is thus not endangered but 2 Arctic Fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia) and the other is in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula). The latter is acutely endangered despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals.
The Arctic Fox is losing ground to the larger Red Fox. This has been attributed to climate change since the camouflage value of the Arctic Fox's lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. The Red Fox dominates where their ranges begin to overlap and it is known to kill Arctic Foxes and their cubs. An alternate explanation of the Red Fox's gains involves the Wolf. Historically, the Wolf has kept Red Fox numbers down but as the Wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the Red Fox population has grown larger and it has taken over the niche of top predator.
Date: 6th June 2015
Location: Kjálkafjörður area, Westfjords, Iceland
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Also in: Westfjords
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