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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
Arctic
fox, white fox |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Mammalia |
| ORDER: |
Carnivora |
| FAMILY: |
Canidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Alopex
lagopus |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
The
arctic fox has a dense, bushy coat and a long, fluffy
tail. There are two color phases. For the white
phase, the fox has a thick, white coat during the
colder, winter months and a shorter brownish to
gray coat in the summer. The blue phase fox, has
a long blue-gray coat in the winter and a shorter
darker gray coat in the summer. |
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| WEIGHT: |
2.7-4.5
kg (6-10 lb) |
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| DIET: |
Prefers
small mammals; also eats insects, seabirds, fish,
seals, berries, carrion, and even stool. During
summer months when food is plentiful, arctic foxes
collect a surplus, storing it in their dens. |
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| GESTATION: |
49-57
days; usual litter size is 5-8 pups, but litters
as large as 25 have been documented. Females normally
have one litter sometime between April and June,
and a second litter in July or August. |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
As
soon as 10 months |
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| RANGE: |
Arctic
regions of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and
Iceland |
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| HABITAT: |
Arctic
and alpine tundra (treeless area), usually in coastal
areas. Arctic foxes build dens in low mounds (1-4
m high) in the open tundra or in a pile of rocks
at the base of a cliff. |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
Not
available |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Not
listed |
| CITES |
Not
listed |
| USFWS |
Not
listed |
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| 1. |
Communal
and nomadic; the foxes form small bands and scavenge
for food together.
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| 2. |
A
family group consists of one male, two females (called
vixens), and their young - if any. One of the vixens
is a nonbreeding juvenile born the previous year,
who stays to help care for the next litter. |
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| 3. |
Arctic
foxes are monogamous, usually mating for life. The
father helps care for the young. |
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| 4. |
The
fur of the arctic fox has two phases: in the winter,
it is entirely white, and in the summer the coat
ranges from gray to brown on the back, and somewhat
lighter on the belly. The foxes’ paws are
sheathed in dense fur during the winter (unlike
other canids), which is why they are named lagopus
("rabbit-footed").
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| 5. |
Although
they have been hunted for their fur and driven away
for their predation on domestic sheep, arctic fox
numbers remain relatively stable. |
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| In
some areas, populations of arctic foxes are closely
tied to the populations of lemmings and other small
rodents. In these areas the rodents are the foxes
primary source of prey and during cyclic population
crashes of rodents, the arctic fox population crashes
as well.
Both
color phases of arctic fox have been hunted and
farmed for their dense fur coats. They have provided
an important source of income for native hunters.
In more recent years, hunting pressure on arctic
foxes has significantly decreased due to a decreased
demand for fox fur and alternative sources of
income for native peoples.
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|
|
Nowak, Ronald M. (ed.). Walker's Mammals of the
World. Vol. II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1991. |
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| Alaska
Department of Fish and Game: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/furbear/arcfox.php |
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