Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus) The arctic fox is a small canine carnivore, weighing 3-4 kg, and sporting a shining snowy white fur, which many women have fallen for over many years, in winter while in summer it is brown on the back and yellow on the belly.
There is also a relatively rare blue variety of arctic fox which is uniformly blue grey all year round. Arctic fox are distributed circumpolar in the tundra zone and are opportunistic and generalistic predators as well as scavengers, but microtine rodents are the major food source throughout most of their range.
Arctic foxes are monogamous and territorial. Their home ranges vary between 10 and 20 km square. They are sexually mature at an age of 9-10 months and give birth to pups in underground dens in May-June a gestation period of 50-52 days.
The size of arctic fox populations in Canada, northeast Greenland, Siberia and Scandinavia fluctuates with the cycles in numbers of microtine rodents.
The high fecundity of these foxes with a mean litter size of 10, makes them capable of making a rapid numerical response when the abundance of microtine rodents increases.
The diet of arctic foxes varies regionally and seasonally but many consist of neonate seals, hares, lemming, seabirds, water fowl, passerines, waders, insects and marine invertebrates. Carrion of whales, seals, reindeer are also important food in many areas.
It is also commonly believed that seal carcasses left by polar bears are important to the survival of arctic foxes in winter, and mass migrations onto sea ice in autumn been reported from North America, but the significance of this food source has not been quantified.
Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus)
