Food and Hunting

A scavenging arctic fox. Photo courtesy of Caleb Teel.

Like most foxes, arctic foxes eat a very wide variety of foods, such as rodents, birds, eggs, hares, insects, berries, and ungulates (Elmhagen et al. 2002). While small mammals (particularly lemmings) are generally considered their primary prey, there is strong variation between populations, and it is not uncommon for birds (Fay & Stephenson 1989) or ungulates (Prestrud 1992a ) to be the primary prey in some populations. The main determinants of this seem to be den location and season. Arctic foxes in coastal areas, near cliffs, or in other areas with an abundance of bird nests will tend to prey on birds the most, particularly in the summer (Fay & Stephenson, 1989). In inland or continental areas, arctic foxes are more likely to prey on rodents and ungulates (Tannerfeldt, para. 2), and will do so more frequently in the winter when birds are less available.

Arctic foxes are generally considered opportunistic carnivores because of their wide variety in diet, but differences due to variation between populations affect the accuracy of this in particular circumstances. In areas where rodents make up the primary part of the arctic fox diet, it may be more accurate to term arctic foxes rodent specialists, and opportunistics for other food sources (Elmhagen et al. 2000). Arctic foxes generally kill their smaller prey themselves, but usually rely on carcass scavenging for larger prey such as reindeer, though they are capable of taking down some ungulates, particularly calves (Jepsen et al., 2001). Arctic foxes are able to maintain their proportion of primary prey by varying their time budget for food in accordance with scarcity and abundance (Strand et al., 2000).

Arctic foxes also cache much of their food (Jepsen et al., 2001). While this behavior occurs year round, it is far more common in the winter, when live prey is both more scarce and less accessible than in summer (Fay & Stephenson, 1989). Thus, hunting tends to be more common in summer months, and scavenging, foraging, and cache pilfering more common in the winter (Fay & Stephenson, 1989). Arctic foxes are selective in the food they cache, generally eating birds and rodents immediately and almost always caching eggs (Samelius & Alisauskas, 2000). Due to the lack of food availability and accessibility in winter, cache pilfering is common among arctic foxes, and, as a result, arctic foxes will go to a considerable amount of effort to move cache contents from old caches to protect their food (Samelius & Alisauskas, 2000).

 

General Information

Food & Hunting

Habitat & Predators

Social Organization & Spacing

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This page was created by Philip Newsom in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2007. Please send any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this web site to Philip or Dr. Verna Case