General Information

Left: A white color morph arctic fox in its summer fur. Right: A blue color morph arctic fox in its summer fur. Both

photos courtesy of Anders Angerbjörn. Visit the Swedish-Finnish-Norwegian Arctic Fox Project for more information.

 

The arctic fox lives in the Arctic Circle and is distributed circumpolarly (Postanowicz para. 1). Its environment is unlike that of any other fox, and as a result it has adapted several characteristics which distinguish it from other foxes. The most obvious of these is its thick coat to keep it warm in the arctic's frigid temperatures. The coat is the arctic fox's foremost adaptation, and it provides the best insulation of any mammalian coat (Prestrud 1991). Fur on the fox's soles, (Tannerfeldt para. 6), small ears, a short muzzle and legs, fat storage in winter, and a highly developed ability to restrict blood flow to extremities also serve to keep the arctic fox warm (Prestrud 1991). Arctic foxes are relatively small for canids, weighing only 3-5 kg (Tannerfeldt para. 1). They are roughly 55 cm. long, with a large bushy tail of about 30 cm.

The arctic fox also has several physical characteristics to aid in its search for food. It comes in two distinct color morphs (shown above), both of which change pelage across seasons. The more common is the white morph, which is pure white during the winter and brown dorsally in the summer. The less common is the blue morph, which is bluish-brown during winter and chocolate colored during the summer (Tannerfeldt 5). Both morphs are found in all population of arctic foxes. Interestingly, unlike other arctic animals, the color change in the white color morph version seems not to be due to gaining thicker hair to aid in heat preservation, but rather to aid in reflecting light, thereby enhancing the “whiteness” of the arctic fox’s coat and assisting in camouflage (Russell, 1997). Little research has been done to explain the adaptive value of the darker coloration of the blue color morph, but as white color morphs are more likely in colder and inland locations, and blue color morphs are more likely in warmer and coastal areas (Postanowicz para. 3), it seems likely that this is an adaptation for different coloration in the environment.

 

Taxonomy of the arctic fox (Postanowicz, margin):

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidae

Genus: Alopex

Species: lagopus

 

General Information

Food & Hunting

Habitat & Predators

Social Organization & Spacing

Mating

References

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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