Seemingly unimpressed by the icy cold, this Siberian arctic fox looks into the camera. It is perfectly adapted to the temperatures. But climate change can cause problems for these foxes.
The arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) lives in the icy expanses of the Arctic and in the northernmost areas of Europe, Russia and America. It is well adapted to life in the Far North, because it has a compact shape with a relatively short snout, very small ears and short legs, which reduces its surface area. As a result, he gives off less body heat to his surroundings.
In addition, the ice fox can roughly double its body weight by storing fat by autumn in order to store energy for the winter and to isolate itself from the cold. It is also insulated by its fur: among the land mammals it even wears the best insulating fur, thanks to it it can even withstand sub-zero temperatures of almost 80 degrees Celsius.
The arctic fox is the only one of the world’s 23 fox species that can change the color of this warm fur dress with the seasons. In winter it appears completely in white – as in our photo – and is well camouflaged in the snow, while in the milder summer it wears a brown coat in order not to attract attention in the thawed marshy tundra landscape.
It is well camouflaged from its natural enemies such as the arctic wolf or the polar bear. However, the fur is also the reason why the arctic foxes were and are hunted by humans. And global warming is also causing problems for the arctic fox: Due to the milder temperatures, larger red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) penetrate its range more often and compete with the arctic foxes.
Overall, the arctic fox is one of the animal species most threatened by global warming because it often has to adapt to changing environmental conditions. For example, to various food sources, as researchers led by Peter Ungar from the University of Arkansas have now discovered in around 80 arctic foxes on the Siberian Jamal Peninsula.
According to dental analyzes, the arctic foxes regularly preyed on larger prey during rodent-poor periods, instead of their preferred prey from rodents such as lemmings and voles. In southern regions, the foxes had to resort to ptarmigan and hares. In the north, however, the foxes captured more reindeer carcasses because there were no chickens and rabbits there, the team said. This finding will help researchers in the future to better understand how the scarcity of resources affects endangered animals such as the arctic fox in our photo.