Wildlife
Arctic fox
Arctic foxes live in some of the planet's most extreme conditions. An arsenal of cold-conquering adaptations helps them survive temperatures that plummet below -50 degrees Celsius. These include the animal kingdom's best insulating fur and increased blood circulation to the feet which stops the fox's paws freezing to the ice. They range far and wide in the arctic and alpine tundra, but home dens are important and may be used for centuries by subsequent generations. Lemmings are such an important part of their diet that arctic fox populations can be greatly affected by their availablity.
Watch video clips from past programmes (5 clips)
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Summer of plenty
Kingdom of the Ice Bear
An abundant lemming year keeps a family of arctic foxes happy.
An abundant lemming year keeps a family of arctic foxes happy.
Mammal success
The Life of Mammals
The secret to mammalian dominance lies in their warm-bloodedness.
The secret to mammalian dominance lies in their warm-bloodedness.
Jackals of the north
The Blue Planet
Scavenging arctic foxes rely on polar bears to do their hunting in winter.
Scavenging arctic foxes rely on polar bears to do their hunting in winter.
Deadly hearing
Deadly 60
The Arctic fox can hear lemmings even under a thick covering of snow.
The Arctic fox can hear lemmings even under a thick covering of snow.
Fox fight
Realms of the Russian Bear
Snow geese fight off hungry arctic foxes in Siberia.
Snow geese fight off hungry arctic foxes in Siberia.
Distribution
The Arctic fox can be found in a number of locations including: Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America, Russia. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
Habitats
The following habitats are found across the Arctic fox distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Behaviours
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Camouflage
Carnivorous
Co-operative breeding
Dung eater
Food storage
Monogamous
Moulting
Social
Cold tolerant
Adapted to running
Scavenger
ViviparousAdditional data source: Animal Diversity Web
About
The arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus, formerly known as Alopex lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, (ἀλώπηξ) means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version. Lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek lago (λαγως), meaning "hare", + pous (πους), "foot" and refers to the hair on its feet. Although it has previously been assigned to its own genus Alopex, genetic evidence places it in Vulpes (Mammal Species of the World) with the majority of the other foxes.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
Sounds
-
Arctic fox calls (2:05)
BBC News about Arctic fox
- Fox species clash in the Arctic Russia's Arctic foxes are under threat from an expanding population of red foxes, according to scientists.
- In pictures: Arctic foxes go the distance
Video collections
Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
-
Attenborough's frozen planet
Frozen Planet is Sir David Attenborough's latest exploration into the remote and isolated polar environments.
Elsewhere on the BBC
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- ARKive: Images of Life on Earth (arkive.org)
- Canid Specialist Group (canids.org)
- Arctic fox fact sheet (mnh.si.edu)
- Introduction to the arctic fox (naturalworlds.org)
- NCBI taxonomy browser (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The arctic fox overview (zoologi.su.se)
- Arctic Fox (wikipedia.org)
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
