Vulpes Lagopus or Alopex Lagopus: Sea fox or Hare Foot?

I’ve always liked foxes. I’ve been drawn to them. Sometimes I think I AM A FOX. Recently I came across a fox that felt even more like me: the Arctic fox. This little beast, like me, loves the cold and snow and makes its clever way through icy cold winters, finding food and shelter and having tiny little fox babies.

Arctic foxes (Vulpes Lagopus), a.k.a the snow fox, white fox, or polar fox, is a little fox, that lives in the cold part of the Northern Hemisphere and the Arctic Tundra habitat. They are adapted to cold places and are known for their thick, white fur that also is a camouflage. Sadly, Arctic foxes live a short life in the wild because of starvation and temperature change.  From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail the Arctic fox is 18-27 inches. Their body shape is rounded so that their body heat doesn’t escape.

Arctic foxes are both predators and prey. They eat a lot of different little animals including voles, fish, lemmings, seabirds and the ptarmigan (a bird that burrows underground). Sometimes Arctic foxes even like to steal eggs from the nest of a snow goose.

 But they consume more than just meat. They eat berries, seaweed, and insects in cases where they can’t find fresh meat. They have a perfect sense of hearing and smell, capable of detecting prey and food at long distances. They can find a seal lair from a mile away.

 However, their eyesight is quite poor. An Arctic fox can travel incredible distances searching for food. There are records of journeys of up to 4,500 km in one single season!

 Some of their predators are red foxes, golden eagles, grizzly bears, polar bears, wolves and wolverines.  Another major predator of the Arctic fox is humans. At first the fox furs were used by the tribes of the North Pole for coats and linings for the hoods. They would also sell or trade the furs. Then people from other countries came to the North Pole because they wanted to get their own fox fur.  These newcomers started taking the fox fur and selling it to people back in their countries so that they could make money. However, they did not get permission from the local tribes. You might think that the Arctic fox is going to go extinct but don’t worry because there are actually a lot more than you think. There are many more left.

Arctic foxes form pairs when they breed and then stay with each other when they have babies to help raise them. They are very solitary animals that only gather with other specimens during the mating and breeding season. It is said that they mate for life. They usually make complicated living spaces that are called underground dens. Their burrows can get to be over 500 ft long and can have 100 entrances! A mother fox, called a vixen, has 3 to 25 babies per litter, depending upon the health of the vixen at time of pregnancy. The dog fox (the male) brings 40 lemmings a day to the vixen. He also brings 100 lemmings a day to the pups! He hunts a lot. Sometimes distant family members come to help them raise their young. 

Vulpes Lagopus or Alopex Lagopus? Scientists are unsure whether the scientific name is Vulpes or Alopex, and each think their way is right. In my opinion, Vulpes is the right one because Vulpes means foxes, and Alopex means sea fox. Both could be accurate because the Arctic fox lives somewhat near the Arctic Ocean, and sometimes a polar bear will leave extra meat for the foxes, but they don’t actually live in the ocean of course. However, vulpes means foxes and that seems a little bit more realistic because they are foxes as you can see in their name of species, but the name sea fox is a tad more descriptive but less real. Lagopus means “hare foot,” as the Arctic fox is seen to have a foot like a rabbit.

 In the summer the Arctic fox’s fur is a thin layer of brown or blue-black so that they can stay cool. In preparation for winter, they shed that coat and most grow a thick white fur. In the case of the blue fox, a pup sheds its summer fur and grows a new thicker coat that is still blue-black. Darker fur contains something called melanin which makes the color blue or black, but this melanin is absent from the white fur. Either way, the arctic air is trapped in the fur follicles and gets warmed. That coat, even if it is super cold outside, is always containing a 100 degrees fahrenheit warmth. The Arctic fox’s  fluffy fur is the warmest of any of the animals that live in the Arctic. 

Arctic foxes hunt and play on the ice. Sometimes it breaks away from the mainland. Arctic foxes have been found floating on pieces of thick ice in areas that they have never been inhabited by them. The Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland.

The Arctic fox always stays at one temperature. Between the clash of temperatures (their body and the arctic frost), they stay at about 95 degrees. To stay warm, the fox snuggles up in its fur-fluff tail when the winter gust blows. The Arctic fox can also stay heated by hurrying into their underground living spaces. Arctic foxes don’t hibernate, but they eat a ton in the fall and don’t move around very much  in the wintertime.  Its insulation is so strong that the fox only starts to shiver at -70°C. 

The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, especially European and East Asian folklore, as a figure of cunning or trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers. The fox is also sometimes associated with transformation. A kumiho (“nine-tailed fox”), is a mythical creature that appears in the legends of Korea. Taken from very old Chinese myths and folklores, a fox that lives a thousand years turns into a kumiho. A kumiho can transform into a beautiful woman. 

                                                                                                                 Notes

I’ve always loved foxes, ever since I can remember. I think I have a lot of traits of an arctic fox:  At the Annenberg Center for Photography, I saw an exhibit called the Photo Ark, by Joel Sartore. I took a test that asked many questions and then announced what animal each person was. It told me that I was an arctic fox.

I like snow.

I think they are beautiful.

I’ve always loved small things.

Soft fuzzy things are my favorite.

I like to snuggle.

Fox tails are so pretty.

They make cute little squeaky noises.

The arctic fox is a cream-color (one of my  favorite colors) with pink ears.

Winning attributes:

Cuteness (beauty, cream-color)

Cuddliness (furry and warm)

Winter (lives in the snow)

Introvert (hunts and sleeps alone)

Fortitude (it doesn’t give up)