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Arctic Fox

Common name: White fox, Polar Fox and Snow fox

Scientific name: Vulpes lagopus

By: Taylor Rose Sandoval

Period: 4th

Classification Breakdown

Kingdom: Animalia

Chordata: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidae

Genus: Vulpes

Species: V.Lagopus

History

Life Cycle/ Lifespan

  • The worldwide population of Arctic fox is believed to be several hundred thousand, though only a few populations have been studied. Some populations have suffered sharp declines due to over-hunting, including those in Scandinavia, where insufficient food sources in the 1980s and 1990s reduced fox numbers to an estimated 120 adults. As ice retreats and boreal forests spread northward, fox habitat shrinks, causing serious concern for the long-term survival of the species.
  • Acrtic Foxes seem to form monogamous (lifetime partners) pairs in the breeding season and maintain territory around the den
  • Breeding usually takes place in April and May
  • The gestation period is about 52 days.
  • Litters tend to average five to eight kits, but exceptionally contain as many as 25
  • Both mother and father help to raise the young which emerge from the den when 3to4 weeks and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.
  • Life span: 7 years in the wild and 15 years in captivity.

Closest Relatives

Physical Characteristics

  • Arctic have a dense fluffy fur coat.
  • They have smll rounded ears that control sound location and heat loss.
  • They must maintain a good supply of body fat and a system if a countercurrent heat exchange maintian a core temperature
  • Footpads on Arctic Foxes paws are covered in fur to prevent frosbite and provide traction when walking on ice.
  • Males average about 7lbs and females average about 6 lbs
  • They are about 30-40 inches in length
  • Coloration, during winter: blue-gray and white fur. During summer: Blackish-brown and grey fur.

Predator/Prey Relationship

  • Red Fox
  • Swift Fox
  • Kit Fox
  • Cosac Fox

Economic value

  • The prey of the Arctic Fox are Lemmings, Hares, Owls, Eggs, Carrions, Ringed Seal Pups, (and Faeces if food is scarce). Predators include Polar Bears, Wolves, and Golden Eagles to the cubs and other foxes.

Food Sources

  • The fur of the arctic fox is prized by the fur industry, and these foxes have been intensively trapped. Arctic foxes have been regularly farmed for their fur since 1865, and they have long been important to the economy of the native people living.
  • Arctic foxes prey on any small creature such as lemmings, voles, ringed seal pups, fish, water fowl and sea birds
  • Also eats carrion berreis, seaweed, insects, and other small invertebrates
  • They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators such as wolves and polar bears
  • This fox is a significant bird-egg predator

Environmental Contribution

  • Top predators like Arctic foxes can provide fundamental ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, and their impact can be even greater in environments with low nutrients and productivity
  • Soils from fox dens contain higher nutrients

Organ systems

Classification Breakdown

Skeletal/muscular system:

The skeletal/muscular system protects the fox’s organs. The fox’s skeleton like the ribs or rib cage protect the heart and lungs. All the other bones protect veins and other parts of the Circulatory System.

Digestive System:

  • Food moves from the mouth to the esophagus and then the stomach, which breaks down the food into a liquid. The food then passes through to the pancreas, which adds enzymes that help digest carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, plus sodium bicarbonate to help neutralize the stomach acid

Respiratory System

  • The respiratory anatomy of the fox is exactly like that of a dog. Breathing is achieved by the contractions of intercostal muscles associated with the rib cage and the diaphragm.

Nervous System:

  • Arctic foxes have five sense organs which are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.

Circulatory System:

  • The fox’s circulatory system enables the transport of nutrients to various parts of the body. It transports oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and chemicals to tissue, and carries waste and carbon dioxide away from tissue.

Unique Facts

  • Arctic Foxes live in the most frigid temperatures on the planet but foe snot start to shiver until the temperature drops to -70C.
  • Its paws have a fur on the soles of their feet.
  • Its fur changes with the seasons
  • The Arctic Fox has a kean hearing, it can determine exactly where a small animal is moving under the snow.
  • In times of scarcity the foxes eat their own feces.
  • They have the largest litter size in order carnivora.

Habitat and Geographic location

  • Arctic fox is a small native fox to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere
  • The Arctic fox is found throughout the entire Arctic tundra, through Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, Scandinavia, and even Iceland, where it is the only native land mammal.
  • They live in large dens frost free. These dens are a complex systems of tunnels covering as much as (1,200 sq. yd ) they have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes.

Cladogram

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