Arctic Fox

What an amazing sight...you are very fortunate to see one of these rare animals in the wild.
The only ones we got to see, were captive in a Norwegian breeding centre!

Cracking shot Jake. Wonderful series so far. Great stuff!

So pretty in their winter coat, and a nice sighting with sweet inquisitive pose, Jake.  Good to see they are of least concern in most of their habitats on the IUCN Red List.

Carol.

Carol Clarke wrote:So pretty in their winter coat, and a nice sighting with sweet inquisitive pose, Jake.  Good to see they are of least concern in most of their habitats on the IUCN Red List.

Carol.

Thanks for pointing that out Carol. In Scandinavia, the situation, however, is very different, with Artic Foxes being critically endangered in Norway and Sweden, and possibly extinct in Finland (one breeding pair was reported this past year).
We visited a breeding station in Norway this summer and the general mood was sombre - climate change, lack of lemmings, and encroachment by red foxes all contribute to a continuing decline.

Swissblad wrote:

Carol Clarke wrote:So pretty in their winter coat, and a nice sighting with sweet inquisitive pose, Jake.  Good to see they are of least concern in most of their habitats on the IUCN Red List.

Carol.

Thanks for pointing that out Carol. In Scandinavia, the situation, however, is very different, with Artic Foxes being critically endangered in Norway and Sweden, and possibly extinct in Finland (one breeding pair was reported this past year).
We visited a breeding station in Norway this summer and the general mood was sombre - climate change, lack of lemmings, and encroachment by red foxes all contribute to a continuing decline.

Yes, Sinuhe - while there is a healthy population in North USA/Canada, and some other areas, Scandinavia is not good mainly due to their hunting them to near extinction before it was banned.  The few that were left then became vulnerable to the encroachment of the red foxes, lack of lemmings (some years) and the resultant lack of non related breeding partners.  However, the news is getting better, as the survey in 2015 showed around 50 breeding adults while at the end of last year 2021, there were found to be around 300 breeding adults in Norway alone.  While Scandinavia counted some 54 wild litters of kits, largely due to conservation with feeding stations and breeding projects which also released 25 youngsters to widen the gene pool.  I know there is a long way to go in Scandinavia, but there is cautious hope for better results for these beautiful foxes.


Carol.

Really cute. Nice job in the white on white exposure.

Sweet pose in that icy environment- a very pretty specimen.