The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) is superbly adapted for life at sub-zero temperatures (3).
While this species is best known for its pristine, white winter coat,
during the summer, the coat becomes brown on the upperparts, with light
grey or white underparts (3), and is half as thick (4).
In addition, to the ‘white’ form of Arctic fox, a ‘blue’ form also
occurs, which in some areas is light brown with a bluish sheen in the
winter or dark brown to black in other areas, but becoming chocolate
brown in the summer (3)(5). The dense, woolly coat of this species has the best insulative properties of all mammals, and ...
Threats
The Arctic fox has a long history of
exploitation for the fur trade, and while hunting pressure has abated in
recent years, it remains the most important terrestrial game species in
the Arctic (1).
Fortunately, this species is capable of maintaining stable populations
even when heavily hunted, due to a relatively high reproductive output.
Hence the global population of the Arctic fox is currently abundant and
is not considered to be threatened (1). This should not, however, obscure the status of some regional populations, such as those in Fennoscandia, the Russian island of Mednyi and the Pribilof Islands, where numbers are declining and may be critically low (1).
Regional threats include disease, exposure to toxic pollutants, direct
persecution and breeding with escaped, captive-bred ‘blue’ foxes from
fur farms, which ‘pollute’ the gene pool of the ‘pure’ wild population (1).
In 2009, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources (IUCN) designated the Arctic fox as a flagship species for
ongoing climate change by referring to expansion of the boreal forest,
red fox (Vulpes vulpes) competition and prey scarcity as potential threats connected to climate change (5).
Status
The Arctic fox is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (1).
LEAST
