ARCTIC WOLVES AND ARCTIC FOXES

     Arctic wolves and Arctic foxes are magnificent canids that live in the treeless high Arctic tundra, above the Arctic Circle, of North America.  And because they share that freezing northern habitat the year around, they have characteristics in common.   

     Both these regal, adaptable canines have adjusted to extreme cold by growing layers of dense fur that traps body heat.  Both species have small ears, and short muzzles and legs, all of which release less heat.  During the short summers on the tundra, they bury food in shallow holes and put on fat, both tactics that help sustain them through brutal winters.  They have dense, white fur in winter, which camouflages them so they can better ambush prey animals on the shelter-less tundra.  They both hunt day and night, the year around.  And they are opportunistic feeders, ingesting rodents, carrion, nesting birds, birds' eggs and other edibles, when available.  They retreat into shallow soil or snow dens during exceptionally foul weather.  And both species give birth to young in shallow dens and raise them through summer.           

     The majestic, powerful Arctic wolves are a subspecies of gray wolves, and the ancestor of dogs.  They live together in family groups, or packs, the year around, and, in winter, cooperatively hunt musk oxen, caribou and Arctic rabbits.  But in summer, Arctic wolves mostly consume the abundant lemmings and other rodents, and feed them to their three or four pups in each litter.

     In winter, packs of hungry and restless Arctic wolves travel some distances across the dark and seemingly endless tundra in search of prey.  They howl to bring far-flung members of a pack together to organize a cooperative hunt of big game.  

     It's estimated that today 200,000 Arctic wolves live on the North American tundra, in Alaska, Canada and Greenland.  They are about six feet long, including their bushy tails they use as blankets when resting on the tundra.  And some of these wolves weigh up to 170 pounds.  

     Arctic foxes are survivors on the high Arctic tundra around the Arctic Ocean; from Alaska to Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Eurasia.  Cute, but capable, little foxes, they are three feet long, including a one foot, furry tail they also use as a blanket.  

     These cunning tundra foxes have gray-brown fur in summer that camouflages them, and thick, white fur in winter that makes them invisible on snow.  Their feet also have dense hair for warmth and traction on ice.     

     Arctic foxes mostly feed on rodents the year around.  But they also ingest other edibles, including berries during the brief summers.  

     In winter, many, then white, Arctic foxes trot for days after the equally-white polar bears and Arctic wolves to eat the scraps those larger predators leave behind.  But the foxes must be careful because the bears and wolves might try to attack and ingest the foxes.  Still, it is estimated there are about 630,000 Arctic foxes on the vast, circumpolar tundra today.

     Few people will ever see Arctic wolves and Arctic foxes on the wild northern tundra.  But I think it's inspiring to know those stately, adaptable canines live on the wild tundra in such numbers     

       

     

     

                                                                                                                                                                                    

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