Arctic Fox in summer coat
Vulpes lagopus

1/1250s at f6.3, ISO: 800, Nikon D300S w 500mm and 1.4X extender

\"Arctic Fox,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The arctic fox tends to be active from early September to early May. The gestation period is 52 days. Litters tend to average 5-8 kits but may be as many as 25(the largest in the order Carnivora) Both the mother and the father help to raise their young. The females leave the family and form their own groups and the males stay with the family. Foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season. Litters are born in the early summer and the parents raise the young in a large den. Dens can be complex underground networks, housing many generations of foxes. Young from a previous year\'s litter may stay with the parents to help rear younger siblings. The kits are initially brownish; as they become older they turn white. Their coat of fur also changes color when summer arrives, but in winter it is white.

Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada

07/04/2011