Know Before You Go

© 

Arctic Fox Facts | Churchill Wildlife Guide

The Arctic is a harsh environment in which few species can survive. The Arctic fox, a specialist at adapting to circumpolar regions, is an exception. Only as big as a large domesticated cat, this canine is one of the tiniest mammals to actively spend the long Arctic winter above the surface of the snow.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

In winter, the Arctic fox looks bulky and rounded due to its long, thick, soft fur coat. Underneath their fur is a rather skinny body, and they typically weigh just 10 pounds. Despite living in temperatures that reach –20°F and lower, Arctic foxes are able to maintain their core temperature due to adaptations that include a short muzzle, legs and ears, and densely furred footpads. Using its keen hearing and profound sense of smell, the Arctic fox can detect lemmings, an important food source, scurrying under the snow’s surface. Living on the coast and offshore ice, the Arctic fox is a more skilled swimmer than other canines. Its shrill bark is easily identifiable, but the Arctic fox also periodically purrs in a cat-like manner.

Arctic foxes are dimorphic, which means they can exhibit one of two phases—brown or white. They are the lone canine to undergo a change in coat color from summer to winter. The white Arctic fox begins molting in early July to expose its summer fur, which is fawn-colored and brown. After approximately eight weeks, they begin to regrow their white coat for winter. Blue phase foxes have a pale gray coat in winter and a dark bluish one in summer. Though the reasons aren’t totally clear, the coastal populations of Jan Mayen Island, West Greenland, the Commander Islands and the Pribilof Islands are usually blue, while 99 percent of the continental foxes living on the mainland of Canada are white.

BEHAVIOR

During winter months, Arctic foxes do not hibernate. They exhibit a combination of nomadic and communal behavior, typically establishing small groups to search for food. These foxes usually construct dens in a rock mound at a cliff base or in stumpy knolls, 3 to 13 feet high, on the tundra. Some of these complex dens—with between four and eight entrances and a tunnel system that can reach over 300 square feet—have provided shelter for multiple generations of foxes, since they are used over and over for centuries. Each den, usually built in cliffs a minimum of a mile apart, houses a family—a social group comprised of the litter, a male adult, and two vixens. Born the previous year, one of these females is non-breeding but remains to assist in caring for the new litter.

REPRODUCTION

Arctic foxes become sexually mature as early as 10 months old. They are monogamous, generally mating for life. Breeding usually occurs between February and March, and afterward, the mates are hard-pressed to find a birthing den, since permafrost must be low enough beneath the snow to allow the foxes to burrow. Gestation lasts approximately 53 days, and litters are born in the spring and early summer. The number of kits in a litter depends upon the abundance of food, especially lemmings. Mothers typically give birth to between five and eight pups, but litters have been known to reach the incredible size of 25 kits.

Kits are born deaf, blind and without teeth. Each pup is the mere size of a tennis ball and they eagerly suckle from their mother. After they are weaned, kits emerge from their den at 2 to 4 weeks old. Fathers stay with the pups, helping catch prey to feed the young. He copulates again with the female just a few weeks after birth.

FEEDING HABITS

Arctic foxes leave their birthing dens by the end of August, separating to hunt from dawn until dusk. In summer, the Arctic sun can shine for up to 24 hours a day, and foxes will continue to search for prey as long as there is light. They are opportunistic hunters, eating practically any animal, including small mammals and carrion. They will also eat insects, berries and even excrement.

In the summer, the central component of an inland Arctic fox’s diet is lemmings. During this season of bounty, foxes will make caches of food in preparation for the long, lean winter ahead. They store the food under stones in their den. Alwin Pedersen, a Danish naturalist, found one store that had enough birds to keep a fox fed for a month. It contained a long, neatly arranged row of two murres, four snow buntings and 36 dovekies, plus a pile of dovekie eggs.

During winter, Arctic foxes become nomadic, often following polar bears to the coastal sea ice and scavenging the carcasses of bearded and ringed seals. The population of Arctic foxes rises and falls every three to five years, in a cycle dependent upon the number of lemmings. When prey is scarce, Arctic foxes have been known to migrate hundreds or thousands of miles.

THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

There is a high rate of mortality among Arctic fox populations. Parents often abandon their litter of pups, and aggressive kits will sometimes kill their siblings. The deadly disease rabies ravages up to 20 percent of the Arctic fox population, increasing in times when immune systems are weakened from starvation, another killer. Although these creatures can live up to 10 years the wild, only one out of 25 will survive past 4 years old.

Photo Credit: Brad Josephs
See Arctic Foxes and Other Arctic Wildlife on These Adventures
Admin Note : Repeater Settings
Current Settings: trip
Edit Settings
Know Before You Go

Send Me Travel Emails

Get the Inside Scoop on the

World of Nature Travel

Our weekly eNewsletters highlights new adventures, exclusive offers, webinars, nature news, travel ideas, photography tips and more. Sign up today!

Natural Habitat Adventures Logo WWF Logo
Send Me Travel Emails
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Privacy Policy
Thank you for joining our email list

Look for a special welcome message in your inbox, arriving shortly! Be sure to add naturalhabitat@nathab.com to your email contacts so you don’t miss out on future emails.

Get Weekly Updates

Our weekly eNewsletter highlights new adventures, exclusive offers, webinars, nature news, travel ideas, photography tips and more.

Privacy Policy
We're Proud of the Reputation We’ve Earned
Voted "World's Best Travel Company" by Outside Magazine
Travel & Leisure logo
Voted "Top Tour Operator" in Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards
Newsweek logo
Voted "Best Adventure Travel Company" in Newsweek Reader's Choice Awards
VIEW MORE AWARDS

View Our 2025/2026 Digital Catalog

Discover the World's Best

Nature Travel Experiences

Nathab 2024 Catalog

Together, Natural Habitat Adventures and World Wildlife Fund have teamed up to arrange nearly 100 nature travel experiences around the planet, while helping to protect the magnificent places we visit and their wild inhabitants.

Natural Habitat Adventures and World Wildlife Logos
Request Your 2025/26 Catalog
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Continued - Page 2 of 2
To help us customize your catalog request, please tell us more about your travel needs:
Thank you for requesting a catalog
We’ve received your request. If you have any questions about our trips, please feel free to contact an Adventure Specialist today by calling 800-543-8917.

Get Weekly Updatess

Discover the World's Best

Nature Travel Experiences

Our weekly eNewsletter highlights new adventures, exclusive offers, webinars, nature news, travel ideas, photography tips and more. Sign up today!

Natural Habitat Adventures Logo WWF Logo
Send Me Travel Emails
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Privacy Policy
Thank you for joining our email list!

Look for a special welcome message in your inbox, arriving shortly! Be sure to add naturalhabitat@nathab.com to your email contacts so you don’t miss out on future emails.

Send Us a Message

Send Us a Message

Have a question or comment? Use the form to the right to get in touch with us.

Natural Habitat Adventures Logo WWF Logo
Send Us a Message
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Thank you for your message

We’ll be in touch soon with a response.

Refer a Friend

Refer a Friend,
Get $250 Off
Earn rewards for referring your friends! We'd like to thank our loyal travelers for spreading the word. Share your friend's address so we can send a catalog, and if your friend takes a trip as a first-time Nat Hab traveler, you'll receive a $250 Nat Hab credit you can use toward a future trip or the purchase of Nat Hab gear. To refer a friend, just complete the form below or call us at 800-543-8917. It's that easy! See rules and fine print here.
Natural Habitat Adventures Logo WWF Logo
Refer a Friend

Earn rewards for referring your friends! We'd like to thank our loyal travelers for spreading the word. Share your friend's address so we can send a catalog, and if your friend takes a trip as a first-time Nat Hab traveler, you'll receive a $250 Nat Hab credit you can use toward a future trip or the purchase of Nat Hab gear. To refer a friend, just complete the form below or call us at 800-543-8917. It's that easy! See rules and fine print here.

Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Thank you for the referral!

We've received your friend's information.

View Our 2025/2026 Digital Catalog

View Our 2025/2026

Digital Catalog

Help us save paper! We offer a digital version of The World's Greatest Nature Journeys. If you'd prefer a mailed copy, please provide your contact details here. To view our digital catalog, please enter your info in the form to the right.
Natural Habitat Adventures Logo WWF Logo
View Digital Catalog
Text Messaging Policy Message and data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe from SMS at any time by texting STOP. Reply HELP for help. 2-4 promotional msgs/month. Informational msg frequency varies.
Happy browsing!

Thanks for requesting access to our digital catalog. Click here to view it now. You’ll also receive it by email momentarily.

Our Trips

Polar Bear Tours

Polar Bear Tours

African Safaris

African Safaris

Galapagos Tours

Galapagos Tours

Alaska Adventures

Alaska Adventures

U.S. National Parks Tours

U.S. National Parks Tours

Canada & the North

Canada & the North

Europe Adventures

Europe Adventures

Mexico & Central America Tours

Mexico & Central America Tours

South America Adventures

South America Adventures

Asia & Pacific Adventures

Asia & Pacific Adventures

Antarctica & Arctic Journeys

Antarctica & Arctic Journeys

Photography Expeditions

Photography Expeditions

Adventure Cruises

Adventure Cruises

Women's Adventures

Women's Adventures

Family Adventures

Family Adventures

New Adventures

New Adventures

Questions? Call 800-543-8917

Contact Us

Have a question or comment?
Click any of the buttons below to get in touch with us.

Hours
Mountain Time

  • 8 am to 5 pm, Monday - Friday
  • 8 am to 3 pm on Saturday
  • Closed on Sunday
Call 800-543-8917
Questions? Click to Chat
Questions? Click to Chat
/know-before-you-go/churchill/polar-bears/wildlife-guide/arctic-fox/