Arctic fox (scientific name: Alopex lagopus), distributed in the Arctic region. The body length is 50-60 cm, the tail length is 20-25 cm, and the weight is 2.5-4 kg. The face is narrow, the mouth is pointed, the ears are round, the tail hair is fluffy, and the tip is white. In winter, the whole body hair is white, only the tip of the nose is black; in summer, the body hair is gray-black, and the ventral color is lighter. It has very dense fluff and less needle hair, and can live on the ice sheet at minus 50 ℃. The soles of the feet are particularly thick. Solo or group activity.

Arctic foxes are active throughout the Arctic including: Russia, Canada, Alaska, Greenland and the outer edges of Svalbard, and subarctic and alpine regions such as Iceland and mainland Scandinavia.

The food is mainly lemmings, but also fish, birds, eggs, shellfish, arctic rabbits and berries, etc. It is a precious fur beast, which has been artificially bred, called blue fox, white fox, etc., mutant varietySuch as shadow fox, arctic pearl fox, arctic sapphire fox, arctic platinum fox and white arctic fox, etc., collectively referred to as colored arctic fox.

Arctic Fox has a body length of 46-68 cm, a tail length of 28-31 cm, a shoulder height of 25-30 cm, and a weight of 1.4-9 kg. Small and obese, males are slightly larger. Narrow frontal face, pointed muzzle, short and round ears, hair growing on the back of cheeks, short legs, and densely growing hair on the bottom of the feet, suitable for walking on ice and snow, fluffy tail hair, white tip, body slightly smaller than Red Fox. Arctic fox fur is long, soft and thick, so arctic foxes can endure severe cold. In winter, the whole body coat is pure snow white, with only the hairless nose tip and tail black. It gradually changes to blue-gray from spring to summer. In summer, the body hair is gray-black, and the ventral color is lighter. It has very dense down and few needle hairs, and has a long, particularly fluffy tail with a white end. The body is slightly thinner than the red fox. Because its feet look like hare feet, the scientific name means fox with hare feet.

Food

Arctic fox's diet includes lemmings, Fish, birds, eggs, berries, and arctic rabbits, and sometimes roam the coast for shellfish, but the lemmings are the main food supply. When encountering a lemming, the arctic fox jumps up with great accuracy, then swoops in, pinning the lemming to the ground and devouring it. Interestingly, when the arctic fox smells the smell of the lemmings in the nest and hears the screams of the lemmings, it will quickly dig the lemming nest under the snow, and when it is almost done, the arctic fox will suddenly Jumping high, with the strength of the jump, the rat nest made of snow was crushed with the legs, and the litter of lemmings was wiped out and eaten one by one. In extreme starvation, arctic foxes will attack each other.

Migration

Arctic foxes can migrate long distances and have strong navigation skills. Arctic foxes migrate 4,600 kilometers in five and a half months. On average, it can travel 90 kilometers a day and can travel for several days. Able to migrate from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast in a matter of months, traveling as close to the east-west distance of Canada. Arctic foxes are able to navigate hundreds of kilometers. They leave their dens in winter, migrate 600 kilometers away, and return home the following summer.

Groups

In a group of foxes, there is a strict hierarchy among the female foxes, and one of them can dominate the other female foxes. In addition, members of the same group share the same territory. If these territories must be adjacent to adjacent groups, they rarely overlap, indicating that foxes have a certain territoriality. The number of arctic foxes fluctuates with the number of lemmings. Usually, the low-peak year when a large number of lemmings die is the peak year of the number of arctic foxes. The foxes will inexplicably spread a disease "mad dance". This disease is caused by the virus invading the nervous system. The sick arctic fox will become extremely excited and excited, often unable to control itself, rushing around, and even dare to attack passing dogs and wolves. Most of the sick people died in the first winter, with as many as 2 corpses per square kilometer, and local hunters often took their fur from fox corpses.

Arctic fox's feed is mainly meat feed, Fish feed, dry animal feed, dairy feed, egg feed, crop seed feed, fruit and vegetable feed, vitamin feed, mineral feed, etc. These feeds are eaten in combination with each other in various periods. There are also different special formulas in different periods to adapt to the breeding conditions of arctic foxes.

Quality and hygiene identification should be carried out before feed preparation, and it is strictly forbidden to use feed from epidemic areas and rotten spoilage. Fresh animal feed should also be thoroughly washed and thoroughly sterilized by cooking; frozen feed needs to be thawed and then washed; fish feed can be soaked in water first, and then the surface mucus can be washed off; Remove the old roots and rotten parts, remove the soil, and wash the residual pesticides.

The preparation method mainly depends on mincing and cooking. Due to the different types of feed, the modulation methods are also different. Grain feed should be fully cooked, heated to 100 ℃ and then kept for 5 minutes before feeding. Fresh animal meat can be fed directly after washing, and fresh blood of healthy animals can be fed raw, but it should not be excessive. The feeding amount in the breeding period can account for 10%-15% of the dietary animal feed, and about 30% in the breeding period of young foxes. Freshwater fish can be fed directly after being washed and freshwater fish can be fed after cooking. Fish with more protein mucus on the body surface (such as shovels, etc.) should be soaked in hot water to remove the mucus, and dried fish should be soaked to desalinate, washed and then fed. Silkworm chrysalis should be thoroughly soaked during processing to remove residual alkalis, minced and fed with meat or fish after cooking, and the dosage should not exceed 30% of the protein in the diet during the breeding period and plush growth period of young foxes. Account for 5%-15%. Cow and goat milk needs to be heated and sterilized when feeding. Generally, fresh milk can be fed after being heated to 70℃-100℃ and then kept for 10-15 minutes.