Arctic fox
This fox is also called a snow fox, a polar fox or a white fox.
An Arctic fox has warm fur. This fox needs warm fur as it lives in the Arctic. The Arctic is freezing cold for a lot of the year. |
Fantastic fact The Arctic fox has the warmest fur of all the animals. |
The Arctic fox has a fluffy tail.
The fox curls its tail around its face like a scarf when the cold winds blow.
What animal is this?
It's an Arctic fox! An Arctic fox’s fur changes colour with the seasons of the year. In winter its fur is white. The white fur blends in with the snow. In spring the weather gets warmer. The fox starts to shed its thick, white fur. Under the white fur is a new coat of grey-brown fur. This fur is a lot thinner so the fox is cooler.
Arctic foxes like to eat little birds, eggs, berries, fish, squirrels, lemmings and voles.
A lemming
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A vole
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They are great at sniffing and hearing. This makes them good hunters. Their small, pointy ears can even hear lemmings and voles moving in underground tunnels.
When an Arctic fox hears its next meal scurrying under the snow, it jumps into the air and pounces. When the fox lands, it breaks through the snow right onto its prey.
Photo from Pixabay is in the public domain.
Often Arctic foxes follow polar bears to eat their leftovers.
Credit: iStock.com/John Pitcher
What is the Arctic Circle?
The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line drawn on globes. See the blue dashes on the map below.
The Arctic Circle is made up of the coldest parts of Russia, the USA, Canada and Greenland. It is also made up of the Arctic Ocean where there is a massive sheet of floating ice.
Photo by NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio/C. Starr. Wobbly black line by Mr Maher.
In the Arctic Circle there is land called tundra.
Tundra is land where it so cold that most of the ground is frozen. Only a thin layer of top soil is warm enough for plants to grow. So no trees can grow there - only small, tough plants can grow.
In the Arctic Circle you may see an aurora in the sky.
Tiny particles from the Sun crash into gases in our sky. When they crash together they create energy in the form of light!