Arctic fox
This fox is also called a snow fox, a polar fox or a white fox.
Arctic foxes have the warmest fur of any mammal, even warmer than the polar bear! They are suited to life in the Arctic Circle where it is freezing cold for most of the year.
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.
As well as thick fur, the Arctic fox has a cute, fluffy tail. Its tail is also called a "brush".
Its tail is useful because the fox curls it around its face like a scarf when the chill 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, it is white so that it blends in with the snow. In the spring, when the weather gets warmer, the fox sheds its white, warm, winter coat. The fox's new coat of fur is grey-brown.
Arctic foxes like to eat small birds, eggs, berries, fish, squirrels, lemmings and voles.
A lemming
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A vole
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They use their great sense of smell and excellent hearing to hunt for their prey. Their small, pointy ears can even hear lemmings and voles moving around in underground tunnels.
When an Arctic fox hears its next meal scurrying under the snow, it leaps into the air and pounces, breaking through the layer of snow right onto the prey underneath.
Often Arctic foxes follow polar bears to eat their leftovers.
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 are able to 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!