The Arctic fox is adapted to extreme cold. The paw pads are hairy, the ears are small, and the fur can withstand -70 degrees Celsius without increasing metabolism – the warmest winter fur in the mammal world. It was the thick, beautiful fur that almost led to the extinction of the species in Sweden.
The Arctic fox fur was extremely popular at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, especially the blue ones. If you sold a fine blue Arctic fox fur, you could earn up to a year's salary, says Karin Norén, docent at the Zoological Institution at Stockholm University and active in the Swedish Arctic Fox Project.
What made them so easy to hunt is that they are quite fearless. They are rather curious and bound to their dens, so if you knew where the dens were, they were unfortunately an easy prey.
Not Recovered
In 1928, the Arctic fox was protected, but despite the hunting ban, the population did not recover.
When it was protected, it coincided unfortunately with an increase in the number of red foxes in the mountain ecosystem. They compete for the same type of food and use the same dens, but they can also kill both cubs and adults.
Then there was a lack of small rodents, which are the Arctic fox's favorite food, and several periods with poor food availability. Survival became worse, and they did not have any cubs. As a result, the population became fragmented into small subpopulations, leading to inbreeding, which we also believe has contributed.
In the late 1990s, the situation looked very bleak, and the Arctic fox was very close to extinction. In all of Scandinavia, there were only between 40 and 60 individuals.
But around the turn of the millennium, a large conservation program was started, where research and management worked together to take measures.
It was about controlling red foxes in mountain areas but also providing supplementary feeding. At the same time, the small rodent cycles became more regular again, and that also gave a significant boost.
Norwegian Breeding Project
In Norway, they have also released Arctic foxes from a breeding project. The foxes are released when they are around eight months old. The mortality rate among Arctic fox cubs is high, and in this way, you can increase survival somewhat.
They are released in Norway on the Norwegian side of the border, but then they don't care about national borders. Several have wandered into both Sweden and Finland, where they have mainly contributed to increasing genetic variation.
Last year, 40 Arctic fox litters were born in Sweden, half as many as in the peak years 2015 and 2022. But this year, it turned upwards again. In Västerbotten, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, 72 litters were born during the summer. Positive news, but maybe too early to say that it's turning around.
It's a significantly better year compared to last year, but it varies with the small rodents, the lemming cycles vary on a three- to five-year basis. We hope that it will continue to increase somewhat next year so that it becomes a peak year.
In the latest inventory, there are 582 adult Arctic foxes in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. In 2022, the first litter was born in Finland since the 1990s.
No one knows exactly, but it's estimated that there were around 10,000 Arctic foxes in Scandinavia during good years. The goal of the action program is that by 2035, there will be at least 1,000 sexually mature Arctic foxes, and at least 250 litters will be born during years with good access to lemmings. The vision is 2,000 adult foxes and 500 litters.
Climate Change Threatens
But even if you succeed in increasing the number of Arctic foxes, it doesn't mean that the danger is over. Today, climate change poses the greatest threat. In 2009, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) designated the Arctic fox as one of ten flagship species for climate change.
The big problem is that the amount of Arctic habitat is disappearing, which means they become more and more isolated and have less space to live on. Moreover, the interaction with mainly red foxes but also other species that may be better adapted to warmer climates increases.
The government's budget cuts, which have resulted in reduced funding for conservation projects, also have effects on the work of saving endangered species, including the Arctic fox.
We also have ongoing projects with eight other partners in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, which are co-financed by the EU. It helps now, but it's on relatively short time periods. It can also be a sneaky threat, because these measures are not free. And above all, it's difficult when there is no long-term perspective.
The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) is a small fox, much smaller than a red fox. It has a short nose and short ears. An adult Arctic fox weighs three to four kilograms, the body is 50-65 cm long, and the tail is 28-33 cm.
The Arctic fox exists in two color variants, white and blue. A white Arctic fox has white winter fur and brown-gray summer fur with yellowish parts. A blue Arctic fox is uniformly dark brown to black all year round, can have a gray-blue tone in winter. There are also sandy-colored Arctic foxes, but they are very rare, less than one percent.
Most Arctic foxes in Scandinavia are white, but up to 30 percent are blue.
The reproduction of the Arctic fox is strongly linked to the availability of small rodents. Every third to fourth year, there is usually an abundance of lemmings and voles. Then, the litters are larger, and more foxes manage to raise a litter. In poor lemming years, no cubs are born at all.
Source: The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
