Arctic fox adaptations
Arctic fox ( Vulpes lagopus) – How the body structures and body systems are adapted to their environments – The fox has a few adaptations and this is to help the fox live in the environment that it lives in, their compact round bodies to minimize surface area that will be exposed to the cold outside air, and the muzzle, legs and ears are all small and conserves heat. The fox also has thick deep fur and this keeps the body temperature at bay and in good temp and they even have thick fur on their paws and this is because they need to walk on snow and ice so it protects their paws in the harsh weather conditions. They also have short, heavily furred rounded ears and this helps to keep the heat in and also the coat changes colour, in summer the coat colour will be a reddish brown and in winter the fur will change colours will be a white and it will develop a layer of fat for insulation and the fur on the bottom of the paws white also. other adaptations is also that the female will give birth to around 25 cubs per year, this is because most do not survive over 6 months so she will need to give birth to more for higher chance of more cubs to survive. The arctic fox can also stay active at the temperatures of around -50 and it will stay active without the corresponding increase in metabolic rate. The Arctic Fox is native to the cold arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and they have a circumpolar range, meaning they can be found throughout the entire Arctic and they also live in places such as the outer edges of Greenland, Russia, Canada, Alaska, Iceland.
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