Arctic Fox

Ever since explorers have ventured north into the harsh lands of the arctic, they have encountered arctic foxes in the unlikeliest of places. The arctic fox is an extraordinary animal. No bigger than a house cat, it can not only survive but also thrive on almost nothing, in the middle of the arctic tundra, a land so hostile it seems incompatible with the existence of life. The tundra is a place of endless days or endless nights, where the temperatures can reach -58 F (-50 C) for weeks at a time, where the terrain is mostly described in terms of ice - ice sheets, pack ice, ice floes, icebergs, ice shelves, landfast ice, frazil ice, grease ice, glaciers. Garry Hamilton tells the fascinating story of the arctic fox, from its evolutionary beginnings to its current life in the far north: mating and raising a family, hunting and scavenging, its relationship with the polar bear and other arctic inhabitants, the fur trade, and the never-ending struggle for survival in a fragile and vanishing environment.