The Evolution

Of The
Arctic Fox

Habitat /Environment
The Arctic fox live in the tundra.

In the summer it live at the edge of

the forest of the tundra.

.
In winter, its often found on Ice floes.
Its den is usually a burrow in a hillside or a bank.

They live in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere

They can be found in outer edges of Greenland, Russia, Canada, Alaska,

Iceland and throughout the arctic

Food/Diet

The Arctic Fox usually eat small animals. An animal called lemming is the Arctic fox main
prey.
Lemming population increase and decrease depending on the weather.

This can easily affect the Arctic fox population.

Lemming are small rodents.

When there is a short amount of lemming,

the arctic fox will be force to travel long distances to find other foods. They also can eat birds,
birds egg, fish, carrion (which is animals that died or was already killed by other predators, but
was left behind).

Behavior
They have really interesting hunting behavior
The arctic fox have incredible hearing, thanks to their wide, front-facing
ears, which allow them to locate or find the precise location of their prey
thats beneath the snow or around the area.
When the arctic fox found its prey it will leaps into the air and pounces on
the ice of the prey thats beneath the ice causing it to break through the
layer of snow. The they will eat it.
If the prey is around the area it will sneak up to it and jump on it.

Mating
Mating happen around April to July.
They usually have a litter about 5-9 pups.
Pups are born in the late spring, deep inside a burrow dug by both
parents. Both parents care for the young pup, but the female is usually the
main ones. The males usually spend most of their summer hunting supply
to support their growing pups/family.

Population
They are not endanger species
Their population is around hundred thousand, but as it
was said before the amount or the population of lemming
can greatly affect the arctic fox population

Ancestors of the Arctic Fox

Vulpes Qiuzhudingi is probably the ancestor of the arctic fox (not confirm
yet but that what scientist is saying)
Some facts about the arctic foxs ancestor is that its a carnivore with very
sharp teeth.
This ancestor was alive about 5 million years ago.
The current arctic fox first came/appear in the glacial period about/around
1.5 to 2 million years ago
Theyre all related to dogs, wolves, other foxes.

 For the last 2.5 million years and even later, our planet has experienced
cold and warm weather/temperature. I believe that somehow the ancestor
of the arctic fox manage to adapt to the environment and was able to live
on and evolve to the current arctic fox. I believe that, this may be the
reason why its fur color changes within different seasons because each
seasons have different temperature and weather and that may be similar to
the cold and warm weather the earth had experienced back then. Overall I
think this may be the cause for the fur color to change so it can adapt and
camouflage into the environment to live on/survive. Though this is only a
prediction I believe that its quite possible that it may be true.

Comparison of adaptation of Arctic Fox with

his ancestor Vulpes Qiuzhudingi
The arctic fox today compare to his ancestor is quite similar.
The adaptation is similar because they can easily adapt to different
environment since the ancestor Vulpes Qiuzhudingi had experinced cold
and warm temputure/weather and was albe to live on and evolve. Also the
arctic fox is able to camasfouge to the enviroment so it can live on.
Something different is that the arctic fox now eat both meat and plants
while the ancestor only ate meat so i think something happened with the
food source and thats why they need to eat plants

Comparison of environment of Arctic Fox and

ancestor Vulpes Qiuzhudingi
In the winter, the Arctic fox usually live in the arctic tundra and in the summer it
live on the edge of the forest. Their fur color changes to camouflage in the
environment.
Vulpes Qiuzhudingis was fossil was found in Tibet, base on the age of the
fossil it was about 3 million to 5 million years old. Back then the environment
changes a lot or rapidly so the enviroment is unknown,but I think its cold
Vulpes Qiuzhudingi had a lot of fur so that may me think that they need the fur
to survive in that climtae.

Timeline
Current Time

1.5 to 2
millions
years ago

The current Arctic Fox

Scientific Name:
Vulpes Lagopus
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Quaternary
Series: Pleistocene
First appeared in the
Glacial Time (Ice Age)

2.6 to 5 millions years ago

(It still was alive during this time)
(The exact time when it became
extinct or evolve is still unknown)

The closest ancestor of the

Arctic Fox
Scientific Name:
Vulpes Lagopus
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Between
Quaternary and Tertiary
Series: Unknown

More back in time

Relative Chart

Sources
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140610-animals-foxes-tibet-new-species-fossils-science/
http://www.nature.com/news/origins-of-arctic-fox-traced-back-to-tibet-1.15398
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/arctic_fox.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulpes_qiuzhudingi
http://www.livescience.com/46268-arctic-fox-ancestor-tibet.html
http://www.adn.com/article/20140617/arctic-fox-likely-evolved-himalayan-ancestor-study-says
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Wild-Animals-705/2009/2/arctic-fox-ancestor.htm
http://news.sciencemag.org/sifter/2014/06/arctic-fox-ancestor-had-supersharp-teeth
http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/arcticfox.htm
http://www.foxesworlds.com/arctic-fox/