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Name: Adam Keller
Gender: Male
Nationality: Israeli
Age: 23
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 180
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

Interests: stealing, sneaking into forbidden areas, sleeping, movies.

Dislikes: the sun, heat, military, sand, happy endings.

Arctic Fox


This animal

• raises its young in dens up to 300 years old, with as many as 100 entrances
• is the smallest canid, or doglike animal, in Canada
• ”migrates” in search of food in lean years
• has a white or pale bluish-grey coat in winter and a dark brown or darker bluish-grey coat in summer


Description

The arctic fox Alopex lagopus, or white fox as it is often called, is a member of the canid family and is related to other foxes, wolves, and dogs.It weighs from 2.5 to 9 kg and measures between 75 and 115 cm in length, making it the smallest wild canid in Canada—about the size of a large domestic cat. The long, bushy tail makes up between 30 and 35 percent of its total length. Arctic foxes have smaller, more rounded ears, a more rounded braincase, and a slightly shorter and broader muzzle than the red fox, Vulpes vulpes.

Over the winter, the arctic fox has a heavy white coat, but during May, when the snow begins to melt, this coat is shed for a thinner, two-tone brown one. Within a few weeks the back, tail, and legs are dark brown and the remaining underparts are a buff colour. A small proportion of arctic foxes have a heavy, pale bluish-grey coat in winter, which becomes thinner and darker bluish-grey in summer.

The blue coloration (blue fox) occurs in almost all populations, although the proportion tends to be higher in those animals living in marine areas that remain mostly ice-free during winter. In Canada, blue foxes seldom make up more than 5 percent of animals that are trapped, whereas in Greenland, for example, the proportion of blue foxes may reach 50 percent.

Colour morphs are determined genetically at a single locus, white being recessive. The "blue" morph comprises less than 1% of the population through most of its continental range, but this proportion increases westwards in Alaska, and on islands.


Signs and sounds

The voice of the arctic fox is a sound rarely heard except during the breeding season. Courting foxes communicate with a barking yowl that may be heard over a great distance. Adults also yelp to warn their whelps, or pups, of danger and give a high-pitched undulating whine when disputing territorial claims with neighbouring foxes.



Feeding
The diet of the arctic fox varies greatly from one part of its range to another. In the vast expanses of the continental tundra region, the arctic fox is almost entirely dependent on lemmings throughout the year. Only 5 to 10 percent of the summer diet consists of birds, eggs, ground squirrels, and berries. In winter, the fox continues its search for lemmings, which are active under the snow. Other winter food items include the meat caches, or hidden stores, of Inuit trappers, wolf kills, and food cached by the fox during summer

To satisfy the food requirements of their whelps, or pups, adult arctic foxes living on the tundra hunt lemmings throughout the sunlit arctic summer night, from about 4:00 in the afternoon until 10:00 or 11:00 the following morning. Each adult usually conducts 10 to 15 hunts per night and brings back from three to eight lemmings per hunt. When lemmings are abundant the foxes hunt over an area of 2.5 to 5.0 km2. However, when food is scarcer, the adults probably range much further. Foxes capture the lemmings by digging them from their nests, which are located in soft peaty hummocks. In open tundra covered with low-lying or sparse vegetation, foxes capture active lemmings with a quick dash and a pounce. Lemmings detected in areas of low bush are pounced on as the fox slowly stalks through the bush. The abundance of Arctic Foxes tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings

In other areas, other rodents, such as ground squirrels and voles, are an important source of food, and during summer, adult birds, eggs, and flightless young also make up a large part of the diet. Arctic foxes that inhabit coastal regions also hunt for small marine animals, fish, and carrion, or flesh of dead animals, along shorelines. During winter, these foxes venture onto the sea ice, where they frequently trail polar bears for the remains of seal kills and seek out seal dens to capture the pups.

Foxes living close to major seabird colonies raid nests for eggs and capture hundreds of birds, which they cache for food in winter. Some also search along lakeshores during June, hoping to flush a duck, goose, or shorebird from its nest and eat its eggs. Arctic foxes sometimes attack Sandhill Cranes and geese, but are seldom successful against such large prey

Many tourists visit the North to see wildlife, and the arctic fox is one species that they have an excellent chance of observing. These attractive wild canines often visit campsites in search of food and activity. In the past, this has been both a welcome diversion and an inconvenience; for example, scientists who visited colonies where seabirds breed had to take precautions not only against the loss of food from their campsite, but also against leading the foxes, which eat both eggs and chicks, to the nests that they were studying.


Breeding

The foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season.
In March or April, two months before the end of winter, arctic foxes begin to form mating pairs. Mating follows a long and playful period of courtship involving much active chasing and play-fighting. Throughout the females’ 51- to 57-day pregnancy, the pair remains together and finds a den for raising the whelps, or pups. Den sites are typically located on the tops or sides of eskers, which are ridges of coarse gravel, or on the tops of banks of lakes or rivers where the soil is sandy, dry, and stable. The den sites are usually free from snow earlier than the surrounding landscape because of the good drainage. Dens may be up to 300 years old and possess as many as 100 entrances. Before the birth of the whelps, both adults share the responsibility for cleaning out a portion of the den and digging one or more new entrances.

Litters of arctic foxes are born between late May and early June. The average litter size is about 11 whelps. It is the largest litter recorded for any wild mammal in the world. Litters of up to 22 whelps have been recorded in Russia. At birth the whelps are blind, helpless, covered with hair, and weigh about 57 g.

Compared to other canids, the male fox is probably one of the most attentive and best providers of food during the denning period. Just before the birth of the whelps and while the female is spending her time nursing and caring for the litter, the male hunts for food for her. After five to six weeks, when the whelps are weaned, the female begins to share the hunting duties with her mate and gradually provides well over half of the food to the growing litter. Although the amount of food provided by the male gradually decreases, he continues to bring food to the den site until the whelps begin to leave the den about 14 to 15 weeks after birth

The large litter size and rapid growth of the whelps keep the adults busy hunting for food. An average litter of 11 whelps just starting to eat solid food requires about 30 lemmings or the equivalent in other food per day. The demand increases to over 100 lemmings per day just before the whelps leave the den. The adults and young consume about 3 500 to 4 000 lemmings during the denning period.Arctic foxes' habitats are tundra and coastal areas. The white morph is generally associated with true tundra habitat, the blue more with coastal habitat.




Information gathered from:
Hinterland’s Who’s Who: Arctic Fox - http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=81&cid=8
Wikipedia – Arctic Fox - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox

Doctor Moreau - He locked me up after trying to steal from Feral Labs. can't say I blame him. I never liked spoiled rich guys who had it all handed to them on a silver plate.

Jordan Essex - Used to work under me on Feral Labs. I managed to convince him to 'lend' some secret papers for me from a room only he had access to. I didn't mean to get him into trouble, but I do blame him for being too innocent and naive to actually trust me like that.
Never heard from him since we got caught.

1. Rockhouse Blues [page 1] - Adam, still locked in a prison cell after getting caught stealing from Moreau, finally gets a visit from the doctor after being cooped up for 6 months.

eek

sweatdrop

stressed