COPENHAGEN: An arctic fox walked more than 4,415 kilometers (2,737 miles) to go from northern Norway to Canada’s far north in four months, Norwegian researchers said.
The Norwegian Polar Institute reported the young female fox left her birth place on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018 and reached Canada’s Ellesmere Island by way of Greenland on July 1, 2018.
The ground the small fox cumulatively covered over those four months was among the most ever recorded for an arctic fox seeking a place to settle down and breed, the institute said in a research article subtitled “One female’s long run across sea ice.”
During the walk to Canada, the roughly 2-year-old fox moved at an average rate of 46.3 kilometers per day (28.7 miles per day), the Norwegian scientists said.
“The short span of time spent covering such a distance highlights the exceptional movement capacity of this small-sized carnivore species,” they said.
The distance between the fox’s natal den and where she settled on Ellesmere Island was 1,789 kilometers (1,109 miles) if traveled in a straight line, according to the institute.
(Agencies)
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