This time of year is also the time for Arctic Foxes to change into their winter fur. Where the brown summer coat offers great camouflage, in winter it is far less useful. First of all it is a lot colder in winter (regularly below -20ºC in contrast to the +5 – +10ºC in summer) so he needs a lot better insulation in winter. And where brown colours give great camouflage in summer, when the first snow starts to fall, this advantage is gone as well. So September is the time to change in to a warmer and whiter coat that gets them through winter.  Apparently Arctic Foxes have the best insulating fur of all mammals. They probably need it to survive the extreme temperatures they have to endure in winter.

At the moment this dense white winter coat seemed a bit an overkill as there was no snow yet and it wasn’t that cold either. But you better be prepared for when it starts…