Bruce Lyon is a professor in the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department at UC Santa Cruz in California. While doing some research on St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilof Islands off the coast of Alaska, he recorded some Arctic fox pups playing around. The pups are adorable, and it is fun to watch them play (and play fight).
Lyon posted three videos of the pups this week on YouTube. The first video is an Arctic fox play fight, showing two cute fuzz balls wrestling with each other. The second video shows a ton of pups doing baby-animal things—digging, playing, etc. The third video shows yet more playtime, particularly with two little pups and a log that they really seem to like.
“An arctic fox pair has a den with nine kits not to far from where I am staying on St Paul Island,” Lyon writes in his YouTube caption for all three videos. “The pups are often hunkered down but one day all nine were out and playing: racing around, sneaking up and jumping on each other, chewing on driftwood or dead fish, and play fighting.”
Watch Arctic fox pups be cute here:
Why Are the Arctic Fox Pups Brown?
Newborn Arctic fox pups have “short velvety dark brown fur,” according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This fur lengthens and becomes lighter as the pups grow.
Full-grown Arctic foxes can either be white or “blue”/charcoal colored. In the Pribilof Islands, Alaska Fish and Game says the darker color phase is more common, though both exist. The white Arctic foxes are only white during the winter. Their summer coat is dark brown. “Blue-phase” Arctic foxes remain dark year-round, though their coat does lighten in the winter.
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