The Arctic Fox

What this episode covers

Turning white in winter to blend in with the white background of snow is a very successful adaptation. Stoats, hares and arctic foxes have perfected this way of living but not everywhere. At the end of the last Ice Age these mammals, along with others, spread northwards, colonising all suitable habitat. However Ireland soon warmed up from the tundra stage, which immediately followed the melting of the ice. Long snow covered winters became a thing of the past. The hare and the stoat adopted an Irish solution to an Irish problem and stayed brown during the winter. The Arctic fox didn't adapt however and so is no longer part of our fauna. In this documentary Eanna follows him north to another island - Iceland - to see if being isolated on an island makes the Icelandic arctic fox different to those on mainland Europe. And of course they are. Their main item of diet on mainland Europe - the lemming- is completely absent from Iceland and so the arctic fox there must learn an Icelandic solution to an Icelandic problem. Do they have to turn white in the winter if they are not creeping up on unsuspecting lemmings? What do they eat anyway if there are no lemmings? And how can they manage to survive in temperatures of minus forty degrees? The wild and beautiful Iceland forms a background to this whimsical look at the arctic fox - an animal that was once here but fell a victim to global warming the last time round. Produced by Derek MooneyAn Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries

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