Who is up for a nice long walk? How about a trek across 2,000 plus miles of frozen ice north of the Arctic Circle?
A young, female Artic Fox was ready for it, and so off she went. She walked (or picturing a fox, she trotted) from Norway’s Svalbard archipelago (well west of Norway in the Arctic Ocean.) to Ellesmere Island well to the east of mainland Canada. She had previously been fitted with a radio collar by the Norwegian Polar Institute and was tracked as she covered the 2,175 miles. The straight-line distance between the two points is 935 miles. So, it is evident that the fox wandered a bit on her path. Her path took her across the frozen Arctic Ocean and across, or if she stayed on the frozen sea ice (which I doubt) near to, the northern end of Greenland. According to The Guardian article in which I first read about the fox, she took 76 days to make the trek. That gives an average distance of 29 miles per day. The article also stated that she walked an astonishing 96 miles on one of those days. Why the burst of speed? Maybe she saw what she was following and wanted to get closer. Perhaps something was following her, and she wanted to get away.
What could have been the reason for such a walk? Its reason enough for me just to see what’s on the other side of the distant hills. But a walk of this distance is much, much further than I have ever walked. At one time I had entertained the idea of walking across the United States, but for numerous reasons that did not happen. However, I generally walk between 600 and 800 miles in a year. That may be no great distance compared to hikers and walkers of a higher order. But for me, each mile and each hour spent outside enjoying whatever weather the day grants me, is a delight. The enjoyment can be multiplied by the animals and other people I might meet on the trail.
Which reminds me of a verse from a great hiking song – The Happy Wanderer, or “I love to go a-wandering”.
“I wave my hat to all I meet
And They wave back to me
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev’ry green wood tree”.
I wonder what the little fox met along her track. Were there other foxes? Perhaps she saw a polar bear, and perhaps the bear’s attention was why she put in the 96 mile day. Did she see a narwhale rising at its breathing hole, first its pike piercing the air and then its rounded form lifting high out of the water. Or perhaps she heard the singing of the Beluga whale.
When the fox started her trek in March 2018, her fur may have still been pure white. She blended in well with the ice and snow all around her. When she arrived in Ellesmere Island in July she was likely covered in her summer coat of brown. The Artic Fox changes color throughout the year in order to match the seasonal landscape of her environment. In Winter, she is white. In Summer, she is brown to dark brown to black. And in-between her fur is changing and has a grizzled appearance. This in-between “morph” is called Blue. So, often the Artic Fox is called the Blue Fox. Wikipedia has good article, titled Artic Fox. It describes her well, and has excellent pictures of the fox in its habitat and in its different colorations.
The little vixen’s trek across the Arctic Ocean was doubtlessly a grueling journey. I hope she found what she was looking for.
The Wikipedia article may be found at, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox .
The full lyrics for The Happy Wanderer may be found at, https://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/frank_weir/the_happy_wanderer.html .
The map in the art work is from Google Earth. The dotted line between the starting point and the arrival point on Ellesmere Island indicates a supposed path in order to show the distance the fox trotted. The picture of the fox is taken from The Guardian, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/fantastic-arctic-fox-animal-walks-3500km-from-norway-to-canada/ar-AADJfsy?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=spartandhp .