Blue fox

The blue arctic fox (mednovsky arctic fox) is an unusual representative of the Canidae family, which is extremely rare in the wild. It has a very beautiful fur, with an exquisite bluish tinge, making it the most desirable fur animal on Earth.

Blue fox: what it looks like

The blue arctic fox is a small, unremarkable animal, similar to the usual fox we are used to. It has a height at the withers of about 20-30 cm, a body length of 50-75 cm and a weight of 6 to 10 kg. At the same time, the length of the fluffy, densely woolly cylindrical tail, with a pointed tip, reaches 25-30cm.

The arctic fox has a squat, muscular, athletic build, dryish body, with a deep chest, straight, broad back, short, thick neck, rounded back, rounded ribs and a taut belly. Legs wide apart, straight, with small, rounded paws. They are covered with short, coarse hair, which makes the fox's footprints look like those of a hare.

The head is small, with a broad forehead and nape, and a pronounced transition to a short, pointed muzzle. The ears are short, with rounded tips. The smooth, thin bridge of the nose ends in a neat, button-like black nose. The eyes are almond-shaped, hazel or amber.

Thin light skin is covered with thick, soft, long hair, with an equally thick undercoat. The color of the blue fox remains unchanged throughout the life of the animal and varies from sandy to dark gray. A characteristic feature of this animal is the bluish tint of its fur, which can be cast in silver. Remarkably, the blue fox fur has phenomenal thermal insulation properties, thanks to which it can withstand temperatures as low as -80 ℃.

The history of industrial cultivation of blue fox

Contrary to popular belief, the blue fox is not a separate species of arctic fox, but its mutant form. Zoologists from all over the world are still struggling with the riddle of exactly how it appeared, since there are simply no objective reasons for this. The thing is that usually the Arctic fox has two types of outfits - summer and winter. The summer dress is dominated by brownish and gray colors, which allow the animal to hide among the rare vegetation of the tundra. But in winter, the fur turns white, which makes the animal difficult to see in the snowy expanses. However, for some reason, the protective mechanism of the blue fox got a failure, so its coat has the same color both in summer and in winter.

The blue fox was first discovered on Medny Island on the Commander Islands, which is why it is often called Mednovsky. However, a little later, it seemed that some individuals of this species are found in the Aleutian Islands, in Greenland and in northern Canada. In the 17th century, this animal was brought to Central and Western Europe, but in most cases it was brought up as a beautiful living toy.

In the 20th century, blue fox fur became one of the most demanded materials for sewing fur coats and fur coats. Since in nature this animal is extremely rare and it is impossible to hunt for it, they began to raise it in captivity.

Blue fox: benefits and productivity

The blue fox is bred for luxurious, long, soft, warm fur with an unusually beautiful blue tint. The optimal time for obtaining a high-quality skin is 1.5-2 years. At the same time, the optimal time for material selection is from the beginning of January to the end of February - it is during these months that the fur has the greatest length and density. But in the off-season there comes a kind of ban on the fur trade, since from March to June and from September to December this animal is actively molting.

The social life of the blue fox

The blue arctic fox, unlike its white counterpart, is polygamous and changes its pair several times during its life. Usually one family consists of a male, a female, females from the previous year and cubs. At the end of March, an adult female is in heat, which is accompanied by fierce fighting between males. After fertilization, pregnancy occurs, which lasts 49-57 days. After that, from 7 to 12 small, blind, brownish cubs are born. They grow rather quickly and already at 6 months reach "adult" size. However, their sexual maturity occurs much later - at 20-25 months.