---

Right now, they are doing this, with somewhat more mature kits:

In Scotland:

---

---

And somewhere else in the British Isles (they don’t tell us where) in Iceland 😚:

---

---

Per a post by Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game:

…Mating occurs in early March and early April. Gestation lasts 52 days. Litters average seven pups but may contain as many as 15 pups. Arctic foxes are monogamous in the wild. Both parents aid in bringing food to the den and in rearing the pups. Pups begin eating meat when about one month old and are fully weaned by about six weeks. They first emerge from the den when about three weeks old and begin to hunt and range away from the den at about three months.

Family units gradually break up during September and October…

---

---

Grown-up or youngster, their bodies also are starting to respond to the shortened length of day, miniscule as that is in mid-July

Soon the foxes (and some other Arctic animals) will look very different:

To quote another Alaska Fish and Game page:

…Whether hair is on a fox or a human, hair is white because it lacks pigment. Animals have cells that produce melanin, the natural pigment that gives hair, skin and eyes color: eumelanin is responsible for black and brown shades and phaeomelanin for red and yellowish colors. Albinos can’t produce melanin. When the fox is growing its white coat in the fall, melanin production is shut off and the fur comes in without pigment.

Daylight, not cold weather, triggers seasonal shedding and hair growth. Animals register changes in the photoperiod – the hours of daylight – which spurs the secretion of hormones such as prolactin and melatonin…

Everyone goes their separate ways during winter, but if Mom and Dad survive, they will reunite next year and give the cycle of life another turn:

---

Featured image:USFWS, public domain.

---

---