Arctic Fox by artists Gillie and Marc

LOCATIONS

EDITION 1 - SINGAPORE - 19 May 2023 - 18 May 2024
Gardens By The Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Dr, Singapore 018953
Visit the sculpture, click for map >

__________________

CLICK HERE TO DONATE DIRECTLY TO WWF > 

NAME
Aurora

TITLE
Love The Arctic Fox

GENDER
Female

AGE
6

FOUND
Northern Hemisphere Arctic Regions

CONSERVATION STATUS
Least Concern

This 6-year-old Arctic Fox is very good at adapting to changes in her environment. From winter to summer, her beautiful fur coat will change with the seasons. In winter she carries a thick fluffy white coat, wonderfully warm with a lovely fluffy tail perfect for a blanket. In summer, her coat transforms into a thin, comfortable layer. Sadly though, her environment is changing too often, and it’s changing fast. Her adaptations which worked so perfectly before are needing to adapt quicker than ever.

The beautiful Arctic fox may look delicate but it is incredibly hardy. They live in one of the most inhospitable climates in the world - the Arctic - which spends its winter below freezing and its short summer just above. The fox has developed a dense white coat to perfectly blend in with its snowy surroundings - ideal for hunting. In summer, it sheds its thick coat for a brown/grey one that is perfect for the slightly warmer temperature. Arctic Foxes are the only canid that has fur on the pads of their feet. 

Even though they are exceptional hunters, sometimes the long winter months can be scarce with food, particularly their favourite cuisine, lemmings. To solve this problem, the crafty hunters follow larger predators like polar bears or wolves and scavenge whatever they manage to find. To help them with their hunting endeavours, the Arctic Fox has developed a spectacular sense of hearing and smell. They can easily hear lemmings burrowing under 4-5 inches of snow and can smell a leftover carcass around 10-40km away. Once they find their prey under the snow they leap into the air, giving them a fantastic vantage to pierce through the snow, catching their prey unaware.

Arctic foxes live in very large dens, a huge system of tunnels that can cover 1000m² and has many entrances. They can have litters as big as 25 kits, the largest of any dog, but most often they have between 6-19. Arctic foxes are monogamous so both parents look after their young. The mother will feed the kits with her milk while the father will head out to hunt. The kits are completely dependent on their parents from summer to autumn, leaving the den for the first time when they are 14-15 weeks old and becoming sexually mature once they reach a year old. 

While the species as a whole is thriving, some populations are critically endangered; specifically in Scandinavia and Medny Island in Russia. With the near extinction of wolves, the red fox became the apex predator, killing many foxes and their kits. They are also very susceptible to the populations of their prey. When lemming numbers drop, so too do fox numbers. Another major problem for the foxes is climate change. The Arctic is seeing rising temperatures at twice the rate of the rest of the world making huge changes to the habitat of the fox.

HOW TO HELP 

Inspired by animals that Gillie and Marc met on their travels, we invite the public to discover and interact with these beautiful creatures up close and personal – this allows audiences to connect, take photographs and share their favourite species with friends and family.

With more exposure comes more awareness and builds on the love we already have for animals around the world. With love comes a greater sense of urgency to create a change and save all endangered animals. 

​The sculpture will be aligned with the hashtag #LoveTheLast to raise unparalleled awareness about the sculpture’s cause across the globe.

To help protect these animals, please donate to the WWF: https://www.wwf.sg/

PARTNER