Arctic fox
The arctic fox lives in a very cold enviroment and therefore needs some vital lifestyle and body system changes and adaptions in order to stay alive. In relation to physical body adaptions and changes; fur is a major one. This fox has very small, rounded ears that are covered in a very thick coat of white fur. This fur prevents heat loss from the ears as much as possible. In the slightly changing climate of there habitat it requires them to change the coat colour. in the winter this fox has an under insulating layer of fat, a big thick white coat of fur which goes all around the body as well as on the bottom of its paws, The fur on the bottom of its paws stops its feet from getting cold and freezing up. It also provides traction on the ice. In the summer (slightly hotter time) its white coat dissapears and turns into a reddish/brown colour. Because of the place it lives it is quite hard for a young fox to survive the first 6 months so the fox has adapted its body system in order to give birth to up to 85 cubs per year. This means that even if some of the cubs die, plenty will still survive and thus keeping the population numbers high and stable. The temperatures that this animal lives in can be extremely cold, such as -50 degrees celcius and this could be way to cold for many animals to be active. This particular fox has evolved to be active in climates like this in order to survive. The metabolic rate of the animal doesnt rise or fall when it is active in these low temperatures. Even though the fur of these foxs' are white they are ticked with slight black markings at the top. The small amount of black on these coats wont effect the camoflage but it will help to absorb as much sun heat as it possibly can. This animal has a system called 'countercurrent heat exchange' in the circulation of its paws which helps the fox maintain body temperature when it walks on the frozen ground, stopping