**** Info via Hope for Wildlife
What cold weather?
Hope for Wildlife is in for a day of fairly cold weather – around -40°C/F with the wind chill. A common question we get asked during tours is how our native animals protect themselves from the cold. So we thought we’d let our resident red fox Frankie handle this one on behalf of foxes!
Red foxes in our climate are not too bothered by cold because they have developed adaptations that allow them to thrive in cold weather. In the fall they develop a thicker coat of fur that provides them with terrific insulation, and long, stiff hairs mixed in with the coat help to keep snow off of the body. Frankie’s big bushy tail makes up one-third of her body length and she can wrap it around herself like a giant fluffy blanket.
While a fox’s paws have thick fur on them to help keep them warm, they also have biological mechanism that keeps the paws at a lower temperature than the body. This lower temperature minimizes heat loss via the body part in contact with the ground or snow. The blood flowing back from the paws is usually heated by the blood currently flowing into the legs, so this counter-current heat exchange means the body doesn’t receive cold blood from the extremities.
And if necessary, a fox will dig a burrow in the snow to evade the most harsh temperatures. They hide inside to get extra insulation from the snow – temperatures inside the snow hole are considerably higher than outside!
Don’t worry about Frankie, she’s got this winter thing covered.
