August, a two-year-old male arctic fox, arrived at the Binghamton Zoo at the beginning of the summer. Originally from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, WA, August was housed with bighorn sheep. But this little fox has a Napoleon complex and kept trying to dominate the sheep, so now he has moved to Binghamton!
Arctic foxes live in some of the coldest areas in the Northern Hemisphere. I need about 27 layers of clothing to survive Binghamton's winters, so I can't even imagine the Arctic! Instead of a parka, arctic foxes have thick, white fur to keep them warm and help them blend in to the snowy landscape. Now that it is summer, August is shedding his fur and growing in a much thinner, brown coat. Arctic foxes also have extremely good hearing, and are able to dig through the snow to uncover small hibernating rodents. Although these foxes are not picky eaters in the wild, August's favorite treats are chicks and milkbones. Although August was bred in captivity, his instincts are still sharp: he always buries his milkbones to save for a future food shortage. I guess August hasn't realized that in a zoo, he is always fed twice a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment