﻿BLUE-FOX FAEMING IN ALASKA 



WHAT IS A BLUE FOX? 



A number of persons in Alaska and elsewhere mistakenly think 

 that white foxes are found only in the Arctic, and that when they 

 were brought to the Pribilof Islands and points farther south the 

 climate changed the fur from white to blue. 



The blue fox is a color phase of the Arctic or white fox (Alopex), 

 which is circumpolar in range, being found particularly along the 

 seacoasts of arctic and subarctic regions. Its normal winter coat is 

 white, while the summer pelage is brown and tawny. The blue fox 

 is dark bluish in winter and tends toward brownish in summer. 

 There are intermediates in which the coat may be spotted blue and 

 white, or the blue and white may be blended, producing a dingy or 

 smoky-white appearance. Such mottled animals sometimes occur 

 amonff blue foxes where there have been no white foxes. It is noted 



Fig. 2. Blue-fox pups sunning themsflves on the roof of their den 



more frequently, however, where white and blue foxes are ranched 

 together. 



The white fox is more common in the wild than the blue, and 

 smoky- white foxes are sometimes born from blue parents; but on 

 islands where blue foxes have been introduced and raised a pure 

 white fox is exceedingly rare. 



The prices usually paid for the different skins are governed largely 

 by the relative scarcity of the animals and the market demand. On 

 the raw-fur market, blue-fox skins generally bring from three to 

 four times as much as white. At present both color phases are 

 popular, the natural blue being preferred by the more exclusive 

 trade; to supply the popular trade, white skins are dyed blue, steel, 

 taupe, and rose. 



In general, it may be said that prime blue-fox pelts produced in 

 practically every section of Alaska shown on the map (tig. 1) are 

 bringing good prices on the raw-fur markets. 



