BLUE-FOX FARMING 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 
amonsr blue foxes where there have been no white foxes. It is noted 
Fig. 2. Blue-fox pups sunning themselves 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. 
