These images originate from the extensive monitoring that the Norwegian Nature Conservancy does on the Varanger Peninsula. There, the arctic fox population has been strengthened with a number of animals bred in captivity. In addition, the foxes get some extra food to help them survive. Twelve dens and 20 automatic feeders are equipped with cameras. They are triggered by a sensor when a warm-blooded animal approaches. In addition, pictures are taken at regular intervals just to be on the safe side. During last year, 330,000 photos were taken. Christer Michaelsen in SNO has had the mixed pleasure of scrutinizing everything. Most of it is completely worthless, but every once in a while there is something that really shines. A golden eagle flies off with a small fox pup. The picture was taken at a den on 29 June. Photo: Statens naturoppsyn Regularly hunting the den A series of pictures from 16 August last year is the most dramatic. – There is an individual who walks in front of the machine, and suddenly this appears, says Michaelsen and shows the eagle with the lifeless red fox pup in its claws. The camera takes several pictures before hunter and prey leave the field of view. Another series of images taken four days later shows how an eagle returns to the same den three times in one day. – It will not be unlikely that you have golden eagle individuals who specialize in this and see that it is a decent food source, says Michaelsen. The eagles like to eat carrion, so the traffic may also be due to them looking for remains of the fox’s prey. Despite the eagles’ pursuit, the arctic fox family remained on the spot. They had settled in the hallway of a feeding machine, and had a short way to an almost inexhaustible source of food. This arctic fox pup had just begun to explore life outside the den when the red fox surprised it. Photo: The Norwegian Nature Conservancy Shooting red foxes The project to save the mountain fox has involved, among other things, shooting large quantities of red foxes. It competes for much of the same food, and is also a direct threat. The evidence for the latter is, among other things, a photo from 22 June last year. – It is around Midsummer that the puppies start to move outside the den and that we get pictures of them, says Michaelsen. – Here is someone who may have been a little careless and walked a little too far from the entrance. Then there was a fox nearby that discovered it and took it. Michaelsen assumes that the red fox is a male fox, based on its size and posture. Camera trouble Michaelsen’s SNO colleague Arne Petter Sarre has been involved in the arctic fox project since its inception. He says that they have had to adjust the camera setup a bit. – The cameras were chewed up by the puppies. They ravaged and grazed, says Sarre. – It is advisable to use a safety box. We started with it this year. Last year we had four cameras that were torn to pieces. They have also experienced that the ravens have bitten off the cable to the cameras’ power supply. Now they have wrapped them up to the best of their ability. – If they find out that they are going to bite, they do. But you don’t have to tempt them. Mountain foxes largely take carrion and other small rodents, but can also be tempted by carrion and birds. Sarre has even found swan eggs in the dens. – They have been tough when they have had the courage to nibble eggs from the whooper swans. After all, they are twice as big as the mountain fox. The first arctic foxes from captivity were released on the Varanger Peninsula in February 2018. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn / news
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Here, the golden eagle takes a fox pup in front of a wildlife camera on the Varanger Peninsula – news Troms and Finnmark
