Dimensions
Sculpture
52 x 27.6 x 62.2 inch (H*L*W) 295.5 lbs
132 x 70 x 158 cm (H*L*W) 134 kgs
Base
0.2 x 27.6 x 55.1 inch (H*L*W)
0.5 x 70 x 140 cm (H*L*W)
Medium
Bronze
Style
Contemporary Sculpture, Wildlife, Activist Art
Edition Number
/6
Description
This 6-year-old Arctic Fox is very used to adapting to her environment. With a beautiful fluffy white coat to blend in with the snowy landscape and keep her toasty in winter, that transforms into a thinner and browner coat to fit perfectly into the summer months. But her environment is changing, and it’s changing fast. Her adaptations which worked so perfectly before are needing to adapt again and adapt quickly.
The beautiful Arctic fox may look delicate but it is incredibly hardy. It lives in one of the most inhospitable climates in the world- the Arctic- which spends its winter below freezing and its short summer just above. The fox has developed a thick white coat to perfectly suit its surroundings. Not only is it wonderfully warm with a lovely fluffy tail perfect for a blanket but it blends in perfectly with the snowy surroundings making it an excellent hunter. In the summer it sheds its thick coat for a brown/grey one that is perfect for blending in with the ice-free summer. Arctic Foxes are the only canid that has fur on the pads of their feet.
Even though they are exceptional hunters, sometimes the long winter months can be short on food, particularly their favourite cuisine of lemmings. To solve this problem, the crafty hunters follow larger predators to scavenge whatever they manage to find. To help them with their hunting endeavours, the Arctic Fox has developed a spectacular sense of hearing and smell. They can easily hear lemmings burrowing under 4-5 inches of snow and can smell a leftover carcass 10-40km away. Once they have found their prey under the snow they leap into the air, giving them a fantastic vantage to pierce through the snow, catching their prey unaware.
Arctic foxes live in very large dens, a system of tunnels that can cover 1000m2 and has many entrances. If their main food source, the lemming, is abundant, the foxes can have litters as big as 25 kits, the largest of any dog, but are usually between 6-19. Arctic foxes are monogamous so both parents look after their young. The mother will feed the kits with her milk while the father will head out to hunt. The kits are completely dependent on their parents from summer to autumn, leaving the den for the first time when they are 14-15 weeks old and becoming sexually mature once they are a year old.
While the species as a whole is thriving, some populations are critically endangered; in Scandinavia and Medny Island in Russia. With the near extinction of wolves, the red fox became the apex predator, killing many foxes and their kits. They are also very susceptible to the populations of their prey. When lemming numbers drop, so too do fox numbers. Another major problem for the foxes is climate change. The Arctic is seeing rising temperatures at twice the rate of the rest of the world making huge changes to the habitat of the fox.
Artwork Features
Gillie and Marc love working in bronze for many reasons. Bronze is a very hardy material and will last forever. As experts in coloring bronze, Gillie and Marc enjoy experimenting with their sculptures, adding a splash of color to brighten the work, making it even more unique. > Read more
Care Instructions
Bronze is very easy to clean, allowing you to enjoy your precious sculpture with minimal upkeep. > Read more
Shipping, Returns and Refunds
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Give Back to WWF-AUSTRALIA
With every edition purchased, Gillie and Marc will proudly donate 30% of proceeds to support WWF-Australia.
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
For more information, visit https://wwf.org.au/donate/wild-about-babies/
