Longest journey by a fox

A female Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), fitted with a satellite-tracked collar, was documented covering a distance of at least 4,599 kilometres (2,857 miles) between 4 February and 17 July 2009 (163 days). Over the course of the journey across Baffin Bay in the Canadian Arctic, starting north of Bylot Island and ending on Somerset Island, the fox covered as much as 90 kilometres (56 miles) per day, traversing land and sea-ice.

As part of the same study, a male Arctic fox was also tracked: its minimum total distance travelled over the same period was 2,193 km (1,362 mi) with a maximum daily distance of 88 km (55 mi).

Published in Polar Biology on 5 March 2010, the study was conducted by the Université de Québec à Rimouski (Canada), led by Dr Arnaud Tarroux.

A more recent paper, published in Polar Research on 24 June 2019, documented another female Arctic fox that also undertook a massive dispersal movement, indicating that the record journey was not a one-off for this species. The vixen covered 3,507 km (2,179 mi) in just 76 days between Spitsbergen in Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago and Ellesmere Island, Canada, crossing sea-ice in the Arctic to complete the transcontinental trip. From the den where she was born, meanwhile, the total cumulative distance covered was 4,415 km (2,743 mi). Her average rate of movement was estimated to be 46.3 km (28.7 mi) per day, but at her peak she covered as much as 155 km (96 mi) per day – an unprecedented speed for this species. This study was led by Dr Eva Fuglei of the Norwegian Polar Institute in collaboration with Dr Arnaud Tarroux of The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (both Norway).

Arctic foxes from previous studies (e.g., Fuglei & Øritsland 2003; Macpherson, 1968; Sdonikov, 1940) that used ear-tagging rather than satellite telemetry may have travelled even greater distances, but it’s impossible to know as we only have the end points of the journey. A straight-line distance of 2,300 km (1,429 mi) logged for one of these foxes significantly surpasses the straight-line distances of both the Bylot (600 km) and Spitsbergen (1,789 km) foxes above.