Foraging Patterns of Arctic Foxes at a Large Arctic Goose Colony

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Samelius, Gustaf, Alisauskas, Ray T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 2000
• Subjects: arctic fox; Alopex lagopus; Banks Island; food caching; foraging behaviours; lesser snow goose; Chen caerulescens caerulescens; renard arctique; île Banks; dissimulation de nourriture; comportements de recherche de nourriture; petite oie des neiges; Arctic; Canada; Renard; Arctic Fox; Arctique*; Île Banks
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/63915

Arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) are the main predators of many arctic-nesting birds, and such predation can have a large impact on the nesting performance of geese in some years and in some parts of the Arctic. We examined foraging patterns of arctic foxes at a large lesser snow goose (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) colony on Banks Island, Canada, from 1996 to 1998 and were especially interested in the proportion of food that was cached for later use and the impact that fox predation had on goose productivity. Arctic foxes took mostly eggs when foraging among geese, and most of these eggs (97%) were cached for later use. Adult geese and lemmings were taken in low numbers, and most of these foods (83% of geese and 75% of lemmings) were eaten immediately. In years with high fox abundance, the foxes spent considerable effort moving eggs from old caches. This behaviour may have resulted from high rates of cache pilfering, or foxes may have been moving caches to deter cache pilfering. The impact of fox predation was low in all years, and foxes took only about 4-8% of all eggs available at the colony during incubation each year. However, caching and use of cached eggs may influence the survival of arctic foxes by forming significant parts of their winter diet or by supplementing the diets of growing young: during nesting each year, foxes took on average 900-1570 eggs per fox. Le renard arctique (Alopex lagopus) constitue le prédateur principal de nombreux oiseaux nicheurs de l'Arctique, et cette prédation peut avoir des conséquences majeures sur le succès de la couvaison des oies durant certaines années et dans certaines parties de l'Arctique. Notre étude, réalisée de 1996 à 1998, sur les schémas de recherche de nourriture du renard arctique dans une vaste colonie de petites oies des neiges (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) située dans l'île Banks, au Canada, portait surtout sur la proportion de nourriture qui était dissimulée dans des caches pour consommation ultérieure ainsi que sur l'impact qu'avait la prédation du ...