Arctic Foxes hunt below cliff-nesting Kittiwakes hoping to grab a fallen chick to stash for winter

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Arctic Foxes (Vulpes lagopus) are a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are omnivorous, eating a wide range of food including small mammals, birds and their eggs, fish, carrion, berries and seaweed. They do not hibernate and survive the harsh Arctic winters on body fat accumulated in spring and summer and on cached food, as well as having the thickest fur of any mammal. On the island of Barentsøya in the Svalbard Archipelago Kittiwakes (a type of gull, Rissa tridactyla) breed on the walls of the Kapp Waldburg Canyon. The Kittiwake nests are on narrow ledges on the cliff walls, and sometimes a chick falls to the canyon floor below. A family of Arctic Foxes lurks on the rocky scree slope below the Kittiwake rookery, waiting for a chick to fall from its nest. An immature Fox searched amongst the scree for food before drinking from a small stream, and an adult Fox hunted on the scree slope then curled up, waiting. Its patience was rewarded – it grabbed a Kittiwake chick and headed over the hill to cache it.