An arctic fox walked more than 4,415 kilometres from northern Norway to CanadaB次元官网网址檚 far north in four months, Norwegian researchers said.

The Norwegian Polar Institute reported the young female fox left her birth place on NorwayB次元官网网址檚 Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018 and reached CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Ellesmere Island by way of Greenland on July 1, 2018.

The ground the small fox cumulatively covered over those four months was among the most ever recorded for an arctic fox seeking a place to settle down and breed, the institute said in a research article subtitled B次元官网网址淥ne femaleB次元官网网址檚 long run across sea ice.B次元官网网址�

Institute scientists monitored the foxB次元官网网址檚 movements with a satellite tracking device they fitted her with in July 2017 near her native habitat by a glacier on NorwayB次元官网网址檚 Spitsbergen island. She stayed close to home then gradually ventured out until she left the island on March 26, 2018.

During the walk to Canada, the roughly two-year-old fox moved at an average rate of 46.3 kilometres per day, the Norwegian scientists said.

B次元官网网址淭he short span of time spent covering such a distance highlights the exceptional movement capacity of this small-sized carnivore species,B次元官网网址� they said.

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The distance between the foxB次元官网网址檚 natal den and where she settled on Ellesmere Island was 1,789 kilometres if travelled in a straight line, according to the institute.

The sea ice allows NorwayB次元官网网址檚 arctic foxes to reach Greenland and then North America, though itB次元官网网址檚 not known why they leave their birth places in search of places to breed, the researchers said.

The animals, which have thick fur to survive cold environments and live to about age four, subsist on fish, marine birds and lemmings.

The Associated Press

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