Racine Zoo's new arctic fox exhibit complete
New arctic fox exhibit at Racine Zoo
RACINE, Wis. - The Racine Zoo announced Thursday that work on a new arctic fox enclosure has been completed.
The new enclosure is in the zoo's southeast corner near the bear exhibit. It includes a multi-tiered platform and sheltered ledge overlooking the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Foxes Echo and Luna, both 6 years old, made the move to their new space with ease, the zoo said. They've called the Racine Zoo home since they arrived as kits in 2016.
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The Racine Zoo's staff worked to design the enclosure with the arctic fox pair in mind and have taken care to include the addition of a heated shelter, a news release said, allowing them to remain on exhibit in colder temperatures.
The additional space will also allow zookeepers to add new enrichment items and encourage natural behaviors, such as finding hidden food items in the enclosure substrate – a fox favorite, the zoo said.
New arctic fox exhibit at Racine Zoo
Since their introduction to the new exhibit, staff have noticed an increase in the foxes' "caching." Foxes are often able to catch more food than is able to be immediately consumed, the zoo said, so they cache it and store it for later. They then use their amazing sense of smell to find these items at a later date. It means the staff needs to search the fox exhibit very carefully to find all of the hidden "treasures" the foxes hide.
The modifications to the enclosure, the zoo said, were made possible by the generous support of Ross Cecil.