‘This was the end of October, and winter has taken over the extreme north-east of the Yamal peninsula’. Picture: Alexander Yakovlev
Wild animal uses eye contact to ‘flatter’ biologist Alexander Yakovlev – hoping for a tasty breakfast – at dawn on the shores of the freezing Gulf of Ob.
These superb photographs were captured by the scientist right at the end of his sojourn studying the Arctic nature. As he put it, the fox’s show in the Yamal morning glory was ‘a perfect end to my season on the Yamal peninsula’.
Alexander Yakovlev explained: ‘The whole world appears to be pink during sunrise. ‘This was the end of October, and winter has taken over the extreme north-east of the Yamal peninsula. ‘A low tundra sun rises above the horizon for several minutes – to reveal a pink Arctic Fox.
‘During winter time Arctic Foxes become active nomads, often seeking contact with humans in search for food.
‘This Arctic Fox moved along my footsteps and even dared to make contact’. Pictures: Alexander Yakovlev
‘From dawn Arctic Fox run around the area, checking for any bit of food they can find on shores of freezing Gulf of the Ob River’, Alexander said. ‘Once they see a human, most often they don’t run away but inquisitively observe and even get close.
‘The hope to get food wins over their instinctive cautiousness.
‘This Arctic Fox moved along my footsteps and even dared to make contact.
‘The animal started to flatter me by looking into my eyes.
‘After figuring out that I won’t be sparing any food, the fox goes hunting, demonstrating its perfect ability to sniff anything edible.
‘This seemed to be a lucky morning as the fox found something under the snow that looked half way edible.
‘My time in the tundra shows that they tend to try and eat any little thing they see since autumn and winter on the Yamal peninsula can be really tough.
‘While the snow cover is not thick, Arctic Foxes find enough food to get by and even feel in a good enough mood to play around, just like this one today.’
‘This was the end of October, and winter has taken over the extreme north-east of the Yamal peninsula’. Pictures: Alexander Yakovlev
Eventually the animal wanders off to check other areas.
From Cheboksary on the Volga River, capital of the Chuvash Republic, Alexander, 44, describes himself as a ‘free biologist’ and photographer.
‘I was on a summer-long biodiversity assignment on the Yamal peninsula,’ he told us. ‘The pictures were taken not that long ago – on 30 October.
‘This job has nothing to do with my main work.
‘Usually I take summers off to travel and around Russia and study nature.
‘This is why I describe myself as a ‘free biologist’ on my Facebook profile.’
”This was a splendid end of my field season up north.’ Pictures: Alexander Yakovlev
The heartwarming pictures were taken with a Canon 70D camera and Sigma 120-400 telephoto lens.
‘What time was I up to make the shoot?
‘The sun rises late at the end of October, around 8.30am so all these pictures were made between 8.30am and 9.30 am.’
For now he has bid farewell to the tundra.
‘This was a splendid end of my field season up north.’
Pink and gold, stunning pictures of the Arctic fox made by Alexander Yakovlev
Ref.: http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/stunning-pictures-of-pink-arctic-fox-basking-in-sunrise-on-yamal-peninsula/
More from Siberia
Extinct cave lion cub in ‘perfect’ condition found in Siberia rising cloning hopes
The young beast’s head was resting on a paw in frozen ground for up to 50,000 years, shows amazing first picture.
The pre-historic animal was found in permafrost on the bank of Tirekhtykh River of the Abyisky district of Yakutia by a local resident Boris Berezhnov.
Excited scientists unveiled the discovery – its facial features clearly visible – in Yakutsk today.
The animal was aged around one and a half to two months old when it perished. It is not yet clear whether the cub was male or female.
Expert Dr Albert Protopopov said: ‘It is a perfectly preserved lion cub, all the limbs have survived. There are no traces of external injuries on the skin.’
‘It is a perfectly preserved lion cub, all the limbs have survived. There are no traces of external injuries on the skin.’ Pictures: The Siberian Times
The preservation is so good that it raises hopes of cloning the species back to life, he said.
The discovery is seen as better preserved than two tiny cave lion cubs found in the same Siberian region in 2015.
In one of these scientists found what is believed to be traces of mother’s milk.
‘Everyone was amazed then and did not believe that such a thing is possible, and now, two years later, another cave lion has been found in the Abyiski district,’ he said.
