Melrakki: Iceland’s First Settler
- Icelandic Roots
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
By Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir
Wildlife Ecologist, Náttúrufræðistofnun (Natural Science Institute of Iceland)
Icelandic Roots Members are invited to join us on Wednesday, September 10th, at noon Central/1 pm Eastern for a seminar on Iceland’s original settler, the Arctic fox.
Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir is a wildlife ecologist and established a visitor centre for the Arctic fox in the Westfjords of Iceland in 2010. She took an active part in building up sustainable wildlife tourism in the region, with a focus on the Arctic foxes of Hornstrandir. As a wildlife specialist at Náttúrufræðistofnun (Natural Science Institute of Iceland) she is responsible for the monitoring of the Icelandic Arctic fox population.
Ester will talk about the ICEFOX research and team, and how Icelandic Roots members can support their work.
The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) is the only native terrestrial mammal in Iceland and can be regarded as the first settler (frumbyggi). The species has a circumpolar distribution on the mainland and islands of the Arctic and was isolated in Iceland while the ice cap retreated by the end of the Ice Age. It is well adapted to survive in the freezing Arctic winters, with thick and insulating fur. The Arctic fox has been listed as a flagship species to monitor climate effects on Arctic wildlife. Iceland has the largest population (>90%) of the Nordic countries, but Arctic foxes are critically endangered in Scandinavia.
When humans settled in Iceland during the 9th Century, they knew this little fox as melrakki, which means the dog (rakki) on the snow (mel or mjöll). Since then, Icelanders have called the species many names, such as tófa, skolli, and lágfóta, but most commonly they are called refur, which simply means a fox.
Most people know the white-coated fox of the Arctic that turns darker in the summer. Arctic foxes can also have a dark brown coat, termed “blue,” which does not turn white in the winter. Iceland has foxes of both colours, and the blue coat is more common in coastal areas, while the white coat is more likely found in the highlands.
The Arctic fox typically feeds on small mammals, such as lemmings and voles. However, Iceland lacks lemmings, and the mainstay of the fox’s diet consists of migrating birds, both of marine and inland origin, but also invertebrates and berries.
The Arctic fox is a solitary species with a monogamous mating system, and the pair stays together for as long as both live. Breeding occurs once a year, the mating takes place in March, and most cubs are born in May. Both parents take part in rearing cubs and defending the territory with scent marking and barking. The cubs grow fast and reach adult size by September, when they leave home and face the challenge of surviving their first winter.
Foxhunting has always taken place in Iceland, and harvest data is quite accurate since the onset of the hunting management unit in 1957. According to hunting statistics, and population estimates from 1979, the Icelandic Arctic fox population declined from an unknown maximum in the 1950s to a minimum of around 1,300 individuals in 1980.
After that there came a growth period with a peak of 9,000 foxes in 2007 and fluctuations from 6,000–9,000 since then. Both the fall and rise were related to changes in prey populations, which have followed climate events. Therefore, when temperatures got higher, migrating birds became more abundant, especially waders and geese. With birds in abundance, Arctic foxes had more food and more of them could breed successfully. Seabirds, however, suffered from warming temperatures in the ocean, as their main food source, the sandeel (or sand eel), retreated further north. Marine-related events are believed to have affected the Arctic foxes in coastal areas, and therefore, the monitoring program has focused on a comparison between inland and coastal foxes.
Professor Páll Hersteinsson, Ester’s mentor, established the Arctic fox monitoring program in 1979 and worked on it until he sadly passed away in 2011. His collaboration with foxhunters in all regions of Iceland, was exceptionally successful and the methods he used for the population analysis is still in use today. It is termed Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) and is based on information on the age distribution of the population each year. Foxhunters send samples of the harvest for dissemination and from the carcasses, various measurements are taken, and teeth are extracted for aging. The lower jawbone is cleaned and measured, and genitals are investigated for breeding activity and fertility. This is all recorded in a database and scientific collection, which now has information on more than 13,500 foxes. The data and samples are valuable sources for all kinds of research and therefore many students and senior scientists have used it to shed a light on ecological processes and other scientific mysteries.
In some nature reserves and national parks of Iceland, foxhunting is not allowed. Hornstrandir nature reserve is one of these sanctuaries that has been monitored annually to estimate the Arctic fox population. Foxhunting took place in this area until the law on conservation, protection and hunting wild mammals and birds (The Wildlife Law) came in effect in 1994. Monitoring surveys in Hornstrandir have been conducted since 1998 and show that the population stablized after the protection. During the same period, the population increased quite rapidly in other areas, despite hunting, suggesting that the protected population is regulated by natural forces and limited by the carrying capacity of the area. This information is highly valuable for conservation management, as foxhunting has been financially supported by the authorities for decades. Since the Wildlife Law stipulated protection of the native Arctic fox, Icelanders have killed more than 200,000 individuals, thereof over 60,000 cubs, and the cost has exceeded 3.5 billion ISK.
An extensive study on the population structure of the Icelandic Arctic fox, granted by the Icelandic Research Fund, was established in 2023. In that study, termed ICEFOX, researchers are constructing a detailed Bayesian model, based on temporal and spatial variation in age-related parameters. They are also investigating regional differences in the population, and analyzing the fox population’s diet.
There is a plan to fit foxes with satellite collars to investigate potential dispersal and hunting behaviour that has not yet been achieved due to a lack of funding. This is important, as it would shed light on regional variation and structure in the Icelandic population and the role of the Arctic fox as a keystone species in Icelandic ecosystems. Such detailed studies on a small and isolated Arctic fox population can also provide valuable information and provide a wider understanding of the species across its global range. A few small grants have been donated to the project, but there is still a need for more support. With support for the telemetry part of the project, there will be live information available from collared Arctic foxes soon.
Members of the ICEFOX team are:
· Dr. Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir (team leader)
· Dr. Bruce McAdam, Scotland (statistician)
· Prof. Nicolas Lecomte, University of New Brunswick, CA (population ecologist)
· Anna Bára Másdóttir, PhD student
· Prof. Snæbjörn Pálsson, University of Iceland (population ecologist).
The project and preliminary results will be introduced at the upcoming Seventh International Conference in Arctic Fox Biology in Churchill in late September this year (2025).
Additional Reading
Unnsteinsdóttir, Ester Rut, Borgný Katrínardóttir, Bruce J. McAdam (08 Apr 2025). “Den attendance by Arctic foxes experiencing 10 years of increasing tourism” Wildlife Biology. Retrieved from https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wlb3.01398
Garcia, Phil, Text by Rut Unnsteinsdóttir and illustrations by Rán Flygenring. (2025). Melrakki: The Surviving Arctic Fox. Order from: https://www.explographe.com/
“Arctic fox population monitoring” in National Science Institute of Iceland. Updated: 2005. Retrieved from https://www.natt.is/en/research/monitoring-and-research/voktun-refastofnsins
