How it all began.... The Foxes Lair.

Now everybody knows that artic foxes don't live on Antarctica. How would they get there? Antarctica is a land surrounded by a frozen and, at times, an angry ocean. So how on earth did Spangledfox get to this strange land. Well the answer is of course, in a crate! A crate transported to their base on Antarctica by a polar expedition. The polar expedition had practiced for their stay in Antarctica in a place called Iceland and polar foxes are the only native land mammal in that place. Although most polar foxes stay well away from man this fox was different. Spangledfox was inquisitive. No one saw the fox slip into the crate being packed for the expedition and upon hearing the return of the men, Spangledfox retired to the rear of the crate only to get locked in as the men sealed it for it's long trip! It was many hours before the men opened the crate again and began to remove it's contents. No one saw the fox slip out of the crate and away from the hanger bay then instinctively head towards the mountainous terrain just beyond the base. Spangledfox, a name given him by his mother when she had run out of all other names for her offspring, was glad to hear the men come back and open the crate  but had remained absolutely still until he was sure that the men had gone away again, leaving the crate open. Then, like a shadow he slipped away.

Because this was the end of winter at the Rothera Research Station it was still dark when Spangledfox slipped silently away and instinctively headed towards a line of hills in the distance. Spangledfox did not know, of course, that he was one of the few mammals in an area larger than Australia!  Had the scientist known about Spangledfox he would have drawn the attention of the whole base but foxes are the stealthiest of animals and nobody saw him leave. Spangledfox walked steadily towards the higher plain and after climbing steadily for half an hour reached a crevice in the rocks curled up out of the bitter wind and quickly fell asleep as foxes do! Not a care in the world. Spangledfox slept the whole night away and when he awoke next morning he had quite forgotten where he was! During the night the landscape about him had been dusted over with snow. Spangledfox yarned, stretched and then came out of his lair in the rocks thinking his mother, sisters and brothers would be there waiting for him. Imagine his surprise when there before him stood several little men dressed in, of all things, their dinner jackets! for a second Spangledfox froze thinking the game was up for he had never seen an adelie penguin before!

Spangledfox came out from among the rocks that had given him shelter and a good night's sleep to confront the penquins. Adelie penquins aren't the brightest of birds it seems and they have even been known to attempt to raise the chicks of their sworn enemies, the skuas! They have an enormous curiosity and so, without any apparent fear, they waddled towards the fox who was taken back by their strange appearance. A skua flying overhead spied a small female at the rear of the group and decided to try his luck! In a moment he alighted on the unfortunate adelie, but the fox, in an instance bounded across the startled adelies and landed upon the skua and his prey. With one bite spangledfox dispatched the even more unfortunate skua and the little female penquin thankfully slide away. The penquins saw what had happened and began applauding the fox by clapping their flippers together. Spangledfox decided that these little men might make good allies and so, as not to distress them dragged the skua back among the rocks and dinner was served.

The penquins, having lived in fear of skuas all their lives decided that this strange four-legged beast might even be their saviour! Now in case you are wondering, a fox is anything but a saviour to animals smaller than itself but this fox had never seen a penguin before! The fox was also intrigued by the penquin's stature, stood bolt upright and walking like a human. Foxes have an innate fear of men and this might, just might have caused Spangledfox to resist the temptation of attacking the penguins immediately! They really did look like little men to him and ALL men, as every fox knows, are very dangerous creatures!

Spangledfox was happy in the knowledge that these little men didn't seem to have any little dogs to chase after him! So the fox and the penguins lived in harmony and the skuas didn't bother the penguins anymore in that part of the world!