A litter of 10 adorable Arctic fox cubs have added another touch of cuteness to the Highland Wildlife Park.
And, although they are barely tall enough to peek over the grass, they have already started to explore their surroundings under the watchful eye of parents May and Bard, who arrived at the park in November 2018.
The cubs will stay with their parents for around five to six months.
The foxes are known for their thick white fur, which helps them to cope with temperatures as low as -50C.
However their young are born grey or brown for better camouflage during the summer months, and adults change their colouring with the seasons.
The animals are now extinct in Scotland but would have roamed the country up until the last Ice Age.
Nowadays, they live throughout the Arctic region, with Scandinavian animals migrating south to the Baltic coast for the winter.
In the past the animal was exploited for the fur trade, however, in countries where this is common – such as Greenland, Svalbard, Canada, Russia and Alaska – there are now well-enforced laws in place to limit this practice.
The Arctic fox is generally unprotected throughout most of its range but in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, it has been fully protected for more than 60 years.
Although global numbers are currently stable, some regional populations are declining and are critically low due to disease and exposure to toxic pollutants.
The furry cubs follow in the footsteps of polar bear Hamish, who was born in the zoo at the end of 2017 and has proved to be a huge tourist attraction for the park,.
Hamish, the first polar cub to be born in the UK in 25 years, shares an enclosure with his mother Victoria.
