Canis lupus hominis

The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is a widespread animal in the Americas.  Very little  research is done on the species.  All we know is that Urocyon is one of the oldest genera in the dog family.  The fox mates earlier in the northern parts of its range than the southern parts of its range in the United States. It has a gestation period of around 53 days, about ten days shorter than a dog, a wolf, or a coyote. It prefers brushy thickets to more open territory, and it can climb trees to avoid predators or seek new food sources.

Other than that, we know very little about it. There is a paucity of literature about the species. We know that its numbers can withstand a very high morality rate per year, and we also know that it was the main vector of a distemper outbreak in the nineties. But other than that, the animal is really absent from most scholarly works.

Its close cousin, the Island Fox, the only other extant species in the genus Urocyon, has received a great deal of attention, mainly because it is an endangered species and funding exists to find out all we can about endangered species.

The gray fox is really quite rare in Canada. It is thought that most gray foxes seen in Canada are vagrants from the United States. A breeding population has been documented only on Pelee Island in Ontario. It is considered an at risk species in Canada, even though its range is very difficult to maintain in the hemiboreal forests. It is much more of a southern species.

We also do not know much about the populations of this species that live south of Mexico. The range of this fox extends into Colombia and Venezuela. However, there has been little exploration of these populations.

Why do we know so litle about them? First of all, they are very secretive animals, but they live in areas that are widely populated. This excuse doesn’t fly.

Secondly, it is a victim of its own banality. The gray fox isn’t endangered. Funds for researching a species that is both accessible and not endangered are harder to come by. This animal is a fur-bearer, but its fur is of a lesser quality than the red fox, especially its silver variant. So funds cannot come from the fur industry either.

Further, there is a bit of confusion about the gray fox. In South America, there is another species called a gray fox (Lycalopex griseus). This species is a wolf-like “fox” that is native to South America. It is called a gray fox, a gray zorro (Spanish for fox), a Patagonian fox, and a Chilla. To avoid confusion with the Urocyon species, I call it a Chilla.

The gray fox has a bit of an identity problem because of this confusion name. I’ve seen supposed pictures of the tree-climbing gray fox that are really Chillas.

The funds just don’t exist to study “non-sexy” species, but I find the gray fox to be among the most interesting of all canids. It is a old species with a unique habit of climbing trees and wide range. It isn’t even that closely related to the red fox, yet that species gets a lot more attention, even though it is not native to the US south of the 40th parallel. It is really a shame that this species isn’t recognized for its unique American-ness and made a national symbol.