Natural History

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife | 6 Comments

6 Responses

1. on December 11, 2016 at 5:23 pm massugu

   I thought they were loners.

   
   
2. on December 11, 2016 at 5:23 pm Janice

   Looks like most are juveniles – probably one fox family unit . Wonder what is so tasty and abundant that has them chewing down .

   
   
   • on December 11, 2016 at 5:32 pm retrieverman

     That would be my guess. Not a lot is known about their social behavior, in comparison to red foxes. Red foxes are very well-studied in both Europe and North America.

     It amazes me how few studies are done on gray foxes, even though they are a pretty unique animal (found only in North and northern South America) and are the most divergent and basal of all extant dogs.

     
     
3. on December 11, 2016 at 5:24 pm Janice

   Chowing… damn autocorrect

   
   
4. on December 14, 2016 at 1:37 pm kittenz

   The young gray foxes seem to stay together for quite some time after leaving their parents. My cousin feeds some from her back porch – not a great deal of food, just a pie pan where she leave a few table scraps and a little cat food. It began when a pregnant fox was coming onto the porch and eating her cat’s food. The cat pretended it didn’t see the fox (cats have to save face) & the fox would stretch her neck as far as she could & bolt as much cat food as she could and then make a dash for the woods (which are right at my cousin’s back door). This went on for awhile, and my cousin, being tender-hearted toward all creatures, started putting out a pan of mixed table scraps and cat food just for the fox. The fox began bringing her kits with her after they were old enough to run quickly, and that same fox & kits came around for about two years – long after the kits were as large as or larger than the mom. Gradually the kits dropped away until just the mom was coming in by herself again, but one other female fox – presumably one of the grown kits – was still coming to eat at other times. This went on for several years.

   My cousin still puts food out, but she says that it’s usually possums that come for it now; she rarely has foxes come visit her feeder these days. I don’t know whether the foxes have become more scarce or just more wary, or a little of both. There are a lot of coyotes around now; they may be impacting the fox population.

   
   
   • on December 14, 2016 at 9:19 pm retrieverman

     As you go up into West Virginia, the number of gray foxes drops or something. If you find a gray fox, it’s way out in the woods, not up near houses. Red foxes are a dime a dozen. The area where I put out the camera is full of coyotes, so it’s odd to get any foxes, much less grays.

     
     

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