David Element

Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images

____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mammals 2 - Red Foxes

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes (f)

RED FOXES Vulpes vulpes (m, f)

RED FOXES Vulpes vulpes (m, f)

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes (f)

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes (f)

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes (f)

• The Red Fox Vulpes vulpes is one of the most adaptable and successful of all predatory mammals with a distribution covering much of the world. They have been illustrated here with a series of old personal favourite photographs that have been scanned from transparencies although there are many other digital images shown elsewhere on this web site. In Britain foxes have become a familiar sight in some major cities since the end of the Second World War. Suburban gardens, parks and railway embankments all provide ideal habitat (try looking out of a train window on a sunny day if you are travelling on a London suburban route) and there is no shortage of easy food to be obtained by scavenging. They have exceptional agility and they are able to scale most garden fences with ease.

• Although the maximum potential life span may reach double figures (and some captive animals are known to have lived this long) few wild foxes will live for more than four or five years and the majority will die within the first year of life.

• In London and Bristol, where significant population studies have been performed (*see below), the average life expectancy is not much more than fourteen or fifteen months. Urban populations suffer heavy casualties on the roads, with up to half of all foxes meeting an untimely end following collisions with cars. Other individuals may be injured during minor accidents and many foxes do appear to limp in a pronounced fashion, although this is often in response to a minor leg wound and the emphasis of the limp may change from day to day! If a limb is broken a fox will lie up out of sight until the wound has healed and it is strong enough to reclaim its position in the social hierarchy.

• Another major killer is sarcoptic mange, in which the most obvious symptom in affected individuals is fur loss. Whole family groups may be wiped out by this extremely unpleasant mite-borne disease. The foxes may become totally bald in severe cases and these animals are distressing to observe as they may take a long time to die. Some milder cases may recover spontaneously by developing antibodies against the mites and the author has had personal experience of observing this.

• Foxes do moult naturally during the summer months and this may lead the observer to erroneously believe that a healthy animal might have been infected with mange (although they can of course have this disease when moulting too). During the autumn the thick winter coat will grow and moulted foxes will then achieve their physical peak prior to mating. All of the illustrations above show foxes in this condition and the degree of insulation offered is seen in the photograph of the vixen in the snow - none of the snowflakes have melted.

• The breeding strategy of this species is intriguing as it is able to absorb this high mortality under all but the most extreme circumstances (i.e. a major and endemic outbreak of sarcoptic mange or persistent attempts at eradication by humans) without significant overall loss in population.

• The breeding season begins towards the end of each year. Courtship is an animated and noisy process and the animals become somewhat oblivious to all other events as the act of mating approaches. Screaming vixens sometimes cause consternation as the cries (which may sound uncannily human) are loud, piercing and often uttered at the dead of night!

• Two of the above photographs show foxes interacting during the breeding season. The second picture shows the dog fox and vixen in a state of high agitation with vibrissae fully erect and the fourth photo shows the same animals gently nuzzling as they cement their pair bond.

• During the breeding season adults normally live in pairs or in small family groups of between two and six. Most groups of more than two will contain one dominant dog fox and vixen and the remainder of the group consists of either sibling animals or offspring of lower social status. If more than one vixen conceives, only the dominant female will usually give birth, with other pregnant females spontaneously aborting their cubs in the majority of cases. This behaviour is presumably controlled by hormonal signals produced by the dominant vixen which then somehow suppress reproduction in the subordinates. However, if the dominant vixen fails to survive until the time when she is due to deliver her cubs, one of these subordinate females may then go on to produce a live litter. The reproductive strategy is therefore one of self-limitation.

• Despite the sophistication of the reproductive process most female foxes will only live long enough to produce a single litter when they are about ten months old.

• Even the litter size seems to be controllable, with larger numbers of cubs being produced when the population density is low and smaller numbers when it is high. The cubs will stay with the family group until August or September when they usually begin to migrate to new territories. This is another period of high mortality as the inexperienced cubs will be exposed to many sources of danger at this time.

• Foxes have variable temperaments and some individual animals may actually become very trusting and tame in the company of humans. Others will remain entirely wild and will avoid any human contact.

• Anyone with a genuine interest in foxes is strongly encouraged to read "Urban Foxes" by Stephen Harris - see full details on Mammals 1. This very informative and easy to read book gives an authoritative and well balanced overview of the status of the Red Fox in Britain. *Some of the above facts about breeding strategy and lifespan have been derived from this source.

• It is well known that not everybody likes foxes, so two useful addresses are given below if advice is required about humane deterrence or treatment for sarcoptic mange – although the author does not share any confidence in the use of homoeopathic remedies (however well-intentioned they might be) and any recovery may be due to good nutrition, hydration and an immune response instead. The following are busy charitable organizations (so any donations will be welcomed) and their addresses and contact numbers are as follows:

• The Fox Project, The Old Chapel, Bradford Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1AW. Tel:01732 367397; Fox Deterrence Helpline: 0906 272 4411

• The National Fox Welfare Society, 32 Bradfield Close, Rushden, Northants NN10 OEP. Tel:01933 411996; Adviceline:01933 397577

'Meet the Foxes' and 'Urban Fox Attack'

• Some of David's intimate close-up video material of two foxes appeared in a Twenty Twenty Television 'Cutting Edge' documentary about London's urban foxes entitled 'Meet the Foxes' which was broadcast on Channel 4. It is realised that some viewers were understandably upset by the final sequence shown in which a dog fox and pregnant vixen were shot dead. David would like to point out that his archive sequences were used as part of a composite film for narrative purposes and both of the animals seen in his film clips are presumed to have died some time later from natural causes. The dangers of life in an urban environment are genuine and many foxes do suffer an early and violent death as accurately shown in this film. The population may also fluctuate greatly in response to outbreaks of sarcoptic mange. More recently (July 2010) following a heavily publicised news story about twin babies that were apparently savaged by a fox in their upstairs bedroom much of this film was re-edited with some new footage under the title 'Urban Fox Attack' and shown on More4. Once photographs of the wounds were shown it became evident that they were indeed consistent with the type of bite-marks that a fox (or a dog) might have inflicted on its animal prey and it is quite obvious why this event was so upsetting. However, it is also quite possible on occasion that dog-owners might claim that a wild fox had been responsible for inflicting bites on family members rather than risk losing their pets as they would almost certainly have been destroyed. It is very much hoped that these children both made a complete recovery with minimal scarring. However, it is important to keep such matters in perspective and to ensure that any risk assessments about the possible threat to humans are evidence-based, taking into account the number of reported bite incidents and their severity. It is also appropriate to ensure that any possible actions taken relating to fox population control are based on sound expert judgement rather than any poorly informed knee-jerk populist political whims, not least because the foxes' breeding strategy is already self-limiting. For example any risk of physical injury from a fox should be weighed against the comparative risk from dog bites (enormously high by comparison) or from injuries inflicted by other humans. It must be emphasised that fox bites are extremely rare whereas some 'domestic' dogs seem to have been bred with the specific intent of inflicting maximum potential physical violence. Non-accidental injuries to children are often encountered in hospital casualty departments (unlike fox bites). Several young children have tragically been killed by vicious dogs that could not be controlled. In addition, more pathological organisms are recorded as having been horizontally transmitted by human bites than by dog bites. It was also erroneous for the film to have reported that rural foxes live for eight years as this is likely to be a maximum life-expectancy as there are many hazards in the countryside as well. For the record, the photographer and his family have hand-fed foxes on numerous occasions without ever receiving anything more threatening than a lick. However, care was taken not to raise hands above the foxes' heads so that they did not feel threatened and they were never cornered.

• There is also a very useful on-line overview of Red Fox biology at: http://www.rother.gov.uk/media/pdf/l/p/foxes.pdf .

• Marc Baldwin’s excellent, well-informed and objective ‘Wildlife Online’ web site is highly recommended for those who might like to discover more about the behaviour of British wild mammals including Red Foxes: https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/class/mammals .

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