Wildwood welcomes new red fox

Wildwood is pleased to welcome Baxter, our new red fox.

The new addition brings number of red foxes at Wildwood to 3 and Baxter is getting on well with his new acquaintances, Wildwood residents Ellie and Chris.

Baxter was brought to Wildwood by The Fox Project, a charity based in Kent and the South East that helps sick and injured foxes and abandoned cubs, providing for their care, treatment and rehabilitation back to the wild.

Baxter, a young male, was rescued by the Fox Project team after being found abandoned as a cub. They cared for him until he was strong enough to fend for himself but sadly he is not suitable to be returned to the wild so has been brought to Wildwood to live with our existing foxes.

Wildwood’s head keeper Paul Wirdnam said “Wildwood has worked with the Fox Project for a number of years, their team do a fantastic job have rehabilitated thousands of foxes just like Baxter. We are very proud to work with them”

Baxter is now on display in Wildwood’s specially designed red fox enclosure and is just one of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at www.wildwoodtrust.org or telephone 01227 712 111

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury.

FACTS - Red Fox Vulpes vulpes

Recognition:

Reddish orange fur, small dog sized; thick bushy tail in winter
Head/body length: average 67-72cm for males; 62-67cm for females; tail about 40cm
Weight: average 6-7kg for males; 5-6kg for females.

General Ecology:

A highly adaptable species, found in nearly all habitats from salt marshes and sand dunes to the tops of mountains. In Britain, more than elsewhere in Europe, foxes have also adapted to life in urban surroundings.

Foxes hold territories, the size of which depends on habitat; they can be as small as 0.2 square kilometres in urban areas or up to 40 square kilometres in hill country. Each territory is occupied by a fox family group. These often consist of a pair - dog fox and vixen - and their cubs. However, in areas where foxes are not persecuted and where there is a plentiful supply of food, a family group may contain several adults.

Foxes have a very wide and varied diet. On salt marshes they eat crabs and dead seabirds, while in upland regions carrion may be important, particularly during the winter months. In lowland rural areas small mammals, especially field voles and rabbits, are the major source of food, with earthworms, beetles, fruit (particularly blackberries) and small birds also being eaten.

Urban foxes glean large amounts of food. Much of this is deliberately supplied by local householders, and is supplemented by scavenging from dustbins, birdtables and compost heaps. Unlike rural foxes, those living in some urban areas eat many small birds and feral pigeons.

Usually only one vixen in a group produces cubs, once a year in the spring. Litters average four to five cubs which are born blind and deaf in a den (called an earth). The earth may be dug by the foxes, or they may enlarge a rabbit burrow or use holes made by other animals. In urban areas cubs are often born under garden sheds. A vixen stays in the earth with her cubs for the first two weeks of their lives. At about four weeks old, usually in late April or early May, cubs begin to come into the open, when they are often seen by city householders.

Foxes generally do not live very long; although they have been recorded up to nine years old in the wild, most survive only one or two years.

Conservation:

Foxes have little legal protection. In some areas they are subjected to much persecution including shooting, hunting, being snared and dug out with terriers and caught with lurchers (fast, long-legged dogs). Self-locking snares and gin traps, both of which were once used to catch foxes, have been outlawed. Free running snares are legal, but they must be inspected at least once a day. These humanitarian provisions are the sole protection received by foxes.

Despite their lack of protection foxes are widespread and abundant. The success of the fox is due to its adaptability and it is in no need of active conservation measures. There remain about 190 fox hunts in England and Wales, but these probably kill a small proportion of foxes compared to those captured in snares and killed by other means. In the early 1980s many foxes were killed each year for their fur, most of which was exported to West Germany. However, with the decline in fur prices, this trade has decreased substantially.

Fox lived in the Shard skyscraper at London Bridge

Romeo has now been released on the streets of Bermondsey

24 February 2011

A fox has been discovered living at the top of the UK's tallest skyscraper.

The animal, named Romeo by staff, is thought to have entered the 288m (945ft) Shard building at London Bridge through the central stairwell.

It survived by eating scraps of food left by builders working on the incomplete structure.

The fox was captured and taken to Riverside Animal Centre in Wallington where it was fed and given a check-up.

Ted Burden, the centre's founder, said: "We explained to him that if foxes were meant to be 72 storeys off the ground, they would have evolved wings.

"We think he got the message and, as we released him back on to the streets of Bermondsey shortly after midnight on Sunday, he glanced at the Shard and then trotted off in the other direction."

'Resourceful little chap'

Barrie Hargrove, cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling at Southwark Council, said: "Romeo has certainly been on a bit of a jaunt and proved rather elusive.

"But I'm glad our pest control officers were able to help out.

"He's obviously a resourceful little chap, but I'm sure he's glad the adventure is over and hopefully he'll steer well clear of skyscrapers in the future."

The Shard overtook Canary Wharf as the UK's highest tower block last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12573364

Man's First Best Friend Might Have Been A Fox

by NPR Staff
February 19, 2011

In a dusty, ancient burial site in northern Jordan, archaeologists have made a startling discovery: a fox buried alongside human remains.

It seems some 16,000 years ago, several millennia before any animals were domesticated, humans may have been making an early attempt to keep pets. Red foxes, to be precise.

It's a surprising find, Cambridge researcher Lisa Maher tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "When we were first excavating the site, we thought it might have been a dog," she says. It wasn't until her team analyzed the animal's remains that it realized it was a fox.

That the fox was a pet is only one of several possibilities, however. It may instead have had totemic or spiritual significance to the culture. But Maher's team compared the burial site to sites from 4,000 years later, when domesticated dogs did accompany human burials. The similarities suggest "that it probably was a more emotional relationship of one particular fox to one particular person," she says.

Those similarities are also significant because they highlight a continuity in mortuary practices through time, Maher adds. "We're seeing these things, these similarities in mortuary practices and relationships to humans and animals in a much greater time depth than we had previously."

If the fox were indeed a pet, it would be a pretty big deal. "It's certainly a big deal for prehistoric archeology," Maher says, "but it's also a big deal for how we understand human-animal relationships today and in the past."

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/19/133898499/mans-first-best-friend-might-have-been-a-fox

Red fox sighting may spur federal protection

By Michael Doyle
mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
Last Modified: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 1:55 pm

WASHINGTON – The rarely seen Sierra Nevada red fox could be the next candidate for federal protection – and perhaps controversy – now that one has been photographed prowling near Sonora Pass.

Last month, a remote camera set up by the Forest Service to monitor a bait station snapped a picture of the red fox, previously thought to be confined to the Lassen Volcanic National Park area, 150 miles away.

Saliva samples subsequently analyzed by a UC Davis team confirmed the red fox's identity.

"It looks like it may be an excellent candidate for listing," Lisa Belensky, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview Tuesday. "We're considering it."

John Buckley, director of the Twain Harte-based Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, agreed Tuesday that "there is justification for listing (the fox) and having a recovery plan."

New Endangered Species Act listings are harder than ever to get, with the federal law remaining intensely controversial, its costs and consequences subject to question.

"Our state water supply has been hijacked by the radically irresponsible Endangered Species Act," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, declared in one illustrative House speech last year.

Radanovich is retiring at the end of the year. His likely replacement, Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced, appears to share the Endangered Species Act skepticism commonly voiced by Radanovich and other Central Valley lawmakers.

Radanovich's 19th Congressional District includes Sonora and the Stanislaus National Forest, the region where scientists are now redoubling their efforts to find evidence of the Sierra Nevada red fox.

"Now there's proof, evidence that the fox's population has spread," Buckley said.

The tracks may eventually lead in several different directions.

Federal scientists can propose adding the fox to the endangered species list that currently numbers 1,959 plants and animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service currently identifies another 48 species that have been proposed for listing.

An additional 245 species are deemed "candidate" species. These are plants and animals deemed to be at risk but which are not added to the protected list because of what the Fish and Wildlife Service considers higher-priority obligations.

"There are species that sit on that candidate list for years and years," Belensky said.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/08/3012009/red-fox-sighting-may-spur-federal.html

Red fox sighting may spur federal protection

By Michael Doyle
mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B
Last Modified: Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2010 - 1:55 pm

WASHINGTON – The rarely seen Sierra Nevada red fox could be the next candidate for federal protection – and perhaps controversy – now that one has been photographed prowling near Sonora Pass.

Last month, a remote camera set up by the Forest Service to monitor a bait station snapped a picture of the red fox, previously thought to be confined to the Lassen Volcanic National Park area, 150 miles away.

Saliva samples subsequently analyzed by a UC Davis team confirmed the red fox's identity.

"It looks like it may be an excellent candidate for listing," Lisa Belensky, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview Tuesday. "We're considering it."

John Buckley, director of the Twain Harte-based Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, agreed Tuesday that "there is justification for listing (the fox) and having a recovery plan."

New Endangered Species Act listings are harder than ever to get, with the federal law remaining intensely controversial, its costs and consequences subject to question.

"Our state water supply has been hijacked by the radically irresponsible Endangered Species Act," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, declared in one illustrative House speech last year.

Radanovich is retiring at the end of the year. His likely replacement, Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced, appears to share the Endangered Species Act skepticism commonly voiced by Radanovich and other Central Valley lawmakers.

Radanovich's 19th Congressional District includes Sonora and the Stanislaus National Forest, the region where scientists are now redoubling their efforts to find evidence of the Sierra Nevada red fox.

"Now there's proof, evidence that the fox's population has spread," Buckley said.

The tracks may eventually lead in several different directions.

Federal scientists can propose adding the fox to the endangered species list that currently numbers 1,959 plants and animals. The Fish and Wildlife Service currently identifies another 48 species that have been proposed for listing.

An additional 245 species are deemed "candidate" species. These are plants and animals deemed to be at risk but which are not added to the protected list because of what the Fish and Wildlife Service considers higher-priority obligations.

"There are species that sit on that candidate list for years and years," Belensky said.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/08/3012009/red-fox-sighting-may-spur-federal.html

Scientists hail find of rare fox in Sierra Nevada

11:35 pm

RENO (AP) — Scientists are hailing the confirmed find of a Sierra Nevada red fox about 90 miles south of Reno, a native subspecies feared extinct in the range since the last verified sighting in 1990.

The fox was photographed Aug. 11 near Sonora Pass on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest by a motion-activated camera set up by U.S. Forest Service employees monitoring the activities of other wildlife.

DNA testing of saliva samples from a chicken-filled sock at the site found the fox is most likely a member of a remnant population of the subspecies in the Sierra, said Ben Sacks, an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Davis, who conducted the tests.

“This is the most exciting animal discovery we've had in California since the discovery of a wolverine in the Sierra two years ago,” Sacks said. “Only this time the unexpected critter turned out to be homegrown, which is truly big news.”

Researchers determined the wolverine wandered into the Sierra from the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

John Perrine, a biology professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, said it was the first confirmed sighting of the fox subspecies (Vulpes vulpes necator) in the Sierra since 1990 near Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park.

“What's exciting is that it shows there are native mountain red foxes in the Sierra right now, which is something we didn't think were still there,” Perrine said. “We didn't have any evidence they were there and now we do.”

The DNA testing showed it's unlikely the fox wandered 150 miles south to Sonora Pass from a very small population of the subspecies around Lassen Peak in northern California, Perrine said.

The fox is genetically distinct from members of that group in the southern Cascade Range, he said. The fox carried a genetic signature seen previously only in three other foxes that were collected in the Sierra before 1926 and later became museum specimens, he added.

Sacks said he thinks other members exist of the subspecies known for its darker-colored, soft fur.

“There's a remote chance they were ready to blink out and we got the last one, but I think that's highly unlikely,” Sacks said. “There have to be other foxes out there in the Sierra.”

Scientists are unsure why the shy creature has declined in numbers. Environmental groups have blamed logging, livestock grazing and trapping.

California banned trapping of the foxes in 1974 and listed the animal as a threatened species in 1980. The Forest Service lists it as a sensitive species in California.

Perrine said evidence indicates the subspecies warrants protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, but he thinks more research is needed to meet the burden of proof for such a listing.

“It's a special, unique part of our natural heritage, and we know now that it's not totally gone,” he said. “We have an opportunity to protect it for the future.”

Rachel Mazur, wildlife biologist for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, said cameras will be set up in a wider area around Sonora Pass in an effort to learn more about the animal.

“To us, it's definitely a species of concern,” she said. “It's as rare as you can get when you only know of one member of a subspecies.”

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100905/NEWS/100909767/1064/NEWS

Scientists hail find of rare fox in Sierra Nevada

11:35 pm

RENO (AP) — Scientists are hailing the confirmed find of a Sierra Nevada red fox about 90 miles south of Reno, a native subspecies feared extinct in the range since the last verified sighting in 1990.

The fox was photographed Aug. 11 near Sonora Pass on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest by a motion-activated camera set up by U.S. Forest Service employees monitoring the activities of other wildlife.

DNA testing of saliva samples from a chicken-filled sock at the site found the fox is most likely a member of a remnant population of the subspecies in the Sierra, said Ben Sacks, an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Davis, who conducted the tests.

“This is the most exciting animal discovery we've had in California since the discovery of a wolverine in the Sierra two years ago,” Sacks said. “Only this time the unexpected critter turned out to be homegrown, which is truly big news.”

Researchers determined the wolverine wandered into the Sierra from the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

John Perrine, a biology professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, said it was the first confirmed sighting of the fox subspecies (Vulpes vulpes necator) in the Sierra since 1990 near Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park.

“What's exciting is that it shows there are native mountain red foxes in the Sierra right now, which is something we didn't think were still there,” Perrine said. “We didn't have any evidence they were there and now we do.”

The DNA testing showed it's unlikely the fox wandered 150 miles south to Sonora Pass from a very small population of the subspecies around Lassen Peak in northern California, Perrine said.

The fox is genetically distinct from members of that group in the southern Cascade Range, he said. The fox carried a genetic signature seen previously only in three other foxes that were collected in the Sierra before 1926 and later became museum specimens, he added.

Sacks said he thinks other members exist of the subspecies known for its darker-colored, soft fur.

“There's a remote chance they were ready to blink out and we got the last one, but I think that's highly unlikely,” Sacks said. “There have to be other foxes out there in the Sierra.”

Scientists are unsure why the shy creature has declined in numbers. Environmental groups have blamed logging, livestock grazing and trapping.

California banned trapping of the foxes in 1974 and listed the animal as a threatened species in 1980. The Forest Service lists it as a sensitive species in California.

Perrine said evidence indicates the subspecies warrants protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, but he thinks more research is needed to meet the burden of proof for such a listing.

“It's a special, unique part of our natural heritage, and we know now that it's not totally gone,” he said. “We have an opportunity to protect it for the future.”

Rachel Mazur, wildlife biologist for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, said cameras will be set up in a wider area around Sonora Pass in an effort to learn more about the animal.

“To us, it's definitely a species of concern,” she said. “It's as rare as you can get when you only know of one member of a subspecies.”

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100905/NEWS/100909767/1064/NEWS

Carnivorous mammals track fruit abundance

Photo: Minette Layne

14-Jun-2010

The scientific community already knew that many carnivores eat fruit, but had thought this was something purely anecdotal. Now researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) have shown that carnivorous animals such as foxes and martens play an important role in helping fruiting plants to reproduce and disperse their seeds.

Far from viewing the relationship between carnivorous mammals and plants as irrelevant, a team of researchers from the USC studied how foxes and (Vulpes vulpes) and the European pine marten (Martes martes) consumed the fruit of the rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia) in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range, and found that both species were capable of tracking yearly differences in the abundance of rowan fruit in Cantabrian forests, and in addition showed a marked preference for the most productive trees.

"Carnivores are not indifferent to seasonal and spatial variations in the amount of fruit they can obtain from the rowan tree", Ignacio Munilla, co-author of the study and a researcher at the USC' Department of Botany, tells SINC.

The study, published in the journal Acta Oecologica, suggests that some of the ecological paradigms about seed dispersal developed in tropical environments should be reconsidered for temperate climates. Munilla says: "The rowan is important to carnivores and carnivores are important to the rowan".

The rowan appears at altitudes of over 1,000 metres in the mountains of the Cordillera Cantábrica, and is a pioneer species that colonises secondary scrub and "prepares the way towards mature forest".

"Given its abundance and wide distribution, the rowan is a very important resource in European forests, from the mountains of the south of the continent right up to Scandinavia", says José Guitián, another co-author of the report and a researcher at the Department of Cell Biology and Ecology of the USC.

However, the amount of fruit this tree produces varies widely from year to year. Periods without any fruit alternate with years of extremely abundant harvests with more than 50,000 fruits per tree. Despite these enormous year-on-year fluctuations, a study over an uninterrupted test series of 11 years into the significance of the rowan in the diet of the fox and marten compared with the environmental abundance of this resource showed that both factors – harvest and consumption – followed very similar patterns.

Monitoring of 20 trees

The same research team also carried out another study published in the same article, in which they monitored 20 rowan trees over 10 days and nights. They found that carnivores visited the 10 trees with the largest fruit production most often, picking up fallen fruit and helping to disperse the seeds.

"The probability of a tree being visited by a carnivore seemed to depend directly on the number of fruits that had fallen below it. The carnivores went off with a considerable proportion of the fallen fruit (much more than the amount destroyed by rodents during the same period)", says Guitián.

The carnivores also help the rowan to thrive by dispersing the seeds contained inside the fruits that fall from the tree.

According to the researchers, the rowan-fox-marten system could be important in mountain ecosystems on the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the fruit falling under the mother plant may not necessarily represent a failure in terms of dispersal "since there could be a high likelihood of these seeds being mobilised by carnivores".

###

References:

Guitián, J.; Munilla, I. "Responses of mammal dispersers to fruit availability: Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) and carnivores in mountain habitats of northern Spain". Acta Oecologica 36: 242-247, 2010. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2010.01.005

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/f-sf-cmt061410.php
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

Trapped foxes freed with washing liquid

Monday, April 19 2010, 17:12 BST
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

Three red fox cubs who became trapped in a drain have been set free with the aid of washing liquid.

The creatures were trapped in a grate in Plainfield, Connecticut when their mewing was heard by nearby residents, Rex Features reports.

Firefighters, police and an animal welfare officer arrived on the scene but did not have the appropriate tools to cut the metal to release the cubs.

Vaseline and corn oil proved ineffective in freeing the foxes, but animal control officer Karen Stone freed them with the aid of washing up liquid.

"Except for being a little soapy, I think they were okay," she said.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a215265/trapped-foxes-freed-with-washing-liquid.html

RSPCA foxed by 'puppies'

RSPCA workers were shocked when five tiny 'puppies' dumped in a plastic bag in London turned out to be fox cubs.


A passer-by found the tiny quintet in a garden in Stoke Newington and rushed them to the RSPCA Harmsworth Animal Hospital.




At first it was thought that the black bundles of fur were Staffordshire bull terrier puppies.

The reality, however, proved to be something slightly wilder - they are in fact fox cubs.

Just where there mother is and how they came to be dumped in a plastic bag remains a mystery.

One thing however is certain; if the cubs hadn't been discovered when they were they would certainly have died.

RSPCA officer Greg Hagen added: "We are also worried about their mother as she could also be suffering."

The little foxes - called Buddy, Bobby, Tony, Elliot and Lulu - are now being looked after by Lyn Vaughan at her home in Surrey.

The kind volunteer fosters injured and orphaned foxes for the Fox Project Charity and is a pro when it comes to feeding hungry cubs.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3736377.html?menu=news.quirkies.animaltales

Man accused of spraying protesters with fox urine

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 19, 2010; 8:31 PM

PORTLAND, Maine -- A 36-year-old Maine man facing assault charges after allegedly spraying fox urine on protesters and a police officer outside a Portland restaurant. Police said the man was arrested Sunday night after spraying a group outside The Front Room restaurant protesting what they call labor violations. Restaurant owner Harding Lee Smith was the target of a lawsuit claiming he's been violating state and federal wage and hour rules.

Police said the suspect lives in an apartment above the restaurant, but does not work there. Smith told The Portland Daily Sun that Murphy might have been reacting to the protests that have been taking place outside his restaurant.

Fox urine is commonly used as a repellant to keep animals out of people's gardens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011903594.html
(Submitted by Robert Schneck)

Alan & Fleck have an "Arctic Fox" of a time

There are two particular residents of Kent who have been enjoying the cold snowy conditions more than anyone else.

Wildwoods resident Arctic foxes have been feeling right at home as snow blankets their enclosure making them truly feel they are in the arctic.

During the rest of the year Alan and his daughter Fleck find modern Britain a bit on the warm side but in the winter they really perk up.

Arctic foxes are natives of the cold arctic regions of Northern Europe and can cope with temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius. Once a British species they became extinct in the UK after the last ice age - mainly killed by man for food and fur.

Arctic Foxes are just one of the huge range of British animals that can be seen at the Wildwood Discovery Park, for more information visit the website at http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/ or telephone 0871 7820087.

Wildwood is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. For more information visit our website at http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/ or telephone 0871 782008.
Arctic Fox Facts

• Arctic fox a member of the order Carnivora and is one of 14 fox species in the dog family, the Canidae.



• Foxes, unlike wolves, share many traits with cats – highly sensitive whiskers on their muzzles and wrists, lighter, more agile bodies, partially retractable claws, they stalk and pounce and have soft toe pads and hair between their toes (thought to be adaptations for sneaking up on rodents), and pointier cat-like canines for efficient killing.



• One suggestion for these adaptations is that Nature came up with common solutions to common problems; another is that the fox’s cat-like features were inherited from an ancient ancestor that lived before the cat-dog split.



• Intelligent and adaptable, brazen and curious.



• It will defend its food against a marauding wolf, explore the deck of an icebound ship and stick its nose in an explorer’s tent.



• Generally a solitary predator, hunting and feeding alone, unlike its more sociable cousins, the wolf and the dog; largely nocturnal.



• The Sami people of northern Scandanavia call it svale – the bold one.



• Its range is circumpolar, everywhere north of the Arctic Circle – US northern tundra, Canada from the Yukon to Hudson Bay, Labrador and Baffin Island, Norway, Sweden, Finland and northern Russia, plus almost all Arctic islands and the polar ice cap (explorers have found Arctic fox tracks within a few miles of the North Pole itself).



• Some foxes stay in the same area throughout their lives; others undertake epic journeys of thousands of miles.



• Population estimates vary between 300,000-1 million worldwide, but the number is considered irrelevant because populations reproduce and die in dramatic waves (boom and bust). The important consideration is that the species survives successfully on such an extreme environment.

Adaptation

• Almost every aspect of Arctic fox physiology is finely tuned to conserve heat energy.



• The Arctic fox breaks some of the key rules of biology: 1) that larger animals have an easier time in cold conditions because a large body has a smaller surface area, relative to its body mass (i.e. heat doesn’t leave a bulky mass as fast as it does a small one) and 2) Allen’s Rule - after zoologist Joel Allen – which states that warm-blooded animals living in cold environments tend to have shorter limbs and more compact bodies.



• The Arctic fox is tiny and combines long legs and a slender body with a flatter face and shorter ears.



• Its circulation is designed to conserve heat loss. The arteries and veins in the animal’s extremities are very close together, transferring heat energy from the outgoing warmed arterial blood to the incoming veins, before it can be lost in the outer extremities. So the blood in the feet and extremities is a lot cooler and the warm blood is kept circulating in the core areas of the head and torso, conserving heat. Rather than heat the whole house, the Arctic fox closes the door on those areas than can withstand a lower blood temperature. Caribou/reindeer do the same.



• It can also shrink the blood vessels leading to its skin to control heat loss.
  
  This means its paws in particular can be maintained at just above the point at which they would succumb to frostbite, well below the animal’s core body temperature.



• Why is this cold tolerance so amazing?
  
  Scientists regard the Arctic fox’s cold tolerance with awe, especially as instead of using shelter as they are usually out in the open, curled in a ball, against the worst Arctic blizzards.
  
  The fox is dealing with the following problems:
  
  
  • a difference in temperature between its blood and the air around it of perhaps 100ºC
  
  
  
  • a barren Arctic environment with little food
  
  
  
  • no behaviour changes to cope with the cold – it doesn’t hibernate, migrate or socialise to huddle together and conserve heat
  
  
  
  • its size is tiny – it’s the smallest tundra animal living out in the open in winter (an adult Arctic fox weighs just 3.5Kg, compared with an Arctic hare which weighs 50% more).
• Scientists say the Arctic fox is pushing animal life as far as it can go.



• Many of the other Arctic species are considered cheaters – they have evolved to avoid the cold rather than endure it. Many bird species migrate south to avoid the worst of the Arctic winter and small mammals like lemmings survive by spending the entire winter in a relatively warm network of tunnels under the snow.

Christmas dinners for the animals at Wildwood

As we all rush around trying to find a Christmas Turkey and plan the most important meal of the year, the keepers at Wildwood have been creating their own recipes to give the animals in the park a special treat. Feeding time is like stepping into the kitchen of a London restaurant with stacks of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat being prepared to the highest standards.

Pomegranates, bananas, oranges and clementines are just a few of the healthy options that greet the smaller mammals and birds this Christmas, ‘It gives them something to work on,’ said Christine, one of Wildwood’s keepers, ‘especially the pomegranates where they have to think about how they are going to get at the seeds.’ But there are a few treats in store as well, as the occasional doughnut can be seen inside the Fallow Deer Paddock.

Though Wildwood buys in a much of the food it uses for the animals it also receives donations of out of date food from a supermarket.

‘We are lucky that Sainsburys is very generous to us with their donations of out of date food’ commented Martyn Nicholls, Head of Press and Marketing in the park. ‘In these difficult times they have really made a difference to our animals.’

Wildwood is only closed on Christmas and Boxing day and will be open over the rest of the Christmas holiday so why not walk off your Christmas dinner around the park?

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. 01227 712111, www.wildwoodtrust.org.

Christmas food facts

Eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to 16th century Britain, where it is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow.

At lavish Christmas feasts in the Middle Ages, swans and peacocks were sometimes served for dinner.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century, but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's head in the rich households.

In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather. The turkeys were then walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet were protected with a covering of tar.

During the Christmas season, over 1.76 billion candy canes will be produced. Candy canes started out as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorate Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes and if you turn it upside down, it becomes the letter J symbolizing the first letter in Jesus' name.

In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas Eve service, in commemoration of the supper eaten by Mary on the evening before Christ's birth.

In the Ukraine, they bake a traditional Christmas bread called "kolach". This bread is braided into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the centre of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Holy Trinity. They also set the table for Christmas Eve dinner with two tablecloths: one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living members as in pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits who, when shown respect, brought good fortune.

The Ukrainians also prepare a traditional twelve-course meal at Christmas time. A family's youngest child watches through the window for the evening star to appear, a signal that the feast can begin.

Deaf fox cub learns sign language

AN ABANDONED deaf fox cub has apparently learned sign language from her 'Doctor Dolittle' owner. Devon animal lover Beth Tyler-King says she uses hand signals to get the fox to obey basic commands. 'To get her to sit, I put my palm out facing downwards to say "sit" and she does it. When she is being naughty I waggle my finger at her.' Ms Tyler-King was keen to adopt the cub as she too is deaf. 'She couldn't have come to a better person,' she said.

Metro Ireland, 17 December 2009, p4.

Deaf fox cub learns sign language

AN ABANDONED deaf fox cub has apparently learned sign language from her 'Doctor Dolittle' owner. Devon animal lover Beth Tyler-King says she uses hand signals to get the fox to obey basic commands. 'To get her to sit, I put my palm out facing downwards to say "sit" and she does it. When she is being naughty I waggle my finger at her.' Ms Tyler-King was keen to adopt the cub as she too is deaf. 'She couldn't have come to a better person,' she said.

Metro Ireland, 17 December 2009, p4.

Mystery car brake cutter turns out to be suburban fox

Jo Steele - 9th December, 2009

Over eight months, someone had gone around cutting the brake cables on nine cars – three Mercedes, a BMW, three Fords, a Nissan and an Austin – in three suburban streets.

Was it a neighbour with a grudge – or a reckless vandal? Detectives examined the damaged vehicles, studied CCTV footage and staked out the patch in West Wickham near Bromley, Kent.

But the breakthrough came when they went to Prof Stephen Harris, an expert in biological science in Bristol University, who identified the cuts and marks as being made by animals – probably foxes.

‘Foxes chew a wide range of objects – rubber and other balls, cables, garden hoses, shoes, gloves and pipes under houses when they can gain access through a broken airbrick,’ he said.

‘It appears they also occasionally develop a taste for brake fluids.’

Sgt George Blair, head of the West Wickham Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: ‘We were pleased to be able to find an innocent explanation for the cause of the damage.

‘I would like to thank Prof Stephen Harris for his expertise and invaluable help in clearing up this matter.

‘However, damage like this can be dangerous, so I continue to advise residents to safety check their brakes by applying them before moving off’.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/805489-mystery-car-brake-cutter-turns-out-to-be-suburban-fox

Mystery car brake cutter turns out to be suburban fox

Jo Steele - 9th December, 2009

Over eight months, someone had gone around cutting the brake cables on nine cars – three Mercedes, a BMW, three Fords, a Nissan and an Austin – in three suburban streets.

Was it a neighbour with a grudge – or a reckless vandal? Detectives examined the damaged vehicles, studied CCTV footage and staked out the patch in West Wickham near Bromley, Kent.

But the breakthrough came when they went to Prof Stephen Harris, an expert in biological science in Bristol University, who identified the cuts and marks as being made by animals – probably foxes.

‘Foxes chew a wide range of objects – rubber and other balls, cables, garden hoses, shoes, gloves and pipes under houses when they can gain access through a broken airbrick,’ he said.

‘It appears they also occasionally develop a taste for brake fluids.’

Sgt George Blair, head of the West Wickham Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: ‘We were pleased to be able to find an innocent explanation for the cause of the damage.

‘I would like to thank Prof Stephen Harris for his expertise and invaluable help in clearing up this matter.

‘However, damage like this can be dangerous, so I continue to advise residents to safety check their brakes by applying them before moving off’.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/805489-mystery-car-brake-cutter-turns-out-to-be-suburban-fox

Meet the man who cooks and eats road kill

18th November 2009

By Stephen Bailey

JONATHAN McGowan likes healthy meat. So he only eats animals that have been run over.

The 42-year-old from Bournemouth patrols Dorset for dead deer, badgers and toads.

Jonathan’s Fox Curry

Fry strips of fox tenderloin with chopped shallots, garlic, celery, red peppers and wild Dorset mushrooms in olive oil for five minutes. Then put the ingredients in a saucepan with a dash of water before adding salt and pepper, and a jar of Tikka Masala sauce. Simmer for ten minutes then serve with Pilau rice and home made elderberry and blackberry wine.

“Rats are lovely,” he said as the Echo joined him for a day around Wareham and Bere Regis.

“They are a bit like pork and they taste salty. They are delicious in a stir-fry.”

Jonathan is a naturalist and got curious about the taste of the animals when he looked for specimens to stuff.

His freezer is full of his favourite meats like freshly killed muntjac deer.

He said: “I am a scavenger, a hunter gatherer like man used to be. I don’t buy commercial meat. I find modern farming methods cruel and unhealthy.

“The animals get BSE, they are full of hormones and steroids and additives.

“I try to eat healthy meat from animals that have lived a good life in the world and not been contaminated.

“They don’t live long and because they are active, the meat is leaner and more tasty.

“To waste it when there are people starving in the world seems crazy to me.”

He only picks up freshly killed animals that are not too “mashed” by passing cars.

We passed a thoroughly squashed badger that had been dead for a few days.

Apparently the interior flesh might still be edible once the animal had been washed and the grit removed.

But Jonathan finds so many animals that he does not need to bother with such poor finds.

We found a pheasant near Wareham and a young male fox that had been killed overnight in the bus lane of Bournemouth’s Christchurch Road.

Back at his Pokesdown flat, Jonathan cut a strip of purple tenderloin meat from the fox’s back, ignoring the musky smell.

He fried it up with beansprouts and Hoi-Sin sauce, and the meat was a bit chewy but otherwise unremarkable.

He said: “Fox is usually very tasty and more-ish. It’s not fatty. It’s lovely and sweet and tender. I put it in curries and spaghetti bolognese.”

There is little he has not tried.

Blackbirds have rich, dark meat. Owls are quite bland, while cormorants are excellent with cranberry sauce.

Badger and otter are muttony with a slightly bitter flavour.

The flesh of stoats and weasels can be contaminated with their defensive anal scent, and hedgehogs are very fatty with an unpleasant rancid flavour.

He is a taxidermist and member of Bournemouth Natural Science Society, and many of his finds are stuffed for educational use.

He grew up in the countryside and his real passion is conservation. He records the levels of roadkill, and said it shows the damage we do to the animal world – he would not kill one of these animals himself.

Jonathan said his friends are often reluctant to try his meat but when they give it a go are usually won over.

“My boyfriend doesn’t give a damn. He eats venison and likes it. A lot of my friends who come for a meal trust me and know the meat will be fresh.”

What would his menu be if he appeared on the dinner part themed show Come Dine With Me?

“A frog and watercress soup to start. Then mayfly sorbet – they taste like toast. And for the main, roast hare with parsnips and gravy.”

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4747249.Rats_are_salty_but_delicious_in_a_stir_fry__Meet_the_Bournemouth_man_who_cooks_and_eats_animals_he_finds_dead_on_the_roadside/

(Submitted by Mark North)

Meet the man who cooks and eats road kill

18th November 2009

By Stephen Bailey

JONATHAN McGowan likes healthy meat. So he only eats animals that have been run over.

The 42-year-old from Bournemouth patrols Dorset for dead deer, badgers and toads.

Jonathan’s Fox Curry

Fry strips of fox tenderloin with chopped shallots, garlic, celery, red peppers and wild Dorset mushrooms in olive oil for five minutes. Then put the ingredients in a saucepan with a dash of water before adding salt and pepper, and a jar of Tikka Masala sauce. Simmer for ten minutes then serve with Pilau rice and home made elderberry and blackberry wine.

“Rats are lovely,” he said as the Echo joined him for a day around Wareham and Bere Regis.

“They are a bit like pork and they taste salty. They are delicious in a stir-fry.”

Jonathan is a naturalist and got curious about the taste of the animals when he looked for specimens to stuff.

His freezer is full of his favourite meats like freshly killed muntjac deer.

He said: “I am a scavenger, a hunter gatherer like man used to be. I don’t buy commercial meat. I find modern farming methods cruel and unhealthy.

“The animals get BSE, they are full of hormones and steroids and additives.

“I try to eat healthy meat from animals that have lived a good life in the world and not been contaminated.

“They don’t live long and because they are active, the meat is leaner and more tasty.

“To waste it when there are people starving in the world seems crazy to me.”

He only picks up freshly killed animals that are not too “mashed” by passing cars.

We passed a thoroughly squashed badger that had been dead for a few days.

Apparently the interior flesh might still be edible once the animal had been washed and the grit removed.

But Jonathan finds so many animals that he does not need to bother with such poor finds.

We found a pheasant near Wareham and a young male fox that had been killed overnight in the bus lane of Bournemouth’s Christchurch Road.

Back at his Pokesdown flat, Jonathan cut a strip of purple tenderloin meat from the fox’s back, ignoring the musky smell.

He fried it up with beansprouts and Hoi-Sin sauce, and the meat was a bit chewy but otherwise unremarkable.

He said: “Fox is usually very tasty and more-ish. It’s not fatty. It’s lovely and sweet and tender. I put it in curries and spaghetti bolognese.”

There is little he has not tried.

Blackbirds have rich, dark meat. Owls are quite bland, while cormorants are excellent with cranberry sauce.

Badger and otter are muttony with a slightly bitter flavour.

The flesh of stoats and weasels can be contaminated with their defensive anal scent, and hedgehogs are very fatty with an unpleasant rancid flavour.

He is a taxidermist and member of Bournemouth Natural Science Society, and many of his finds are stuffed for educational use.

He grew up in the countryside and his real passion is conservation. He records the levels of roadkill, and said it shows the damage we do to the animal world – he would not kill one of these animals himself.

Jonathan said his friends are often reluctant to try his meat but when they give it a go are usually won over.

“My boyfriend doesn’t give a damn. He eats venison and likes it. A lot of my friends who come for a meal trust me and know the meat will be fresh.”

What would his menu be if he appeared on the dinner part themed show Come Dine With Me?

“A frog and watercress soup to start. Then mayfly sorbet – they taste like toast. And for the main, roast hare with parsnips and gravy.”

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4747249.Rats_are_salty_but_delicious_in_a_stir_fry__Meet_the_Bournemouth_man_who_cooks_and_eats_animals_he_finds_dead_on_the_roadside/

(Submitted by Mark North)

New clues to the Falklands wolf mystery

2-Nov-2009

Ever since the Falklands wolf was described by Darwin himself, the origin of this now-extinct canid found only on the Falkland Islands far off the east coast of Argentina has remained a mystery. Now, researchers reporting in the November 3rd issue of Current Biology who have compared DNA from four of the world's dozen or so known Falklands wolf museum specimens to that of living canids offer new insight into the evolutionary ancestry of these enigmatic carnivores.

"One of the big draws for an evolutionary biologist is that this species had a big influence on Darwin's ideas about how species evolve," said Graham Slater of the University of California, Los Angeles, noting that Darwin recognized differences between the East Falkland and West Falkland wolves as evidence that species are not fixed entities. But the wolves' circumstances were also just downright puzzling.

"It's really strange that the only native mammal on an island would be a large canid," Slater explained. "There are no other native terrestrial mammals—not even a mouse. It's even stranger when you consider that the Falklands are some 480 kilometers from the South American mainland. The question is, how did they get there?"

Possible explanations for the wolves' presence on the islands, which have never been connected to the South American mainland, range from dispersal by ice or logs to domestication and subsequent transport by Native Americans. Ultimately, the Falklands wolf died out because it was perceived as a threat to settlers and their sheep, although fur traders took out a lot of the population as well.

Biologists have also puzzled over the Falklands wolf's ancestry. It had been suggested that they were related to domestic dogs, North American coyotes, or South American foxes. Slater said the wolves were the size of a coyote, but much stockier, with fur the color of a red fox. They had short muzzles, just like gray wolves, and thick, wooly fur.

Slater's team now reports that the Falklands wolf's closest living relative is actually the maned wolf—an unusually long-legged, fox-like South American canid. The researchers also found that the four Falklands wolf samples that they examined shared a common ancestor at least 70,000 years ago, which suggests that they arrived on the islands before the end of the last ice age and before humans ever made it into the New World. That rules out the prevailing theory that Native Americans had anything to do with their presence on the islands.

"The biggest surprise was that the divergence of the Falklands wolf from its closest living relative, the maned wolf, occurred over 6 million years ago," Slater said. "Canids don't show up in the South American fossil record until 2.5 million years ago, which means these lineages must have evolved in North America. The problem is that there are no good fossils that can be assigned to the Falklands wolf lineage in North America."

Given that maned and Falklands wolves split so long ago, there should be fossils of their close relatives in South America, Slater said. And in fact, the researchers may have a candidate: a species from Patagonia called Dusicyon avus, which went extinct 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Slater says that's a possibility that study coauthor Alan Cooper at the University of Adelaide in Australia is further investigating now.

###

The researchers include Graham J. Slater, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Olaf Thalmann, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Jennifer A. Leonard, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, Rena M. Schweizer, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Klaus-Peter Koepfli, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, John P. Pollinger, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, Nicolas J. Rawlence, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; Jeremy J. Austin, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; Alan Cooper, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; and Robert K. Wayne, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/cp-nct102809.php

(Submitted by Chad Arment)