THE BRITISH COLUMBIAN RED FOX
A small to medium-sized fox, with long and slender legs and pointed muzzle, and long brush-like tail. A large-sized subspecies of North American Red Fox, with larger and longer tail, longer and fuller fur, and smaller ears, very similar to alascensis (Alaskan red fox), with a longer, thinner face. Pelage is golden fulvous, long and full on neck and anterior part of back, almost forming a ruff, shorter and coarser on posterior part of back and rump, where it is more grizzled in color.
Throat and chest are white. Face and head grizzled fulvous and buffy, strongly rusty on top of nose and around eyes, paler on cheeks and forehead. Muzzle slender and pointed, white on upper lip. Ears relatively large, pointed, erect, black backed, and usually white inside. Black on feet may be greatly restricted. Tail is very long, thick and bushy, fulvous like back, with the usual admixture of black hairs, and a white tip. Females are smaller than males.
Reproduction and behavior
- Gestation: 51-53 days.
- Young per birth: 4-5, up to 12.
- Weaning: 35 days.
- Sexual maturity: 10 months.
- Life span: 10 years.
- Breeding season: February and March.
Dens usually
have 1 or more openings, and the tunnels are an average of 1 to
1.5m below ground. The males may bring food to the den until the females can leave the pups a short time, then they both hunt. They remain
with the pups until dispersal. Dens are usually located on hillsides
in or near heavy brush or woodlands. Dens may be built by the
foxes themselves, or may be enlarged versions of dens previously
constructed by other small mammals. Social behavior: mated pairs and their pups.
Diet and interaction with the environment
Their diet consists in small rodents (vole, mouse), but also larger mammals, birds (including the eggs and young of game birds and many ground-nesting passerines), amphibians, reptiles, insects, plant matter, especially berries and other fruits in season, and carrion. When prey is abundant, they will cache excess food items at dens or bury them at selected locations.
Their main predators are the coyote, bobcat, lynx or golden eagle. They are most active from dusk to dawn, being usually solitary hunters as adults and highly mobile, foraging in an extensive area. They have non-overlapping territories among family groups, with territorial boundaries defined by scent marking with urine or feces on a regular basis. In subalpine habitat in northwestern British Columbia, summer ranges range from 3 to 34 km2.
Habitat:
They are native to Canada and United States (Alaska). Occurs throughout western Canada, in south Yukon and Northwest Territories, interior British Columbia and adjacent coastal southeastern Alaska, and northern Alberta. In British Columbia, it is found over most of the mainland, but is most common in the central and northern parts; it does not regularly occur in the wet coastal forests west of the Coast Range, or naturally on any of the coastal islands, although it does appear in agricultural and suburban habitats in the lower mainland.
They inhabit in relatively open habitats, often with patches of cover interspersed with small openings, although large expanses of alpine tundra and subalpine parkland are also commonly used. Because of its relatively low foot-loading, it is able to stay on the surface in snow and is better adapted than the coyote for occupation of high elevation areas. Closer to civilization, it will live in agricultural areas where farmlands alternate with woodlots, cut-over shrublands, and meadows. In large cities, it uses ravines, parks, and golf courses, as well as large, well-vegetated lots among low-density housing.
Conservation status: Least Concern. Harvests of Foxes were highest in the 1930s and early 1940s, but then declined sharply as pelt prices dropped. Predator control programs aimed at Coyotes and Wolves had a significant impact on populations in the 1950s and 1960s.
Physiognomic information:
- Body length: 56-80 cm
- Tail length: 33-40 cm
- Height: 35-40 cm
- Weight: 5-6.5 kg (♂), 4-5 kg (♀)
- Skull: 14.5 cm
Taxonomy:
The North American red foxes have been traditionally considered either as subspecies of the Old World red foxes, Vulpes vulpes, or subspecies of their own species, Vulpes fulva. Due to the opinion that North American red foxes were introduced from Europe, all North American red foxes have been seen as conspecific with Vulpes vulpes; however, genetic analyses of global red fox haplotypes indicates that the North American red foxes have been genetically isolated from the Old World populations for 400,000 years, prompting possible application of Vulpes fulva to all North American red foxes.
Castello (2018) has formalized treatment of Vulpes fulva as a separate species from the Old World Vulpes vulpes. In 2014, Mark J. Statham among others released a study that supports Vulpes fulva as a separate species from the Old World Vulpes vulpes. More about the Vulpes vulpes fulva and Vulpes fulva discussion:
Gallery:
Because of its similarity in appearance between North American Red Foxes, some of the images may be erroneous. That's why I haven't found any videos about this subspecies either, if you think you have any image or video of the Vulpes fulva abietorum let me know in the comments or contact me on any of my social networks (@etzharai).
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