On the Move - Red Fox

Red foxes seem to be doing very well. Their numbers are on the rise in many parts of their range including the edges of London, England.

[from the Encylcopedia of Mammals: N. hemisphere from Arctic Circle to N. African and C. American deserts and Asiatic steppes. Wide-ranging: Arctic tundra to European city centres. Natural S. limit in Sudan. Introduced into Australia.]

This is, of course, because they are both wily and wary. Their intelligence allows them to take advantage of their home range to gather food and to escape dangers. They are very aware of anything strange in the way of traps or intruders and this is aided by excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing (with their large and "well-tuned" ears ... turned to the direction of the slightest sound).

Until recent times they have been persecuted as vermin and for sport. Fox hunts are legendary as the so-called "sport of gentlemen". Foxes have shown great speed and endurance in giving the men on horseback and their mob of foxhounds a serious challenge.

Here is an account from 1844 of 30 riders and 100 hounds. "The pursuit of the flying beast was kept up for 13 hours, when the horses and the whole pack of hounds were broken down and the hunt was abandoned. Thus, after running back and forth over 100 miles the wonderful creature made good his escape."*

Fortunately such sport has now virtually disappeared as has the status of vermin with the advent of factory chicken farms. For most people the sight of the flash of red fur is one of the thrills of the world of nature.

*from Ernest Thompson Seton