Anja Murray: Urban fox cubs a reassuring phenomenon that wild species can adapt to human sprawl
In April and early May, the fox cubs emerge from the den for the first time, tentatively exploring their surrounds, all while closely guarded by the adults. This cub is enjoying the sunshine outside his den which is under a suburban shed.
Throughout history, humans and foxes have lived in close contact. In prehistoric times, amulets and talismans made from fox tails and fox paws were thought to imbue special favour on those who wear them. Foxes were key characters in the legends of old, often portrayed with admiration and respect.
They have also long been hunted for their rich red fur, widely used in clothes and bedding.
Right up until the 1980s, trade in fox fur was huge, with as many as 40,000 fox pelts exported annually from Ireland in the 1970s and 80s, from both farmed and wild caught foxes. We humans have a long history of hunting, shooting, poisoning, snaring and trapping foxes.
But our perspective on foxes is beginning to change, at least in urban areas. It seems that wild, native red foxes are now equally at home in cities and suburban areas as they are in the countryside, and more and more people now delight in seeing urban foxes. These enormously adaptable and innovative animals are wise to the opportunities that cities offer.
When myxomatosis was deliberately introduced by the Irish Government in the 1950s, to control the rabbit population, the availability of foxes’ main prey plummeted. This is thought to be one of the factors that prompted foxes to explore the possibilities of city living. There they found easy meals in food waste from household bins. Pigeons, magpies and rats are plentiful prey.
Urban areas also provide foxes with easy access to shelter, especially amid city parks and gardens; college campuses and school gardens; railway embankments and canal towpaths; cemeteries and derelict properties; and the many expanses of open, waste ground. City living has obvious attractions for foxes.
In rural areas, their diet consists mostly of meat, especially rabbits, with a few earthworms, beetles and seasonal wild fruits added to the mix. Urban foxes’ diet, by contrast, consists of half meat and half household rubbish, also diversified with worms, slugs, beetles and wild fruits. Household refuse generally does not, as one might expect, make foxes ill.
Because they have always taken carrion, scraps of meat scavenged from dead animals, they have developed impressively strong stomachs and admirable immunity to food induced illness, thus are able to stomach our waste. Urban foxes do still hunt, taking small mammals such as rats and mice, thus helping to keep rodent populations under control.
As top predators, foxes are a valuable player in our urban ecosystems.
Now, during March and April, fox families are birthing a litter of cubs. Like us, each family of foxes typically has a home place, an earthen den that provides the nursing mothers and their cubs with shelter and protection.
In urban areas, dens can be almost anywhere with the right conditions: a little out of the way of too much footfall, with open space nearby, and plenty of trees and shrubs to provide cover.
Litters of four or five cubs are born in March each year. Being blind and vulnerable, the mother stays with the cubs and nurses them round the clock with her nutritious milk.
Adult males bring back food for the nursing vixen. While cubs are being fed, foxes are pressed to load as much food in to their jaws as possible, all to bring back to the nursing vixen or, in a few weeks, to the little weanlings.
Adult foxes can be seen laying out bits of food, whether fresh caught mice or food scraps, then arranging them on the ground so they can figure out the logistics of how best to fit all the pieces together and cram as much as possible in their mouth for bringing back to the den.
In April and early May, the fox cubs emerge from the den for the first time, tentatively exploring their surrounds, all while closely guarded by the adults. They soon learn how to hunt for earthworms and insect prey. Once the cubs are fully weaned, they will begin learning the skills they will need to survive in to adulthood.
From midsummer, some of the young foxes will disperse to find new territories, while others remain with the family group indefinitely.
In the past, authorities in Britain attempted to reduce the number of urban foxes by culling them, but attempts proved unsuccessful. Despite hundreds of foxes being killed in several urban boroughs, the overall population of foxes remained the same.
It turns out that fox populations are self-regulating, being limited by the amount of food and suitable territory available. Killing foxes will not reduce the overall population because there will always be more recruits to fill available niches. The same is true for foxes that are shot, snared, poisoned or otherwise killed in rural areas.
Both the human effort and the pain inflicted on the persecuted foxes are futile, as new recruits will soon move in to the vacated territory and the overall fox population will not be reduced.
This is quite a contrast to the perception of foxes in cities. In my experience, most people are happy to see urban foxes — a reassuring phenomenon that at least some wild species can adapt to human sprawl. Lots of people feel affection for their neighbourhood foxes and actively encourage and feed them.
Now, researchers in the University of Galway are inviting the public to participate in a new Citizen Science survey by submitting sightings and observations of urban foxes.
The Urban Fox Survey aims to better understand the distribution of urban fox populations; explore potential behavioural changes between rural and urban living foxes; and use the data for conservation and to find solutions for potential human-wildlife conflicts.
Researchers are inviting people to submit sightings of urban foxes in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Derry, and Belfast — the seven most populated cities across the island of Ireland. Sightings can be submitted here.
