About Foxes

Fantastic Mr Fox:
[Via Catalogue of Organisms]


The Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata), a distinctive fox species restricted to the Tibetan Plateau. Photo from the BBC via Lioncrusher’s Domain.

Foxes are a widespread assemblage of canid predators, found through most of the Holarctic and drier Africa and also here in Australia, where the red fox Vulpes vulpes was introduced quite successfully. Too successfully, in fact – foxes are one of the most significant invasive species in Australia, and a dire threat to many native species. Of the slightly more than ten species in the fox genus Vulpes, the red fox is undoubtedly the most familiar, being both the most widespread species overall as well as the most abundant in developed countries. However, the familiarity of the red fox is a little misleading, as Vulpes vulpes is actually one of the more distinctive species in the genus, being considerably larger and arguably more dog-like than other foxes.
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Nice discussion of foxes, especially about the uncertainty of how the different species fit together. And the last paragraph is particularly eye opening.

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