Red Fox Vulpes vulpes 4 month old vixen watching the world go by, 9th - 10th July 2021.

Опубликовано: 24 Март 2023
на канале: David Element

Nothing dramatic about this film of a 4-month-old Red Fox Vulpes vulpes vixen in a very relaxed mood, simply taking in the world around her. Filmed over two consecutive days in July 2021. By this stage of development foxes look much more adult - perhaps the most conspicuous feature is the extension of the nose, but the adult teeth would have developed quite quickly, and it is sometimes possible to see the milk and adult canines juxtaposed when a cub yawns, at the point when the new teeth are pushing out the old. The top canines fit just behind the lower canines when the mouth is closed. They are still quite leggy, and they won't moult during their first year. The characters of individual foxes are variable, and some are more amenable than others when their lives are being recorded! Foxes have a surprisingly short average lifespan, but the statistics accommodate high cub mortality, and only the strongest individuals will be able to establish and hold on to territories. However, their breeding strategy is designed to maintain a stable population, and this will also be influenced by available space, diseases (particularly sarcoptic mange, to which some animals appear to have developed a natural immune response) and food-supply. Vixens are capable of breeding during their first year, so they are fully adult by this time. If they produce cubs (because not all do) it is likely to be the dominant member of a social group that will rear a family successfully, sometimes with the assistance of non-breeding females as well as a dog fox. If they are successful, then mating will take place during a short period of oestrus, lasting just a few days, in the middle of winter, and after a 53-day gestation, so they are able to mate at the age of 10 months. Dog foxes may be a year older, as they will either need to have established a territory or mate opportunistically in the absence of dominant male territory-holders. The cubs will be born on roughly the first anniversary of the vixen's birth, and at a similar time of the year if they survive for long enough to produce subsequent litters of up to 8 cubs. This vixen had a litter in her first year, none of which survived, and one of which was presumed to have been killed by her own mother when it approached too close to her den. She has since become the dominant female in her social group and delivered a second (as yet unseen) litter, born on 18th February 2023. One of her non-breeding sisters is still around, but she is being driven away if she approaches the den. As time progresses, she may be allowed to participate in caring for the cubs.