Foxes are certainly adaptable! (1 Viewer)

[Mono]

'We've got a two-legged fox on the lawn'

A family is stunned to find a fox with just two legs in their back garden.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[dantheman]

'We've got a two-legged fox on the lawn'

A family is stunned to find a fox with just two legs in their back garden.

www.bbc.co.uk

I just saw that and thought of posting. Looks healthy enough. Genetic or accidental loss/injury?? (Guess the first?)

If you saw it briefly/badly you'd be wondering if you saw a wallaby or something perhaps!

 

[Farnboro John]

I just saw that and thought of posting. Looks healthy enough. Genetic or accidental loss/injury?? (Guess the first?)

If you saw it briefly/badly you'd be wondering if you saw a wallaby or something perhaps!

I saw this clip a couple of weeks ago and I suspect it is not genetic but injury, though goodness knows what. I can't imagine a cub like this surviving in a competitive litter. It shows extraordinary adaptability.

All foxes know is what they have and what they experience. But they try, and try so hard to keep going no matter what: they hang onto life with dedication and determination. I have the utmost respect for my own little russet friends who turn up hopping on three legs after fighting, or with shredded ears, or conjunctivitis so they can't see to hunt, and just hope I will keep them going till they are fit again. They are the toughest, most optimistic, resourceful animals and for those who really know them, impossible not to love.

John

 

[dantheman]

I saw this clip a couple of weeks ago and I suspect it is not genetic but injury, though goodness knows what. I can't imagine a cub like this surviving in a competitive litter. It shows extraordinary adaptability.

All foxes know is what they have and what they experience. But they try, and try so hard to keep going no matter what: they hang onto life with dedication and determination. I have the utmost respect for my own little russet friends who turn up hopping on three legs after fighting, or with shredded ears, or conjunctivitis so they can't see to hunt, and just hope I will keep them going till they are fit again. They are the toughest, most optimistic, resourceful animals and for those who really know them, impossible not to love.

John

I'm trying to remember some of the feel-good yucky stories about dogs and cats given little wheeled trollies to move around on you sometimes see in the news ... had a feeling some of those were genetic but really struggling to recall I do have a feeling missing hind legs is a thing ...

(Also how likely the complete loss of the whole limbs ... ???)

Agree on resilience.

(In a litter with only a few cubs/ample food a weaker/runt cub would presumably make it sometimes - especially as it would have been learning to move on two, whilst the others learnt on four simultameously. That tail coming in handy.)

We're gonna have to re-write George Orwell's Animal Farm ... (that quote ... )

 

[Farnboro John]

There was a three-legged fox in Farnborough, nearer where my mother lived than where I am now: it's surely no coincidence that I used to see it not far from a railway line - neat slices quite usual with train wheels.....

Incidentally my mother's last German Shepherd developed CDRM - chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy, a progressive paralysis of the spine from the back end forwards, just as Mum's Alzheimer's reached the point where she had to go into a care home. We took Tansy in, she was family. When Tansy's legs got too bad we got her a chariot, which gave her another year and a half of delighted life chasing squirrels and cats.

John

 

[Trinovid]

Looks healthy enough. Genetic or accidental loss/injury?? (Guess the first?)

I think you’re right about it being genetic, particularly due to no protrusions which might indicate they used to be there.

 

[jurek]

I read once in BBC Wildlife that urban foxes in Britain live mostly on food laid purposefully for them by people who like to feed foxes in their garden. Anybody can confirm?

So this fox can live long life. Unless, possibly, it becomes less cute.

 

[Trinovid]

We used to have a fox hanging around, until one day when someone realized it was eating the ducks.

 

[Farnboro John]

I read once in BBC Wildlife that urban foxes in Britain live mostly on food laid purposefully for them by people who like to feed foxes in their garden. Anybody can confirm?

So this fox can live long life. Unless, possibly, it becomes less cute.

I don't know about mostly: certainly where food is provided they will turn up regularly, but in British urban situations there is a lot of food provided "by accident" - drunkenly dropped late night chips and kebabs; overstuffed bins (NOT binoculars!) with the lids ajar or off; casual discard of unwanted stuff. I'm less likely to see my own skulk on bin collection night or Saturday night when the takeaways have to be patrolled.

The other thing is that when I'm absent for a couple of weeks, on return (a) they notice in minutes and (b) they are still in good condition: so much as they like chicken they aren't dependent on it - wolves can fast for a fortnight but foxes are small and fade faster.

Incidentally I've rewatched the footage and am now in the genetic camp.

John

 

[whatdouthink]

This is an old thread but it is certainly interesting. I also read the piece about leaving food for foxes. I think there's a fox leaving tracks in the snow in the backyard here and I'd love to see it. I don't think I have ever read an article written for an American audience that ever suggested feeding anything to a wild animal under any circumstances. It is also strictly prohibited in some places. The fact it is discouraged or prohibited is probably mostly due to some people thinking it's not in the best interest of people or animals. But, I do wonder if it is also fueled somewhat by a too popular view in USA that if someone or something can't make it on their own that that is "tough" luck but a hand won't be extended to help cause we don't want to encourage dependency or feelings of entitlement. That cold? I think so.

 

[Trinovid]

I don't think I have ever read an article written for an American audience that ever suggested feeding anything to a wild animal under any circumstances. It is also strictly prohibited in some places. The fact it is discouraged or prohibited is probably mostly due to some people thinking it's not in the best interest of people or animals. But, I do wonder if it is also fueled somewhat by a too popular view in USA that if someone or something can't make it on their own that that is "tough" luck but a hand won't be extended to help cause we don't want to encourage dependency or feelings of entitlement. That cold? I think so.

People that feed animals, especially predators are complicit in getting their neighbors pets and livestock eaten, but the city folk don't understand that wild animals have a subsistence-first mindset and aren't just there to be cute. Many people I know have gone through this firsthand and the coldness of someone who just assumes the worst they can assume of others is the something to behold, whether in person or just an emotionally funded post on the internet.

 

[Farnboro John]

This is an old thread but it is certainly interesting. I also read the piece about leaving food for foxes. I think there's a fox leaving tracks in the snow in the backyard here and I'd love to see it. I don't think I have ever read an article written for an American audience that ever suggested feeding anything to a wild animal under any circumstances. It is also strictly prohibited in some places. The fact it is discouraged or prohibited is probably mostly due to some people thinking it's not in the best interest of people or animals. But, I do wonder if it is also fueled somewhat by a too popular view in USA that if someone or something can't make it on their own that that is "tough" luck but a hand won't be extended to help cause we don't want to encourage dependency or feelings of entitlement. That cold? I think so.

So there are no bird feeders anywhere in the USA?

John

 

[jurek]

This is an old thread but it is certainly interesting. I also read the piece about leaving food for foxes. I think there's a fox leaving tracks in the snow in the backyard here and I'd love to see it. I don't think I have ever read an article written for an American audience that ever suggested feeding anything to a wild animal under any circumstances. It is also strictly prohibited in some places. The fact it is discouraged or prohibited is probably mostly due to some people thinking it's not in the best interest of people or animals. But, I do wonder if it is also fueled somewhat by a too popular view in USA that if someone or something can't make it on their own that that is "tough" luck but a hand won't be extended to help cause we don't want to encourage dependency or feelings of entitlement. That cold? I think so.

This is because of a common trap: prohibiting cost nothing, so too much is prohibited.

There are some situations when feeding wildlife is damaging (e.g. feeding bears by random tourists in the U.S. national parks) but it is usually benign when people know basics about wildlife.

I am quite curious if somebody calculated how feeding birds translates to conservation? Not directly by sales of food, but through the chain: non-birdwatchers feed birds, then non-birdwatchers support bird societies, then bird societies have more money and influence, then more money and lobbying goes to bird protection, then birds which otherwise would not be protected get protected. I believe that people who feed birds and other wildlife in their gardens outnumber birdwatchers going to the field with binoculars several times.

 

[whatdouthink]

So there are no bird feeders anywhere in the USA?

John

There are bird feeders. Loads of people feed birds but there are warnings not to do so. I understand there are multiple reasons for those warnings but feeding birds is discouraged-due to concerns about dependence and spreading various types of viruses/flu-I guess (but not sure) because a feeder will attract types of birds that would not ordinarily interact if not for the feeder.etc.

 

[whatdouthink]

This is because of a common trap: prohibiting cost nothing, so too much is prohibited.

There are some situations when feeding wildlife is damaging (e.g. feeding bears by random tourists in the U.S. national parks) but it is usually benign when people know basics about wildlife.

I am quite curious if somebody calculated how feeding birds translates to conservation? Not directly by sales of food, but through the chain: non-birdwatchers feed birds, then non-birdwatchers support bird societies, then bird societies have more money and influence, then more money and lobbying goes to bird protection, then birds which otherwise would not be protected get protected. I believe that people who feed birds and other wildlife in their gardens outnumber birdwatchers going to the field with binoculars several times.

I do know people who did exactly as you describe and are now huge bird watchers and supporters of protecting habitats for birds and other wild life.

 

[Troubador]

Getting back to the 'foxes are adaptable theme'. A couple of years ago I was queuing in my car to leave the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in my home town of Sheffield. At the exit of the hospital grounds I could see a small group of people waiting to cross the hospital exit and when my queue stopped moving one or two people would cross the road. Then I noticed a dog sitting down on the pavement among the pedestrians, waiting to cross, but when it stood up I could see it was a Red Fox. The queue moved forward a couple of cars' lengths as two cars managed to pull out onto the main road and I got a better view of it as I got closer. With the queue not moving the people and the fox crossed the road and when the fox reached the pavement on the other side it trotted along the pavement into the hospital grounds with all the ease and familiarity of a regular visitor. And this must surely have been the case because the people waiting to cross the road didn't pay the fox any particular attention so it must have been a familiar sight.

 

[jurek]

If it paid its medical insurance...

 

[whatdouthink]

Getting back to the 'foxes are adaptable theme'. A couple of years ago I was queuing in my car to leave the grounds of the Northern General Hospital in my home town of Sheffield. At the exit of the hospital grounds I could see a small group of people waiting to cross the hospital exit and when my queue stopped moving one or two people would cross the road. Then I noticed a dog sitting down on the pavement among the pedestrians, waiting to cross, but when it stood up I could see it was a Red Fox. The queue moved forward a couple of cars' lengths as two cars managed to pull out onto the main road and I got a better view of it as I got closer. With the queue not moving the people and the fox crossed the road and when the fox reached the pavement on the other side it trotted along the pavement into the hospital grounds with all the ease and familiarity of a regular visitor. And this must surely have been the case because the people waiting to cross the road didn't pay the fox any particular attention so it must have been a familiar sight.

very cool!