Fox hunting myths
a note on something to put in here: it's often claimed by proponents of fox hunting that when foxes attack livestock they kill everything rather than only what they need to eat. This has been stated as false by David Attenborough, amongst others. -- Tarquin 14:09 Jan 13, 2003 (UTC)
- That fact is true but is often misconcepted by ignorant people who are simply trying to "put down" the fox.
- If a fox was to get into a livestock pen (such as chickens) it will kill every thing it can. This is not through malice or blood thirst as people may say. The fox will then take each animal one by one and hide it or bury it for futre food. Tekana 12:58, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
Identifying a fox
Does anybody know the fox in the image? Is it really a red fox? (Compare http://www.northern.org/artman/publish/slide14.shtml ) It looks very different from the animal that I know as a red fox. -- Cordyph 17:08 Mar 28, 2003 (UTC)
- I don't know anything about foxes, but I got this picture from http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/animals/anim0611.htm where it is identified as a red fox, vulpes vulpes. --Amillar
- Maybe that it is a rare colour variant or subspecies. It is definitely not a common red fox. Anyone out there knowing more about this topic? -- Cordyph 14:10 Mar 29, 2003 (UTC)
- I still don't know much about foxes :-) but I found a better picture we can use. --Amillar
- I'm pretty sure that this is an Arctic Fox on the pic. --Conti
- What's the difference, except that the coat is light (which could be due to lighting) and that it's fat (ate too much critters last week)? Both Amillar's and your photos show a clear white belly. --Menchi 08:41 May 14, 2003 (UTC)
- Perhaps this picture is just too ambiguous. I removed the caption. Amillar 13:59 May 14, 2003 (UTC)
- Good thinking-it's difficult to tell if it's a lighting effect or really Arctic. jimfbleak 14:01 May 14, 2003 (UTC)
- At least it is definitively not a Red Fox, the fox on the pic has too small ears. Either it's an Artic Fox or another not so well known fox species. Conti 16:51 May 14, 2003 (UTC)
- I just realized that you're talking about the lower photo and not the upper one! :-D It looks like a colourless raccoon! Yeah, it doesn't look like an adult Red Fox. But it doesn't look like Artic Fox [1] either. Artic Fox has pure white coat, this unknown fox's coat is brown. It has a dark snout and nose, whereas only Artic Fox's nose is black, and Red Fox's snout's button-half is pure white. Almost all Foxes have enormous ear, this unknown one is apparently very young, before his ears even developed. I looked at about 600 fox photos, and found no fox with an entirely black snout. --Menchi 16:45 24 May 2003 (UTC)
![[1]](http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/fox/ffox.jpg){kind=link}
- Yep, I'm talking about the lower photo. And I'm really sure that this is a fox or at least some other doglike animal. The picture you are showing is definitively a fennek, you can see that from the big ears. Artic foxes change their fur and the color of their fur during the year, they can have indeed very dark and even black fur during some time of the year [2]. Maybe we should simply change the picture to a more clearly one. -- Conti 17:21 May 24, 2003 (UTC)
![[2]](http://jackstephensimages.com/Merchant/images/arcticfoximages/foximage4.jpg){kind=link}
- I still don't know the species. I checked dozens of images of Red Foxes, Silver Foxes, Grey Foxes, Arctic Foxes - without any result. I agree that it is NOT an arctic fox. Even in its summer fur the arctic fox looks completely different than the animal on the picture. -- Cordyph 14:18 4 Jun 2003 (UTC)
- Personally, I think it's another one of Arpingstone's plastic models, only with fur this time. :) Tannin
I just looked in a book on foxes at my local library. Yes, the lower picture is a red fox. The book said these color variations can even happen within one litter. For example, two red/white pups, one red/black pup, and one silver/black pup, all in the same litter. (Sometime we just have to resort to looking at those dead trees... :-) This agrees with the original NOAA attribution, and I'm inclined to think that the guys going out there photographing these animals have a better chance of knowing what they are looking at than we do. -- Amillar 23:39 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- Okay, thank you. I just added "colour variation" to the caption, so that readers will not be too confused about the different looks of the two foxes. -- Cordyph 08:25 16 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Should the sentence or two about the Red Fox's coloration perhaps be put on its own separate page? -- Nixve 20:33, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
Note
When you link to articles in other languages, note that this article is not on any specific species or genus. Andres 15:32, 8 Nov 2003 (UTC) This animal is a cross fox
Clean-up
This article is listed as needing clean-up. Should it still be so listed? If so, why? Quadell (talk) 05:12, Sep 11, 2004 (UTC)
Genera
There are a few genera with little information, particularly Lycalopex, Pseudalopex, and Dusicyon and this seems to be due to some disagreement among taxonomists.
In particular, the animal here called Pseudalopex vetulus (the Hoary Fox) is described on this page [3] as Dusicyon vetulus, and elsewhere as Lycalopex vetulus.
Here the genus Dusicyon is described as only containing the extinct Falkland Island fox. This should be revised to mention the various different taxonomies of South American foxes. --Saforrest 03:13, Oct 5, 2004 (UTC)
Unknown fox species
Which species is the fox in these photographs? ‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 20:08, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Ah, it must be a gray fox or an island fox. Cape foxes are much more slender. ‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 20:48, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Hibernation
I looked up this page to find out whether foxes hibernate. (Another source reports that red foxes don't. --81.187.165.108 10:50, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I like foxes!
Fritzi
This is a very interesting website about a fox kept as a pet by a woman in Germany (I believe, but I don't understand German). I think this link may be relevant - or at least it's very interesting! - Stormwatch 16:59, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Fritzi was a fox from Luxembourg, when you have any questions pleas contact us by Fritzis website > Kontakt. We answer allthe the questions
vocalization
I have seen a fox seemingly imitate an owl. I live in Orleans, on Cape Cod. The call was the standard 'who, who who who who, whoooo' Or, Oooo. This was outside my window, one bright morning. I wonder why a fox should make this sound. I also I hear this same sound, in the dark, at night. And it is answered, across the river. Local experts dismiss this as fantasy. I have sought an independent source to no avail.
Another thing, the article mentions all the vocalizations but not the famous 'yiff' which I could swear comes from foxes.
- "Yiff" is not a real word for a sound foxes make--it was made up by someone roleplaying a fox on FurryMUCK, an online game. The fox's "bark" or "yip" is probably the sound that inspired the furry fandom word (which is usually used as a euphemism for sex, not a fox vocalization). --Krishva 03:41, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
As a Feminine Sex Symbol
In American (USA) slang, an attractive woman is sometimes referred to as a "fox" (though not in front of her -- that would be considered crass and rude). I also know for a fact that in Chinese folklore, foxes are also associated with seductive females (usually of magical origin or with magical power). Anyone know other instances of this? And any idea how such associations come about?
Cleanup
I did some cleanup on the page; it might be a good idea to incorporate some of the information in the external links, but at present I don't have the patience to do it. Do you think it needs more cleanup? Josh 05:40, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
- I'm not quite sure. I think it could possibly be laid out better, though. Thanks for helping! ‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 21:30, 20 August 2005 (UTC)