Red foxes and other vulpines are wonderful neighbors and live in or near towns and cities wherever they're found. They're playful, clever, witty, and emotional animals. I lived alongside red foxes for decades and got to know one family and their children very well when they resided for six years near my mountain home in the foothills of Boulder (Colorado). They allowed me and my dogs to observe them from a few feet away from their den and didn't seem to mind our voyeuristic ways. Some ventured close to my home and even hung out near my dogs. Some people think we're driving them to self-domesticate.
Because of my interest in these fascinating, playful animals who stare at you with vertical pupils and who have been observed to amuse themselves on a trampoline, I was thrilled to learn about Andreas Tjernshaugen's new book, Finding the Fox: Encounters With an Enigmatic Animal. Andreas not only covers the behavior of these clever beings but also provides information about their cultural history.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Finding the Fox?
Andreas Tjernshaugen: A lot of people are fortunate enough to see foxes. They typically find them beautiful and intriguing, and want to know more about them. Others wish to see a fox and could use some tips about how to spot one. So I thought people might want to read about foxes, and I really hope the book will inspire more people to discover the joy of watching wildlife. The experience gets richer the more you know about the animals you see, so I hope I can contribute to that.
MB: Who do you hope to reach with your book?
AT: I hope to reach anyone who enjoys the outdoors as well as reading, and anyone with an interest in wild and domestic animals. The book is intended for adult readers, but a friend of mine told me he read it aloud to his son and they both enjoyed it.
MB: What are some of the major topics you consider?
AT: What really struck me while observing foxes and learning about them was how playful they are. I didn’t expect that from wild foxes. They play with their cubs, the adults play with each other as part of their courtship during mating season, they play with objects, and they play with their prey just as cats do. They even play with larger animals that can be dangerous for them. I once observed a fox picking a fight with a deer buck. The buck just wanted to be left alone, but the fox pestered it until it gave chase so that the fox had to run for its life. This happened repeatedly. There wasn’t much benefit the fox could get out of this fight except for a thrill. Perhaps it also served as some kind of training, but while watching it, I had no doubt that the fox was having fun.
People who are familiar with cats and dogs have a really good starting point for understanding red foxes. They are canids, relatives of the domestic dog, but they also have some traits in common with cats. One reason is that they hunt alone, typically for small prey, such as mice and voles, just as cats do if they get the opportunity. The pupils in the eyes of a fox are vertical slits, like those in the eyes of a cat. That probably has to do with similar hunting habits. Eyes with such vertical slits are good for judging distances accurately in low light, which is particularly important for an animal hunting by stealth.
Another thing I discuss in the book is wildness. I’ve been used to thinking that in order to experience something wild and exciting, you should try to get out into some remote wilderness and look for big, rare, and wild animals there. Fox-watching tends to be the opposite of that. The chances of meeting a red fox are actually better closer to home, in populated areas. Despite that, I’ve come to think of the red fox as one of the wildest creatures there is. Foxes adapt extremely well to changing environments, and that’s, of course, what humans create. But they tend to do it on their own terms
MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?
AT: When it comes to cultural history, many books focus on the special and controversial place that fox hunting with horses and hounds has had in British culture and society. That’s one interesting story, but I emphasize others. Fur farming, for example. It all started with Canadian silver foxes (a color variety of the red fox species), which were captured and bred for fur production. Soon, North American livestock was exported to Norway, where I live, and to other European countries as well. After a century or so of fox farming, our government is closing the industry down for animal welfare reasons. It’s been a fairly dramatic conflict involving arson, break-ins, large protest marches, and any number of lawsuits. I got to visit one of the last fur farms before it closed down, and that was interesting indeed.
MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about who these amazing animals truly are, that will improve the relationship between foxes and humans?
AT: Yes, I think people and foxes can live together quite happily and I hope my book can contribute to that end. There’s no reason to fear foxes, and you should count yourself lucky if you are able to see one in your neighborhood. I personally don’t think it’s such a good idea to feed foxes in your backyard, as some people do. That can encourage foxes to become a little too confident around people and potentially very numerous in residential areas, and that, again, will often lead to unnecessary conflicts.
Foxes are not our friends or our enemies, they are something else: wild animals. They’re beautiful and fascinating, but it’s best to admire them from some distance, and to let them go about their lives without interfering too much.
References
In conversation with Dr. Andreas Tjernshaugen, a Norwegian writer focusing on wildlife, the natural world, and environmental issues. Finding the Fox is his first book in English. He has published seven books in his native Norwegian, with topics ranging from the history of whaling to the behavior of common garden birds.
The Social and Emotional Lives of Urban Gray Foxes; Are Humans Driving Wily Urban Red Foxes to Self-Domesticate?; Do Animals Play for the Hell of It? Watch This Fox.
Red Foxes: The Behavior of Our Playful and Clever Neighbors
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23.03.2024
Red foxes and other vulpines are wonderful neighbors and live in or near towns and cities wherever they're found. They're playful, clever, witty, and emotional animals. I lived alongside red foxes for decades and got to know one family and their children very well when they resided for six years near my mountain home in the foothills of Boulder (Colorado). They allowed me and my dogs to observe them from a few feet away from their den and didn't seem to mind our voyeuristic ways. Some ventured close to my home and even hung out near my dogs. Some people think we're driving them to self-domesticate.
Because of my interest in these fascinating, playful animals who stare at you with vertical pupils and who have been observed to amuse themselves on a trampoline, I was thrilled to learn about Andreas Tjernshaugen's new book, Finding the Fox: Encounters With an Enigmatic Animal. Andreas not only covers the behavior of these clever beings but also provides information about their cultural history.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Finding the Fox?
Andreas Tjernshaugen: A lot of people are fortunate enough to see foxes. They typically find them beautiful and intriguing, and want to know more about them. Others wish to see a fox and could use some tips about how to spot one. So I thought people might want to read about foxes, and I really hope the book will inspire more people to discover the joy of watching wildlife. The experience gets richer the more you know about the animals you see, so I hope I can contribute to that.........
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