Bigamy among foxes?

[sambar]

Hi Gents,

a question to those who may know: I am aware that during the foxes' breeding / rearing season the family group may comprise subservient females (in addition to the breeding pair) who help with the rearing of the young, though they don't themselves breed. Does it ever happen that a male may have two breeding (and pregnant) females? I ask because I have recently had to deal with a lamb-killing problem, during which I took one dog plus two females that were in young. Since then no other foxes have,as yet, appeared on that patch, whereas I was expecting to have another dog to deal with, since there were two pregnant females. Observations / experiences great appreciated.

[gbal]

sambar,yes it can happen-a dog fox with two fathered sets of pups.Research studies and careful observation support this.The usual pattern in the red fox is monogamy-a pair breed and raise the pups-with the dog fox active in feeding. There are two 'auxilliary' strategies which are consistent with more successful breeding (passing on genes to surviving offspring being the general driver)-you idenify one-unmated vixens from the previous year stay on and help feeding pups that are quite closely related to themselves genetically-definitely via the mother,typically also the father...

....and the second strategy for the dog fox is to also breed with another vixen,and also raise a second set of pups.This is much more likely when food resources are high (occasionally the sets of pups den together). More than two sets is not reported-it may well be that there is a limit to the number of offspring the dog can support,otherwise this strategy is counter productive wrt surviving genes,and becomes too risky.Two sets of offspring has to increase food demands,and may be relevant to a 'problem' fox situation.

 

There is some DNA support from the Bristol study of urban foxes,which showed that urban dog foxes were not all monogamous when populations were dense-with often a majority of pups not sharing the DNA of their feeding 'father'.Seriously reduced density of foxes (disease) reduced this non monogamy greatly (though the food supply-pfresumably generous,would not have been reduced).

 

e mammals "Red Fox breeding and foraging' is fairly short,readable as is the rathher better perhaps,

Scottie Westfall "Monogamy and polygamy in canids"-which is much wider than red fox (and even canids) but does have fox info; but avoids "biblical" and "Disney" views,and is broadly consistent with informed work,as well as some canid differnces.

 

Baker et al 2004 Behavioural Ecology is more technical

Lloyd The Red Fox is another source.

These are not restricted to UK.

 

So,it's possible there may be another dog fox,but territorialty might suggest less likely,and two broods to the same dog fox are not unknown,under the above conditions,especially.

 

gbal

[sambar]

Thanks for that gbal. An excellent, admirably well-informed reply. I would say that the location in question is one where food supplies would be far from problematical for any local foxes, even less so now that there are new-born lambs a-plenty (the three taken so far were in prime condition)- which ties in with what you were saying.

It'll be interesting now for me to see how long it is before the currently vacant territory is re-occupied. Presumably that occurs once the neighbours start to realise that the area is no longer marked, and that trespassers are no longer prosecuted!

Foxes are so fascinating. Even though I'm engaged in controlling them, I would hate for them to disappear.

[landkeeper]

My experience of foxes is one dog one vixen with cubs , sometimes a barren vixen shares the same territory even sharing the same earth as the one with cubs in .

A dog fox will not tolerate another male in his patch especially at this time of year , your missing dog may have already met his maker being a fox is a hazardous livlehood