# Strange Fox Behaviour



## Snake Catcher Victoria (Apr 16, 2012)

I have a mate who is the local feral pest exterminater and he sent me this pic.
After killing the fox and removing stomach content for DSE testing he left the fox at the local tip where it was caught over night.
He returned early in the morning to find the carcasse of the fox surrounded by other foxes footprints which you can see in the pic.
The thing that has him a bit freaked out, is that the foxes face and stomach has been burried and the the prints and scratchings point to burial been done by the other foxes..
These fox hunters havnt seen this 'grieving' behaviour before and i thought someone here could shed some light on it.


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## CrystalMoon (Apr 16, 2012)

This maybe wayyyy off base, but could it be more an attempt at stemming disease? just a thought, because that is rather odd?


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## $NaKe PiMp (Apr 16, 2012)

very strange yet intriguing


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## Flaviruthless (Apr 16, 2012)

That's really interesting, I hope someone here can shed some light on it as I'd definitely like to know as well.


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## Icarus (Apr 16, 2012)

that's so interesting! i'd love to hear what other people think about this. I know elephants have been known to show grief and burial behaviour - they will cover recently deceased elephants in grass and dirt. Chimpanzees and other primates will care for their dead and dying - stroke their hair, bring them food and water (in the case of dying apes). I'm sure this behaviour has extended to other species, i suppose us humans just haven't noticed yet!


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## Red_LaCN (Apr 16, 2012)

The only interest i have seen in a live fox to a dead fox is eating it!! I have no idea on this.


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## vampstorso (Apr 16, 2012)

How interesting, love it.


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## Renenet (Apr 16, 2012)

How fascinating. How many other foxes does he reckon there were? Was the dead fox male or female? I have no real idea, by the way, but I wonder if the other foxes were the family group.


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## Kimberlyann (Apr 16, 2012)

I know they are foxes and pests but i think they are beautiful (apart from the real mangy ones), i think this is so sad, it reminds me of how elephants do the same thing


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## SouthernKnights (Apr 16, 2012)

I hope someone knows what happened. It does seem a bit odd. Looks like they had a 6 pack at the wake too.


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## junglepython2 (Apr 16, 2012)

Was the fox gutted and left at the same spot? Maybe the other foxes were simply digging at the smell of the guts and contents and happened to accidently bury the original fox in the process?


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## Nathan_T (Apr 16, 2012)

Given that foxes feed on carrion and bury their food, what you most likely are seeing is a fox attempting to bury it to eat later and was disturbed before it could finish


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## Bushman (Apr 16, 2012)

I disagree with the last two posters. This looks like very deliberate bond-based activity to me. Intelligent animals are well documented to grieve family members.


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## Jeannine (Apr 16, 2012)

*beautiful animals

yes i know they 'are' classified as pests but remember they didnt ask to be bought here, they were bought simply for humans to get a kick out of hunting and killing, no other purpose and they do what they do to survive

no different to any other single animal alive on this planet, its an eat or be eaten world out there
*


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## Nathan_T (Apr 16, 2012)

Bushman said:


> I disagree with the last two posters. This looks like very deliberate bond-based activity to me. Intelligent animals are well documented to grieve family members.


Foxes are also well documented to eat other foxes, eat carrion and bury their food. But meh, it's anyone's guess


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## baxtor (Apr 16, 2012)

They are quite welcome in the environment in which they evolved, here they are vermin and need to be exterminated before they decimate the native wildlife. It matters little how or why they were brought here in the first place.


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## Vixen (Apr 16, 2012)

I hope he isn't letting them rot and go to waste, skin those things! I'll pay good money for a salted hide - I can tan them myself.


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## 53ERX (Apr 16, 2012)

of the rodent breeders on here, has anyone else seen this in mice?
Had one of my adults pass (old age) when I was younger, only to have the other females in with her bury her body in the sawdust.
This was also preceded by days of huddling around the sick mouse. Weird to see.


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## Bushman (Apr 16, 2012)

Nathan_T said:


> Foxes are also well documented to eat other foxes, eat carrion and bury their food. But meh, it's anyone's guess


I can't find any references to cannibalism in foxes Nathan. Can you please site your references? 
To the contrary, I'm led to believe that they only eat other foxes when in great distress like being in a fur farm or when there is no other food given to them, except the other dead animals' bodies.
So judging by the top condition of the carcass (suggesting time of plenty) and the fact that foxes tend to only eat their kin in times of food shortage, I think that it's less likely to be pantry work.


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## moosenoose (Apr 16, 2012)

That really is fascinating. Although they are a pest, they are quite beautiful. I've managed to cull off a few in recent times. Can't say I enjoy doing it, but it's s necessary task.


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## smeejason (Apr 16, 2012)

Bushman said:


> I can't find any references to cannibalism in foxes Nathan. Can you please site your references?
> To the contrary, I'm led to believe that they only eat other foxes when in great distress like being in a fur farm or when there is no other food given to them, except the other dead animals' bodies.
> So judging by the top condition of the carcass (suggesting time of plenty) and the fact that foxes tend to only eat their kin in times of food shortage, I think that it's less likely to be pantry work.


Can quote me I have seen it first hand on 2 occasions both were not under any stress. One was in a substation I worked at that had a healthy population and foxes would den in the cable pits. I new a vixen had a litter down in one but one day she had left them and was in another area. When we lifted the lids a large male was in there eating the litter. 
The other is a large fox I shot with my bow and skinned. Next day I shot a second fox eating the first fox. Yes third day I checked but no more foxes eating the 2 now skinned fixes.And both places had plenty of bunnies so no food shortage.


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## CaptainRatbag (Apr 16, 2012)

Maybe the others thought he was 'foxing' and were trying to wake him up?? :lol: Or wanted to show him how tuff they were by kicking sand in his face?


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## smeejason (Apr 16, 2012)

To anyone that says they are beautiful skin one and see how beautiful you think they are after woulds. A good scrub in diesel is the only way I could ever get the smell off my hands.


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## Batanga (Apr 16, 2012)

The foxes are doing minimal damage compared to government approved deforestation and building.
I will always laugh at the hypocrisy and redundant thinking of the government.


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## oOLaurenOo (Apr 16, 2012)

A male fox, actually a lot of male animals will eat litters of young. They can do this if its not their litter (In theory less competition for their own babies) They will also eat their young in times of stress. (In theory I suppose they eat them as opposed to abandoning them...) .... Weird .... But I've never heard of them burying deceased 'family members'.... That is very strange. Then again, it has been documented that dingoes have showed signs of grieving so you never know. Definitely worth a bit of investigating I think!


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## Batanga (Apr 16, 2012)

oOLaurenOo said:


> A male fox, actually a lot of male animals will eat litters of young. They can do this if its not their litter (In theory less competition for their own babies) They will also eat their young in times of stress. (In theory I suppose they eat them as opposed to abandoning them...)



Agreed, they also do it to a litter which another male has fathered so they can breed with the female and pass on their genes.


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## oOLaurenOo (Apr 16, 2012)

True!


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## Bushman (Apr 17, 2012)

Most cases of cannibalism in foxes occur in times of food shortage or what is known as 'filial cannibalism', such as the one mentioned by Smeejason.


> ...a large male was in there eating the litter.


The frequency of occurrence of potential events of cannibalism in red foxes was only 1% in one study. Most cases involved filial cannibalism. Of the cases that did not involve paternal infanticide, the complete absence of undigested remains in the gut, other than hairs, suggested the possibility of confusing cannibalism with coat-cleaning. Ergo I reckon that this behaviour is more likely to be ritualistic in nature rather than merely pantry work.


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## Red_LaCN (Apr 17, 2012)

Living in the country i have seen what foxes do,as i am sure some of you have also. Foxes killed by cars,others foxes seen eating that carcass on the road (seen myself). Lambing ewes are also at risk and have had foxes attack their babies before that lamb is even fully out of the ewe. Dont get me wrong,i love foxes,have owned one myself a short time many years ago. They smell,have sharp teeth,but learn quick like puppies,but they are vermin and cause destruction and death out on farms.


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## disintegratus (Apr 17, 2012)

I think foxes are quite beautiful, but as others have said, they are a pest. The hows and whys of them being here are irrelevant, and if the opportunity arose, I would not hesitate to kill one. They are also pretty intelligent, and a lot of intelligent animals do grieve. Considering the state of the body etc, I'm going to go with grieving behaviour.


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## Kareeves (May 1, 2012)

i am a country Boy and i have spent many long nights out killing off fox's setting up sent drags seen foxes do a lot of strange things but never seen them eat another fox in a good season.
As for other foxes giving it a wake well i really don't know if i can believe that is what happen. A few people mentioned how some animals morn for there lost pack friends. The word Pack animal comes to mined in this thread. All the animals that i know of that have some sort of morning for there lost mates are community animals and they generally where very close to the dead friend. As for Foxes they have there young in a den care for them till a certain age then its out the door. Good bye this years young now its time to put on more condition to have for next year young.


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