FEEDING ECOLOGY OF RED FOXES (VULPES-VULPES) IN THE CITY OF OXFORD, ENGLAND

The dry weight of undigested remains comprised scavenged food (37%), earthworms Lumbricus terrestris, (27%) mammals (16%), fruits (9%), birds (8%), other invertebrates (2%), and domestic stock (1%). No single category of food occurred in >50% of samples. Some 81 types of food were indentified, including 5 orders of birds, 14 species of small mammals, and 14 species of fruits. Small mammals peaked in late winter, lagomorphs in April, and birds in June; fruits constituted a large proportion of the diet in autumn. Occurrence in feces of fruits, Passeriformes, Coleoptera, and invertebrate larvae correlated strongly with seasonal variations in indices of the abundance of these prey, suggesting that they were taken in proportion to their availability. Columbiformes, lagomorphs, and rodents showed no such direct relationship, indicating that foxes selected for or against these foods in some way not directly related to their abundances. -from Authors