Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Pirate Talk




My friend’s wire fox terrier Pirate is adorable as well as a fierce hunter of scat. On our hike through a snowy, coniferous forest in November, he sniffed out two individual piles that my terrier bypassed (although to her credit, she did scent elk that had recently passed by). I think this is red fox (Vulpes vulpes) scat. My clues are these: most importantly, red foxes exist in the subalpine zone (9,000 to 11,000 feet) where we were hiking. Appearance and size provided me with two other indications. Twisty and tapered, the scat measured about 2 inches. Finally, red foxes defecate in prominent places like the tops of rocks where Pirate located these examples. If the scat were fresh, a distinctive musky smell would have given me more information.

1 comment:

  1. I look forward to these posts every week. This is my favorite one so far- I wholeheartedly agree that Pirate is adorable. Keep writing about all your nature knowledge!

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