A while ago I posted an animal-asking-for-help video, which, I recall, involved a net-tangled dolphin approaching divers for “assistance”. (The divers cut it free.) Here we have a small fox with its head stuck in a jar, and HuffPo presents this, without question, as the animal approaching humans to ask for help.
Wild foxes aren’t known to hang around humans too often, but that changed for one little fox that turned to two men for help after getting stuck in a jar.
Two men walking along a dirt road in Russia came upon a red fox with its head stuck in a glass jar. The fox walked toward them, and one of the men bent down to help. He grabbed the jar, pulled the scruff of the animal’s neck and freed it.
As the kit scampered away, the man joked, “Where’s my thank you?” according to a Huffington Post translation.
Well, I’m not so sure. It’s entirely possible that the animal was simply disoriented, which effaced its fear of humans. It’s hard for me to believe that a wild animal that has either an evolved or learned fear of humans would suddenly find itself in a pickle and, overcoming those fears, ask for help—or even know what “asking for help” means.
Anyway, HuffPo mentions a few other stuck-animal rescues:
On Saturday, Pennsylvania police rescued a young bear whose head was stuck in a plastic jar for at least 11 days, according to the Associated Press. Likewise, officers in Florida’s Big Pine Key saved a deer that got its head stuck in a bag of Doritos chips.
Here’s the fox video; judge for yourself:
h/t: Barry
ObPSA: Don’t litter. Containers, plastics, and other artificial objects can be deadly to wildlife.
I love that video, the fact the fox approached them, the man’s matter of fact way of handling the situation, everything. Has cheered me up no end
I think I’ll go with “disoriented, scared, and young,” rather than asking for help.
But the rescuers handled the situation perfectly.
I’m also reminded of the recent research done on breeding both tame and aggressive foxes, and how the tame ones became infantilized and dog-like….
b&
…and §….
b&
Not so recent, IIRC. It’s described in one of the early chapters of Jerry’s book ;-).
My point exactly. Jerry only wrote WEIT a year or two ago, right?
…right?
b&
I would also go with “half-asphyxiated”.
Of course there is no way to tell, but considering their normal behavior, it seems more likely the fox was disoriented. Nothing in the animals experience or genetic make up would tell her that humans can help her with her problem.
Yes, the disorientation probably “effaced its fear of humans.” That seems about right. But it is interesting to see that after the guy gets out of the car and walks toward the fox, the fox walks up to HIM.
It didn’t look like the fox was looking at the rescuer when it walked toward him, and it sure tried to high-tail it when he grabbed the jar. My vote is disorientation. While I’m a fan of the evolutionarily stable trait of “quick! Go get the monkeys”, I don’t think this is a really good example of that.
I think that disorientation probably played a large role in the fox’s behavior….and the fox’s age enables me to assume that it’s awareness of humans did not extend to comprehending that humans can _do things_. But, this is a fox whose genes enabled it to tolerate the presence of humans long enough that they were able to save it. That ‘genetically-allowed’ behavior is almost certainly pretty thoroughly circumstantial….but there is a wild fox out there now whose genes allowed him to receive assistance from humans….
Extrapolate this over the millions of future years that humans will (if we don’t mess up too badly) have on this planet and I think it is _plausible_ that ‘millions of years from now’ there will be several species of wild animal that will seek human assistance when sick or injured. (Along with a lot of “I’m cute, feed me!” critters.)
I believe this to be a subtle combination of things. Years ago, at Denali National Park, I observed small arctic foxes sharing the pedestrian walkways with people. The undergrowth was so thick, it was prudent for any creature walking. They never made eye contact, walking along the edge. If you directly approached them, they dove off into the brush. So I believe one element to be this: humans, if detected, are not high danger. So no absolute retreat. In addition, a jar distorts all the visual information. The fox has entered a different reality, mentally. The fox has ZERO IDEA how to escape the jar on its head, but ‘escape’ from most antagonists means vacating the area where an episode transpired, that is, where this jar grabbed hold. So, walk, walk, walk, walk…might have already done some running, but it proved to be counter-productive (i.e. crashing, neck hurting). The fox attempted to bolt as soon as it was touched. I’m speculating that the fox was pretty darned tired and mentally dazed.
Compare this fox episode with grabbing a stray cat with an obvious eye injury. A typical cat case would be a foxtail embedded behind the eyeball. There is all kinds of gooey fluid, and the foxtail can only be removed with tweezers and the cat holding still. There’s no gratitude there, either.
That’s a cute fox, but it’s no Hindu monkey god.
Well, Frans de Waal just posted it as being a legit attempt of an animal asking for help, and he is a biologist. (See http://www.fb.com/10151682485904700).
I share the criticism displayed above. But ‘disorientation’ is a weak explanation for the behavior of the fox. The glass is not foggy, so the fox should be able to see where the humans are. Instead, he does walk right at them! If he was afraid, I would expect the fox to stand still and bend his legs to prepare for action.
Also humans and wolves co-evolved. I am not sure whether foxes and humans had contact as well. But if that was the case, it does not sound completely bogus to me that the fox would feel a sense of connection with the humans.
But then again, the question remains… Can a fox orientate with his head stuck in a jar. We need more trials.
A lot of biologists still believe there is a deity crafting people out of clay. Being a biologist does not mean he has a good point.
It’s fair to say it is possible the fox was expecting humans to help, but I see no reason to assume that is correct.
To assume that is correct you need to make the assumption that a fox knows what is wrong (if they understood exactly what the problem is, they wouldn’t be sticking their head in a glass jar to begin with), and that they have any concept that humans can be helpful to them (let alone any other creature). How do you propose a fox learnt that humans can be helpful, exactly? Experience? Tuition? Some kind of cute companion instinct where they have a genetic imprint of instructions to interact with humans when in dire need?
What some people want to believe the fox is thinking:
“Oh damn this glass jar on my head, I only wanted to lick the last bit of jam from the bottom to satisfy my poor rumbly tummy. Ah! Some humans! I know they are scary but perhaps they can solve my predicament? Gently does it. Walk up to them now… Oh! He is helping me! Maybe humans are not as scary as I thought! Jolly good! Ooooof I can breathe again! I’m out of here! Bye suckers (Bwahahaha?)”
What the fox is more likely to be thinking:
“Wheeze. What the fuck is going on. Wheeze. Where am I. AH FUCK SOMETHING IS EATING ME. *Pop* THE WORLD IS NORMAL. WHICH WAY IS UP? RUNAWAY”
I propose you try putting your head in a glass jar for a few hours, or even days, then tell me how clearly you can navigate.
Well, Frans de Waal just posted it as being a legit attempt of an animal asking for help, and he is a biologist. (See http://www.fb.com/10151682485904700).
I share the criticism displayed above. But ‘disorientation’ is a weak explanation for the behavior of the fox. The glass is not foggy, so the fox should be able to see where the humans are. Instead, he does walk right at them! If he was afraid, I would expect the fox to stand still and bend his legs to prepare for action.
Also humans and wolves co-evolved. I am not sure whether foxes and humans had contact as well. But if that was the case, it does not sound completely bogus to me that the fox would feel a sense of connection with the humans.
But then again, the question remains… Can a fox orientate with his head stuck in a jar. We need more trials.
The idea that it’s using humans as a tool seems a bit anthropomorphic, it’s got a healthy amount of our own storytelling to it. I wonder what experts on fox behaviour make of it. (Are there experts on fox behaviour?)
It might not be an animal asking for help, but it is a human being being kind to a helpless animal, and thus a Very Good Thing.
Accounts like this help restore one’s faith in human nature.
Interesting. One thing that caught my attention was that the fox heard them coming(the fox could hear the footsteps I think) and even when the head is in a jar maybe the fox could even see something and I bet that it should have run away when it saw the car already. The odd thing is that the fox walked to them and did not run away. A normal fox who would hear something or only see something like humans or a car would run away.
There is hard to draw a conclusion here because I think that confusion is not the issue here. For who did the fox confuse the humans, car or the sounds if it went to them??
But still, that man threw the jar again in the grass. And more animals will get caught inside, even the same fox.
In the end, even though those people did the right thing by helping the fox cub, they didn’t fix the problem: the empty jar, dangerous trash altogether.
So, accounts like this DON’T help me restore my faith in human nature, because they don’t break that vicious cycle of men. But, maybe I’m just more negativistic than others.
The guy got out of his car and went about 20 feet down the road, hard to call that the fox coming to them for help. The fox’s vision also seemed pretty obscured in that direction, and as others have noted it panicked a bit as soon as they guy touched it.
I also have to vote for too dazed and disoriented to run away over looking for help.