I’m going to end Fox Week (only four days) on a high note. Reader Scott sent not one but three fox videos, along with some words:
I went on a fox hunt on yahoo and found some nice videos that I would like to share for three reasons: the fox’s speed, sound, and … apparent d*g preference. The comments from the poster are surprising.
Looking further, I found the third link which I think indentifies the call in the first video as a “vixen scream” — a possible mating call. That might put the first two videos in perspective!
1) What the Fox ACTUALLY Says (The Scream of a Fox):
(shorter clip)
2) same fox and dog playing
(full clip of interaction)
3) Fox calls :
vixen scream at 33 seconds in.
That family should be prepared with some frisbees and other suitable long-distance d*g toys for when the fox returns. Might not be able to get a true game of Fetch going, but could possibly work as an icebreaker to properly introduce the two.
b&
Well now I know what I heard at 2:30am last night. It sure got Summer-the-little-stripey-cat’s attention. We’ve seen foxes (grey ones) around several times but never heard any.
When I was a kid in the UK we lived in a house on the edge of some woods. Lots of foxes there. I was the only member of the family that liked the screams and barks of the foxes. The cats would go still and poised when they heard them, ears trembling and eyes black.
Is it possible that the fox is considering the dog as prey? They are wily you know.
Nah, not at that weight differential. Dogs still have enormously powerful jaws, you know.
“Gekkering” (video 3, at 1:10) is both a cool word and a cool sound.
“Hi I’m foxy, I like that dog”
“Don’t break your heart, foxy, that dog is just an altered toy”
That vixen scream, along with the type called just “screams” ( @ ~ 1:360)–what I call the “demented banshee”–is one of the spookiest eeriest most otherworldliest things you ever hope to hear. (Esp. before you’ve identified it the first time.) I’m often out in the dead of night, and several years ago I first heard it, repeated over & over from the field next door. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
It’s hard to figure out what those two canids have in mind. I’m thinking fox behavior is just far enough from Canis behavior that neither is quite sure what to do. With dogs, wolves, & coyotes, there’s some shared body language–play bows, submission displays, etc.–but I see none of that here. There doesn’t seem to be any animosity, either.
I’m most surprised at the dog’s casual attitude to the fox. Makes one wonder about previous encounters, whether the fox was once captive, etc.
In a couple of places it looks as if the dog’s sniffing around, thinking “there must be a fox here, somewhere.” 😀 Scent-oriented dogs can be so much fun…
This fox did appear to bow, and to roll on its side in the grass. That looks like submissive (or friendly inviting) behavior to me.
Guess I missed that. 🙂
From what I’ve gathered on the web, only females vocalize in this manner and do so to attract mates(but I can’t find confirmation).
What I did find was is nice page from the University of Michigan with concise information on the Red Fox (with References! link below).
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Vulpes_vulpes/
Thought it would be fun to listen to the sounds as my Labrador Retriever was napping on the floor. She was apparently unmoved until the “gekkering,” at which point she raised her head and looked around the room intently. She also seemed interested in the later “fox howl,” but the “vixen scream” did nothing for her.
By the way, my orange fluffy cat continued to purr indifferently through the entire thing.
When I was about 18, I went camping at a local State Park in Minnesota with my best friend from high school. We were walking around in the (completely pitch black) dark, drinking beer, when a vixen (or fox) screamed a short distance away. It sounded like a woman being murdered. Turned my guts into jelly. We moved very quickly back to our campsite!