canidcompendium:Swift Foxes on the North American Plainsby Lu CarbynWhen the first European explorer
canidcompendium:Swift Foxes on the North American Plainsby Lu CarbynWhen the first European explorers penetrated westward on the North American continent they encountered a faunal complex quite different from what it is today. Bison herds (Bison bison) dominated the landscape. Wolves (Canis lupus) and grizzly bears (Ursus horibilis) shared the plains with the numerous Indian tribes. Other predators benefited from the mix of faunal elements on this landscape. The smallest of the canids, the swift fox, was considered common by those naturalists and explorers who kept notes of what they saw (FaunaWest 1991).Sometime in the late 1800s and 1900s this delightful, cat-sized carnivore declined in range and numbers in the northern prairie areas and major reductions were recorded for more southerly prairie regions. In Canada the last officially recorded swift fox in a museum collection was obtained in 1928. Obviously, stragglers probably persisted here and there but the Canadian population vanished within a period of only a few decades. Swift foxes in the states of Montana and North Dakota were also reduced to the point of virtual extinction. South Dakota was an interesting special case. The last record of swift foxes in that state was reported by Visher (1914-citation from FaunaWest 1914) and the species remained unrecorded until 1966 (McDaniel 1976-citation from FaunaWest). Within the next 15 years numbers in South Dakota increased somewhat (Hillman and Sharps 1978) and populations were noted in two different counties. Foxes were not reported in Wyoming for many years until they seemed to reappear in the late 1950s (Long 1965). Swift foxes were not apparent In Nebraska between 1901-1953. In the 1960s and 1970s the little fox appeared to make modest comeback, but numbers were again reduced in the 1990s (FaunaWest 1991).The demise of the species in Canada went largely unnoticed at first. Old-timers still talked about those ·leather eating kit foxesº, but beyond that no one payed much attention until a greater awareness of the environment penetrated the consciousness of North American society in the latter part of the 1960s and 1970s. By chance, an eccentric, globe trotting couple were looking for new adventures and decided to set up a game farm. Among an eclectic collection of wildlife species they included swift foxes as part of their menagerie. This was a stroke of good fortune, as the captive founder foxes eventually became the core of a major re-introduction project. A University professor with graduate students forged links with the private initiative and began a process that continues today, namely a long term reintroduction programme. Government agencies, slower to respond to specific needs, became involved as well. In 1978 an official committee (COSEWIC: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada), comprised of many agencies and charged with the responsibilities of reviewing the status of rare, threatened or endangered species, officially declared the swift fox as “extirpated” (meaning once a native species, existing in Canada, but currently extinct although still existing elsewhere on the continent).The decline of the swift fox and its demise in Canada are unlikely to have been caused by just one factor. Possible explanations include: (1) habitat loss through conversion of native prairies to agriculture; (2) species’ vulnerability to human activities such as trapping, predator control, shooting, collisions with vehicles; (3) use of rodenticides to control prey populations; (4) introduction of diseases from domestic farm dogs; (5) weather and winter severity; (6) interspecific competition from a mix of competing carnivores, including other canids such as wolves, coyotes (Canis latrans) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).Swift foxes often tend to be docile, unafraid, curious and inquisitive which renders them vulnerable to a number of mortality agents. They are small, and therefore exposed to a host of potential avian and mammalian predators. Attributing the demise solely to direct human interference (persecution of predators and habitat destruction) is probably unjustified. European influences on predator control were much more severe and appeared earlier in the south than in the northern portions of the species’ range. The same could be said in general for habitat destruction, yet swift foxes survived in remnant pockets in the south whilst northern populations vanished. However, indirect results of human pressures are likely to have had an unfavourable impact on the species. Coyotes can more effectively access a range of resources from mice to deer and in the scheme of evolutionary processes benefited from European settlers, while swift foxes were being squeezed out of the ecosystem.Read MorePhoto by Gordilly -- source link