Bold but not innovative in an urban exploiter, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Abstract

Urbanisation is the fastest form of landscape transformation on the planet, but our understanding of how wildlife responds to such changes is still in its infancy. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are renowned for thriving in urban settings where they have many opportunities to exploit food within or in close proximity to a wide variety of human-made objects (e.g., litter and contents of outdoor bins). The visibility of such behaviour has likely contributed to urban foxes being labelled as bolder, cunning, and a general nuisance to people. Studies in other animals show that frequent exposure to novel objects can sometimes lead them to overcome their aversion to unfamiliar objects in general (e.g., stimulus generalisation). However, it is unclear whether this applies to the willingness of urban fox populations to exploit food-related objects, particularly when they are first discovered and hence the most novel. To test whether urbanisation encourages wild foxes to exploit food-related objects, we administered eight types of novel objects containing food to 87 free-ranging foxes across a large urban-rural gradient (one object per location). One fox approached and exploited an object in the first instance, while the remaining 86 foxes avoided them. After two weeks, five foxes exploited the objects, while another 13 foxes touched the objects but quit before gaining access. Urban variables (e.g., road, greenspace, and human population density) did not predict whether foxes acknowledged or touched the objects, but their likelihood of touching them was predicted by the type of novel object encountered. When objects were absent, foxes willingly consumed the food. Thus, as with rural populations, urban foxes in the current study displayed an initial aversion to novel objects, suggesting that increased access to food-related objects through urbanisation does not necessarily encourage all foxes to exploit such resources when first discovered. Other factors are needed to overcome their initial aversion, which may have important implications for changing the general perception and management of this species.

Communicating information about the psychology of a wild carnivore, the red fox, influences perceived attitudinal changes but not overall tolerance in people

“…West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber), and gender as random factors, as a prior study suggested that fox-related attitudes and beliefs may be different in different regions of the UK (Morton et al, 2023) and because previous studies have found gender sampling effects on fox-related attitudes (Kimmig et al, 2020). Although age and degree of urbanisation can also impact fox-related attitudes (Kimmig et al, 2020), there were no significant differences in participants' mean age (F(3, 1369) = .964, P = .409) and degree of urbanisation (F(3, 1369) = .895, P = .443) across our treatments, hence, we opted against including these variables within our models to avoid overparameterization.…”

“…Negative attitudes and beliefs towards the conservation of predators can be influenced by a variety of factors, including over-generalization of the risks they pose towards people (Ashish et al, 2022). In the case of foxes, there is a growing potential for human-wildlife conflict if, for example, foxes are becoming bolder within urban spaces (Morton et al, 2023), and people perceive the risks resulting from such behaviour as being higher (Brand & Baldwin, 2020;Soulsbury & White, 2015). Studies suggest that while urban foxes may behave more boldly than rural populations (Morton et al, 2023), people's attitudes and beliefs about foxes may also be influenced by popular culture, whichas with other carnivore speciescan be highly sensationalised and negative (Bridge & Harris, 2020).…”

“…Participants in Groups 1 and 3 were presented with information about two psychological profiles (bold/shy behaviour and problem-solving ability) using trail camera data from the British Carnivore Project, an on-going study of wild carnivore behaviour and cognition in the UK (Morton et al, 2023). Bold/shy behaviour was defined in this study in terms of the likelihood of foxes touching and engaging with unfamiliar puzzle feeders (Morton et al, 2023). Problem-solving ability was defined in terms of the likelihood of foxes solving the puzzles (Morton et al, 2023).…”

“…Questions 2-4 drew specific attention to the link between fox psychology and human-wildlife conflict (e.g., "Bold behaviour in foxes would negatively impact my everyday life, e.g., raiding my garden or outdoor bin"). Questions 10 and 11 asked participants about litter and bin-raiding behaviour, i.e., a popular belief about urban foxes within the UK (Morton et al, 2023). Question 25 asked people whether fox psychology improved their overall tolerance of foxes.…”

“…In the current study, we ran a series of controlled online experiments to understand how promoting information about boldness and problem-solving abilities in a wild mammalian carnivore, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), might impact public attitudes and beliefs about these animals. Mammalian carnivores, such as foxes, are an example of a group of animals that display variation in boldness and problem-solving (Breck et al, 2019;Daniels et al, 2019;Morton et al, 2023;Stanton et al, 2022), which have likely enabled them to exploit a wide variety of environments (Ashish et al, 2022;Drouilly et al, 2021). Such abilities, however, are also factors underpinning their worldwide persecution based on their real or perceived threats to people, property, and domesticated species (Ashish et al, 2022;Brand & Baldwin, 2020;Bridge & Harris, 2020;Soulsbury & White, 2015).…”