Protecting the Darwin's Fox

    

                                                                 
     Protecting The Darwin's Fox 

              Evan Marchand

                                     Photo of Darwins Fox by:Bell, Thomas; Darwin, Charles(Wikimedia commons)

 

    The Darwin’s Fox is an Endangered species of fox located in the Hills and Forests of the Chilean coasts and islands. With about 700 individuals left in the wild and decreasing, the Darwin fox population is at the foot of extinction and needs protection within their environment. Darwin's fox, named by naturalist Charles Darwin, was first discovered in December of 1834, Charles Darwin was on a Beagle expedition mission, when he noticed a small black fox sitting atop a point watching him survey the land. Named after Darwin based on its curious and investigative nature, The Darwin's fox was originally believed to be a breed of short haired gray fox, however these theories were proven incorrect when Darwin's fox DNA was cross tested and as result was found to be a completely unique species. While being endemic to Chile, the Darwin's Fox has a vast variety of food sources in their diets, these include small mammals, reptiles and birds, as well as berries, fruits, beetles and fish if they can come by it. Exclusive to the Chilean coast, the Darwin’s Fox population is diminishing and deserve for the species to grow and thrive. 

Photo of Darwin fox by: Parque Tepuhueico(wikimedia commons)

Photo of Charles Darwin by: Herbert Rose Burraud

     The Darwin's Fox live in two separate groups, divided by the loss a land bridge over an estimated 10,000 years ago, one group is located on an island off the coast of Chile, these foxes live among the temperate forest of the island. The other group lives in the grassy mainland of Chile, retreating into the forests to hunt for food. While the population of the group is speculated to be higher, with multiple new groups of foxes found in nearby ranges the real number of mature Darwin foxes in the wild is unknown but estimated to be anywhere from 700-2500 mature individuals left in the wild. These foxes live in the grasslands and forests, likely due to the high productivity of the land, grasslands and forests have rich soil fertility levels, as well as lots of rainfall. Combined with the typically warm weather of Chile, only receiving snowfall 2-3 months of the year and the Darwin's fox have an ideal habitat with plentiful amounts of food sources. The Dark color of their fur also helps them blend into their surroundings when in the forest, a useful tool to help them when hunting. The Darwin fox typically hunts earlier in the morning to avoid being seen by predators. They have been labeled endangered since 2014 and with such a perfect habitat for the Darwin fox, one may wonder why the population is still decreasing. The sad truth is that in their habitat, the Darwin fox faces some unforeseen circumstances... 

Photo of Chilé by :Terpsichores(wikimedia commons)

                                           Photo of temperate forest by: Sw3dpix(wikimedia commons)

     Unfortunately, The Darwin Fox faces many threats in their habitat, these threats being so severe they have lowered the population of these foxes for over a decade. One of the biggest threats the Darwin Fox faces is being killed by domestic dogs. Domestic dogs, from mainland Chile, have relocated the Darwin fox out of the forests where these wild and domestic dogs will usually go and into the grassy mountain ranges. The dogs don’t just affect the foxes through intra-guild killing, but also through the transmission of diseases, the transmission of diseases through the foxes can be one of the most fatal threats to the Darwin fox population. While many of the dog attacks were speculated to be wild dogs, it has been proven that most fox deaths in the area were due to poorly managed domestic dogs, as opposed to feral dogs. This threat isn't very well suitable for the environment, these dogs are most likely responsible for more than just the death of foxes in the Chilean forest but other species of small mammals too. This threat doesn’t oppose any other habitats specifically, but rather only the habitat of the Darwin fox, However stray dogs remain a consistent problem is less financially viable nations and will remain a problem unless they can institute a man-made solution.

Photo of stray domesticated dogs in the wild: Anton Pree (wiki commons)

     Another threat the Darwin Fox Faces is at the hands of humans. Humans in Chile have been hunting and killing foxes for centuries, using their fur to make expensive pelts and clothes alike. The Darwin fox is no exception, However the Darwin fox isn't usually killed by the local people, in fact the local people are typically in support of the conservation of the Darwin fox. This however doesn’t stop hunters from killing these foxes whenever they come across them. Their pelts can be highly sought after due to the natural dark color. The majority of the Darwin foxes on the mainland have moved into protected land like the Nahuelbuta National Park and Valdivian Coastal Reserve-Alerce Costero National Park to avoid being trapped or killed by passing hunters. Moving into these protected areas has been proven effective against human threats but opens the door to other predatorial threats such as pumas, wild dogs and other animals. While this threat isn't very prominent to the Darwin fox due to the general population in favor of saving the foxes however this threat effects animals around the world from deer hunting for sport, all the way to poaching elephants in the African planes. This problem wont be settled until strict guidelines can be put in place for hunting animals, especially animals declining in population.

Photo of Fox hunters by: Paul, John Dean(wiki commons)

as we can see here dogs have been used in fox hunting for years, Fox hounds were often used to sniff out nearby foxes.

 

     The final threat to the Darwin fox is Habitat conversion, The Darwin fox habitat has shrunk for years as cities and towns were developed in the land, they called home. The forests they reside in have been cut down, and the grass they burrowed into a den has been dug up and turned into roads. The gross loss rate of the Chilean forests totals to roughly 30%. Human caused forest fires to have also resulted in a high mortality rate of the Darwin fox. One of the major concerns to the Darwin fox population of Chiloe Island is the construction of the bridge that will connect Chiloe to the mainland. If this bridge is implemented incorrectly, the threats the Darwin foxes on the island will be insurmountable. Subsequent species of fox as well as pumas and other predators are likely to make their way over to the island in the following years, without the correct barriers or precautions, the Chiloe Darwin fox population is likely to plummet. These are some of the threats that the Darwin foxes face in their day to day lives, not only predators like dogs, pumas and other large carnivores, but also humans can oppose a great threat to the Darwin fox population. This threat is universal all around the world, thousands of speices have fallen victim to habitats converted to cities or roads, Human construction and deforestation is plaguing countless animals and plants around the world.

Photo of deforestation process, plaguing the Darwin Fox' habitat:by Nanoworld(wiki commons)

     Unfortunately, the Darwin fox is endangered and likely to fall to the same fate as many other species before them, If the population can't overcome the threats, they face they will too become extinct.However, as humans we do have the ability to make a change in an effort to aid the Darwin Fox population. As Students at Keene State, we sadly don’t have much of an effect on the Chilean Government and as a result our involvement is limited, however as a college we do have a status, if we could use our platform to raise awareness to the situation of the Darwin fox, we could get the ball rolling onto how to fix the problem. These solutions could include, implementing an animal control department to help lower the number of wild and domestic dogs, if these dogs could be taken and put into the proper facilities this could drastically decrease the number of Darwin fox fatalities due to wild and domestic dogs. Another solution could be to institute strict hunting laws against hunting and killing Darwin foxes, as well as forbidding any trading of the pelts of Darwin foxes in an effort to preserve the foxes in the area. The Darwin fox population is still currently decreasing, but if as many of the local people are in favor of its conservation of the species, they could institute some of these solutions and hopefully the Darwin Foxes can begin to thrive and grow again.

 

Photo of Darwin's fox by: Fernando Borquez Borquez(wiki commons)

Cite sources

IUCN Redlist

Animal Diversity Web 

Wikimedia commons