San Joaquin Kit Fox: Charlotte Smith

San Joaquin Kit Fox

(Vulpes macrotis mutica)

Meet the Kit Fox

        

General Information:

 

The San Joaquin kit fox is the smallest fox in North America as well as the smallest mammal of the Canidae family in North America. They are about the size of a housecat. However, they are the largest subspecies of Canidae in skeletal measurements, body size and weight. The average lifespan for kit foxes is seven years old.

 

Identification:

 

The San Joaquin kit fox is a member of the same family as of dogs and wolves, the Canidae family. These little furry friends only weigh about five pounds. Their compact bodies have a coat with a dorsal color ranging from gray to tan, with usually white bellies. They blend in well with their environment because of their tan coat. Their tails have distinctive black tips. The black-tipped tails and the color of their coats distinguish the San Joaquin kit fox from the other two similar fox species in the San Joaquin Valley. The kit fox also has two specific coats, a tan summer coat and grey winter coat, which they develop each year.

 

http://davecollinsimages.com/p160442637/h68463AEF

They are built to be light with a slim build, as these foxes have long legs and mighty ears compared to their small body; the kit foxes’ ears average at about 3 and a half inches which is much longer than the other foxes in the San Joaquin Valley. The kit fox has a bushy tail with furry toes in order to keep them cool in the habitat of the hot and dry Central Valley environment.

 

Behavior:

 

The kit fox is a nocturnal animal. Therefore, they are mostly active at night and rarely during the day. Hunting is one of the activities that strictly occurs only at night.

http://mnzoo.org/blog/autumn-nighttime-nature-fun/

 

Habitat:

 

The fox inhabits areas in the desert, mostly arid regions, areas with little ground cover. Kit foxes try and avoid rugged terrain, except that they do use loose soil for digging their dens.

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-dry-climates/

 

The foxes live in underground dens, which protect them from the weather in the summers and winters. These dens are used as a shelter from predators, such as coyotes, and a place to raise their young. The foxes make dens of their own but also reuse dens made from other animals such as squirrels, badgers and even humans.

San Joaquin kit fox peeking out from his den:

https://sites.google.com/site/sanjoaquinkitfoxto2015/species-recovery

Kit foxes frequently change the dens they reside in: a single kit fox usually resides in over 11 dens during one year. The main reasons for changing dens so often is to avoid coyotes, after the supply of their prey has been depleted or when parasites such as fleas have infested their den.

Kit Fox Pups: 

https://defenders.org/san-joaquin-kit-fox/basic-facts

In these dens, kit foxes usually live in pairs or with other families of kit foxes. In the later part of the year, usually September or October, adult females clean their dens and make them bigger, preparing for the time period of mating, from December to March. Kit foxes will care for their pups for about five months or until they are able to find food on their own.

Here is a video of kit foxes and their pups around one of their dens at nighttime: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5CmHJViv5E

 

Their home ranges extend from less than one square mile to 12 square miles. Home ranges between different pairs or families of the kit foxes don’t overlap, therefore they are animals that need large areas to support their populations.

 

         Species Interactions:

 

The San Joaquin kit fox experiences fierce competition from specifically coyotes but also non-native red foxes, bobcats, badgers, domestic dogs and golden eagles. The majority of kit foxes die because of their predators, especially coyotes more than other causes of death such as disease or parasites.  

 

https://www.pinterest.com/carollesser01/san-joaquin-kit-fox/?lp=true

Diet:

 

Kit foxes mostly eat small animals, such as rodents. The specifics of what the foxes eat change geographically and with each season. Usually their diet consists of kangaroo rats, mice, desert cottontails, ground squirrels, ground-nesting birds, insects and lizards. This is what a kangaroo rat looks like:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/science/rats-escape-rattlesnakes.html

They will feed off vegetation if they need to; grass is the most common plant material that they eat. The San Joaquin kit fox is peculiar in the sense that they do not need to drink water. This is because the prey they consume give them enough water to allow them to survive. But don’t worry, the fox will drink water if available.

 https://defenders.org/san-joaquin-kit-fox/basic-facts

Geographic & Population Changes

Geographic Range:

 

Before 1930 the foxes lived throughout most of the San Joaquin Valley from southern Kern County all the way north to Tracy, San Joaquin County and Stanislaus County. By 1930, this range had been cut in more than half. The biggest portion of what remains resided in the southern and western parts of the Valley. The habitats which kit foxes live in have also been extremely altered by humans.

San Joaquin Kit Fox range:

https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Keep-Me-Wild/Kit-Fox 

The San Joaquin kit fox has been an endangered species for more than 30 years but there still has not been a survey done of its whole historical range. In addition, even with a huge loss of the foxes’ habitat and the decline in population since the 1970s, there still hasn’t been a new survey of their previously inhabited area. Even so, research projects and local surveys have shown that kit foxes inhabit area on the San Joaquin Valley floor and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains.

 

Today, the San Joaquin kit fox only exists the edges of the San Joaquin Valley from southern Kern County to Alameda, Contra Costa and San Joaquin Counties on the west and up to Stanislaus County on the west and to Stanislaus County on the east. Few kit fox populations are found on the Valley floor and inside the city of Bakersfield.

Population:

 

The biggest population of San Joaquin kit foxes is found in west Kern County and surrounding the Elk Hills as well as Buena Vista Valley in Kern County and the Carrizo Plain Natural Area in San Luis Obispo County. Smaller populations are in the San Joaquin Valley floor, which includes Madera County and eastern Stanislaus County.

It was estimated in the 1930 Recovery Plan of the San Joaquin kit fox that the population of adult kit foxes before 1930 was between 8,667 and 12,134 over a range of almost 9,000 square miles.

 

The kit fox population in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Kings, Tulare and Kern Counties was found to be about 11,000 foxes in the 1970s. This was estimated by aerial surveys of the foxes' dens and historic habitat. A more in-depth investigation has given us a corrected estimate of 6,971 foxes in 1975. About 85% of the 1975 fox population was present in only six counties. Kern County had 41% of the fox population and San Luis Obispo County had 10% of the fox population.

 

This reflects a 20 to 43% population decline of the kit fox from the pre-1930 estimate. The current population trend is decreasing.

http://www.wildlifeheritage.org/gallery/san-joaquin-kit-fox/ 

Listing of the Kit Fox  

 

http://ccows.csumb.edu/wiki/index.php/Endangered_Species_Act_(ESA)

The San Joaquin kit foxes were listed as endangered on the Federal Endangered Species Act in 1967. Then they were listed as threatened on the California Endangered Species Act in 1971.

 

The recovery plan for the San Joaquin kit fox was created in 1998.

Listing Status:  Endangered 

Causes for Decline   ⤋ ⤋

The main factors for the decline of the San Joaquin kit fox by the 1950s were loss, degradation, fragmentation of habitats because of agricultural, industrial and urban developments in the San Joaquin Valley. Beginning in the 1800s, land conversions began throughout the San Joaquin Valley. By 1958 about half of the Valley’s natural communities had been destroyed. With more recent projects such as the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, the rate of lost original natural communities has exponentially increased. 

The impact of these water projects on the San Joaquin Valley can be seen below:

 

https://sanjoaquinkitfoxcali.weebly.com/habitat-loss.html

 

From just ten years, from 1959 to 1969, around 34% of natural lands were destroyed within the kit fox range.

 

The main cause of the kit fox population decline is the habitat loss and fragmentation because of extensive land conversion to agriculture and industrial areas, leading to factors such as displacement, direct and indirect deaths of the kit foxes and decline of prey available for the foxes.

 

On the left we see areas of shrublands and grasslands that provide habitat to the kit fox, while on the right we have seen the results of the area having been converted to agriculture and not providing a habitat and vegetation for the kit fox:

https://sanjoaquinkitfoxcali.weebly.com/habitat-loss.html

Main Threats

The Central Valley changing from what used to be open grasslands to now farms and urbanization for agriculture such as houses, roads and orchards has the biggest effect on the San Joaquin kit foxes. This brings death, sickness, injury, difficulty in reproduction and finding a mate as well as finding food.

 

Destruction and degradation of the kit foxes’ habitat due to agricultural and industrial developments decrease the amount of kit foxes that can be supported by the remaining habitat (also known as the carrying capacity).

 

Even by the 1800s about 64% of the grasslands and 67% of the scrublands in the San Joaquin Valley had been converted to agriculture, as seen below:

 

The populations of the San Joaquin kit fox has drastically decreased and they have been pushed to the edges of the Valley because of land conversion to agriculture, even though kit foxes were once found all throughout the Valley.

 

http://kerrcenter.com/livestock/cattle/pasture/management-intensive-grazing/

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/3864768-power-line-opponents-give-renewables-their-keystone-moment

Examples of developments negatively affecting the kit fox habitat:

·      Cities and towns

·      Traffic

·      Aqueducts

·      Irrigation canals

·      Petroleum fields

·      Surface mining

·      Road networks

·      Non-petroleum industrial projects

·      Power lines

·      Wind farms

·      Livestock grazing

·      Use of pesticides and rodenticides

Example of a kit fox found on a road and near cities:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNov9u1yX6c 

All of these factors restrict and narrow the kit fox into fragmented areas, smaller in size and lower in habitat quality.

 

Continued fragmentation is another major threat to the survival of the kit fox population. As human populations in California increase, the size and quality of habitat for the kit fox decrease.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001801-the-worlds-fastest-growing-cities

Another huge threat to the kit fox is climate change. San Joaquin kit fox populations increase and decrease with the amount of rainfall each year: if there is more rain there are more kit foxes. 

https://sanjoaquinkitfoxcali.weebly.com/conservation.html

Recovery plan

By making a conservative recovery strategy for the San Joaquin kit fox, it is in turn protecting many other species within the ecosystem. This is because the kit fox is an umbrella species, meaning that the habitat of the fox is in the same natural communities as many other species and because the fox requires a big area of habitat this will serve as an umbrella of protection for other animals that require less habitat.

http://www.peak10.com/creating-a-perfect-disaster-recovery-plan/

Recommendations from the Recovery Plan to Save Kit Foxes:

o   Conserve several different populations of kit foxes because of the kit foxes’ need of large habitat areas and fluctuating population sizes

o   Focus on the protection and management of the three kit fox populations: foxes in the Carrizo Plain Natural Area in San Luis Obispo County, foxes in the natural lands of western Kern County and foxes in the Ciervo-Panoche Natural Area of western Fresno and eastern San Benito Counties

o   Preserve habitat in the Carrizo Plain, Ciervo-Panoche Natural Area and the Lokern Natural Area

o   Establish metapopulations of kit foxes on private and public lands

o   Join bigger sections of natural land to the core populations and to other smaller, fragmented and isolated populations; this helps decrease the consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation

o   Conserve lands on the Valley floor to be increased in size by attaining the title or conservation easements

o   Reduce the separation of kit fox populations by creating incentive programs to get farmers to allow for habitat conditions for kit foxes on their farms

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/344455071482537485/

Level A Plan: Habitat Protection and Population Interchange

 

Goal: establish a sustainable network of kit fox populations in its geographic range, on both private and public land.

 

Recovery Actions:

o   Protect natural lands in western Kern County and the Ciervo-Panoche Natural Area 

o   Develop and connect refuges and reserves by getting existing natural land and farmland with drainage problems through safe harbor initiatives, specifically in the Pixley-Allensworth and Semitropic Ridge

o   Connect natural land in the Mendota area with the Ciervo-Panoche Natural Area by restoring habitat on retired farmland

o   Protect and improve bridges for kit foxes, specifically between the Kettleman Hills, the Valley’s edge, the Guijarral Hills, the Anticline Ridge, the edge of Pleasant Valley and Coalinga

o   Protect movement of the kit fox through zoning agreements, easements and safe harbor initiatives through the Paso Creek and Maricopa areaas well as through natural lands in Madera, Merced and Fresno Counties

o   Protect kit fox habitat in Salinas-Pajaro Region and existing habitat connections

 

Efforts already in place:

o   American Farmland Trust—an initiative developed to serve as land that can connect separated refuge populations with the larger populations on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley

o   Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992—establishment of retiring land with significant drainage problems that increase habitat fragmentation of kit fox populations

https://www.flickr.com/photos/donaldquintana/14045787244

 

Level B Plan: Population Ecology and Management

 

Goal: collect better data on the distribution, status and movements of kit foxes to improve viability models and land-use models as well as to determine appropriate habitat management actions.

 

Recovery Actions:

o   Studies determining habitat restoration and management actions for kit foxes

o   Determining current geographic distribution and population status of kit foxes

o   Establishing a valid population monitoring program

o   Determining the use of farmland by kit foxes; this is done by studies focusing the crops and agricultural practices that allow for habitat and movement of kit foxes

o   Measuring core population movements with genetic investigations and coordination of existing studies

o   Determining effects of rodent and rabbit control programs on kit foxes

o   Measuring the elements of isolation of agricultural kit fox populations

o   Determining the nature of interactions between kit foxes, red foxes, coyotes and dogs on farmland and grazing land

http://www.los-angeles-cleaning.com/guide-starting-photography-career-business/ 

How to help?

vEducate yourself as well as friends & family about the San Joaquin kit fox and people's impact on them

vPrevent kit fox conflicts by:

o  Don’t handle or trap a kit fox

o  Don’t feed a kit fox or wildlife

o  Keep pet food indoors and keep bird feeders inside at night so they don’t attract prey and rodents

o  Don’t fill or wreck a burrow that can be used by kit foxes: this is protected by state and federal laws

o  Don’t use rodenticides in a kit fox habitat

vAdopt a Kit Fox!

Other resources

vListen to this baby Kit Fox for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlEKm7IiHxY 

vWhere to Adopt a Fox: 

https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_kitfox&s_src=3WEW1800XXXXX&s_subsrc=030618_adopt_block_san-joaquin-kit-fox/basic-facts 

vInformational Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ymStkY0lA0&t=28s

vWatch in awe of the beautiful, adorable, kit fox:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7mSOKHX-UE

vThe Recovery Plan:

       https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/980930a.pdf 

vGet More Information:

• http://www.wildlifeheritage.org/gallery/san-joaquin-kit-fox/ 
• http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41587/0 
• https://defenders.org/san-joaquin-kit-fox/basic-facts 
• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/San_Joaquin_kit_fox/index.html
• http://esrp.csustan.edu/publications/pubhtml.php?doc=sjvrp&file=chapter02L00.html

Citations

Cypher, B. & List, R. 2014. Vulpes macrotis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T41587A62259374. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T41587A62259374.en. Downloaded on 07 March 2018. Defenders of Wildlife. “Basic Facts About San Joaquin Kit Foxes.” Defenders of Wildlife, 2018, defenders.org/san-joaquin-kit-fox/basic-facts. “San Joaquin Kit Fox (Vulpes Macrotis Mutica).” Edited by Environmental Conservation Online System, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of Interior, ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?sId=2873#recovery. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998. Recovery plan for upland species of the San Joaquin Valley, California. Region 1, Portland, OR. pp. 122-136.

Weebly. “San Joaquin Kit Fox.” San Joaquin Kit Fox, Weebly, sanjoaquinkitfoxcali.weebly.com/.

Wildlife Heritage Foundation Staff. “San Joaquin Kit Fox.” Wildlife Heritage Foundation,                  www.wildlifeheritage.org/gallery/san-joaquin-kit-fox/.