In the first documented incident of its kind, a red fox showed that his species is apparently fairly adept at fishing. The Journal of Ecology recently published a study documenting a red fox carp fishing in the wild, and successfully so. Fish are not normally on the menu for foxes, but they are certainly opportunistic eaters. In the footage shared by Science News on YouTube, this carnivore takes full advantage of spawning carp in relatively shallow water.
The study's authors Jorge Tobajas and Francisco Diaz-Ruiz write, "Fish are an unusual prey group in the diet of red foxes that is occasionally reported in dietary studies, but we do not know if the red fox obtains fish from scavenging or active hunting. Here, we report what may be the first known case of several fish hunted by a red fox." As a result, red foxes are now recognized as the second canid to hunt fish that researchers know of.
"Seeing the fox hunting carp one after another was incredible," University of Córdoba ecologist Jorge Tobajas told Science News. "We have been studying this species for years, but we never expected something like this."
In March 2016, Tobajas and his fellow researcher Francisco Diaz-Ruiz from the University of Malaga were examining the area in western Spain for another project when they saw the red fox. It was not bothered by their presence in the area, so the two men hid to watch what he was doing. Their query was quickly answered as the fox snatched a fish from the shallow water.
"The most surprising thing was to see how the fox hunted many carp without making any mistakes," Tobajas said. "This made us realize that it was surely not the first time he had done it."
Over the course of a couple of hours, the male fox caught ten carp at an impressive success rate. But, surprisingly, he did not eat all of his catch. Instead, he hid the majority of his haul and shared one with a female fox, likely his mate. The ecologists did not see any other foxes fishing in the area, but that does not mean that others don't. Tobajas told Science News, "The red fox is a very common species and is in many cases a bit hated. (But) observations like this show us that it's a fascinating and very intelligent animal."
