Sunday, April 3, 2016

Island fox

The island fox (Urocyon Littoralis) is a small fox native to 8 islands of the California Channel islands and is classified as an endangered species since 2004. The other names are the little island fox, coast fox, short tailed fox, island gray fox, Channel islands fox, Channel islands gray fox, California Channel islands fox, Little island fox, and insular gray fox. It has 6 subspecies and they are all endangered; they are the San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente island foxes. They are smaller than house cats and are even smaller than those other North American gray foxes, which are least concern. Urocyon gray foxes, along with raccoon dogs, are the only canines in the world to climb trees. The 4 gray foxes that belong in the genus Urocyon are the North American gray fox, Island fox, Progressive gray fox, and Cozumel fox. The South American gray fox doesn't belong in the Urocyon genus, it belongs in the genus of South American foxes called Lycalopex. The Cozumel fox is the rarest canine in the world and the last confirmed sighting dates back to 2001 and it is critically endangered or extinct. There are no taxidermed specimens or complete skeletons in museums. If you go on the Wikipedia you can see the size of the skulls of the North American gray fox and Island fox.

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