View Full Version : How big do fox get ?
Went for a walk with the dog earlier on this evening . I was walking down the local bridal way when a fox popped out onto the path about 100ft from my position . What startled me was the size of it . it was at least the size of a full grown german shepard ! Do they normaly get that big?
The bridle way does cross an old landfill site which made me wonder if it was radioactive goo that made it this big (like the 3 eyed fish on the simpsons).
I know there was a lot of talk about green goo being dumped there back in the 80s .
Cheers
Pumbaa
Motorbike Man
29-09-2005, 20:00
Went for a walk with the dog earlier on this evening . I was walking down the local bridal way when a fox popped out onto the path about 100ft from my position . What startled me was the size of it . it was at least the size of a full grown german shepard ! Do they normaly get that big?
The bridle way does cross an old landfill site which made me wonder if it was radioactive goo that made it this big (like the 3 eyed fish on the simpsons).
I know there was a lot of talk about green goo being dumped there back in the 80s .
Cheers
Pumbaa
Sounds like an odd question, but are you totally sure of the perspective and stuff as that would be huge for a fox! As an amatuer photographer I know how easy it can be to get distance and size wrong
FeralSheryl
29-09-2005, 20:07
Dunno what you saw there mate but no Fox I've ever seen grows that big!
Coyote can appear about the size of a medium sized dog or small German Shepherd, but since I take it you we're walking in the UK not the US, I daresay it wasn't a Coyote.;)
Maybe as Motorbike man says, it could have been a trick of perspective or summat.
I paced the istance out thinking the same , but he was considerably bigger than my 6 month old rotty pup who stands just past my knee . I am still shocked by the size of it . It was more wolf size than fox size , but the colouring was definately fox , even had its dark winter coat starting to come through . I tried to find some tracks but the ground was too hard .
Pumbaa
Motorbike Man
29-09-2005, 20:18
I paced the istance out thinking the same , but he was considerably bigger than my 6 month old rotty pup who stands just past my knee . I am still shocked by the size of it . It was more wolf size than fox size , but the colouring was definately fox , even had its dark winter coat starting to come through . I tried to find some tracks but the ground was too hard .
Pumbaa
That would definately be one HUGE fox!! :eek: Just playing devil's advocate and I'm fairly certain what the answer will be :) but you are positive it wasn't just a fox like dog aren't you?
I was !
I am as sure as i can be , wish i had my digital camera with me now (wont make that mistake again) .
It was running off from the direction of the lesiure centre/ holiday area where some kids were being rather loud when it spotted me and the pup . it stood looking at me for about 10 seconds till i reached down to put the dog on its lead . Thats when it bolted into the quarry . It had standy up ears but a small head compared to its body , but all the usual foxy traits were there , pointy nose etc. If anything it was a shade darker than i would have expected but i put that down to it being a colder spell at the moment , hence the referal to its winter coat .
If it wasnt a fox , i would like to know what else it could have been . I have seen muntjack over those pits before but it definately wasnt one of those or a deer . What else do we have localy that could be an option ?
Pumbaa
It was a dirty drown on its back than those in these pics and was missing the white , but other wise it looked very similar .
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8186&highlight=foxes
Pumbaa
Motorbike Man
29-09-2005, 20:55
Nothing that I could think of other than a foxy looking dog. Maybe I ought to dig out the N.V. scope and we'll go over and stake out the area one night :D
I am definately up for that one . It has got me wondering though , started thinking it might be some kind of hybrid animal . I dont know how possible that is ! Can definately rule out deer and big cat though .
Pumbaa
Oh yeah and wasn't a warthog
Was this walk to or from the pub?;)
Motorbike Man
29-09-2005, 21:14
I am definately up for that one . It has got me wondering though , started thinking it might be some kind of hybrid animal . I dont know how possible that is ! Can definately rule out deer and big cat though .
Pumbaa
Oh yeah and wasn't a warthog
We'll talk tomorrow ;)
I'm just in; driving from Motherwell to Hamilton to Bothwell, I nearly knocked down two foxes tonight who bolted across the roads in front of me and the second one was enormous. I thought it was an alsation until I saw the nose and the brush, and you're right, it did have the heavy dark coat too. Maybe that's what's making them seem so big...but this beast was *tall* too, not sleekit.
Cheers,
Toddy
Around here (western US) foxes are about the size of a cat or a little bigger but with long legs. Usually very skinny.
Steve
Motorbike Man
29-09-2005, 23:01
Around here (western US) foxes are about the size of a cat or a little bigger but with long legs. Usually very skinny.
Steve
That's generally about the size of them here as well, that's what makes this so interesting to me. I've met Pumbaa a couple of times now so I know that he's not easily spooked. Dorset has a bit of a tradition of wierd animals from big cats to wallabies and parrots, maybe a giant fox could be the next one :D
FeralSheryl
30-09-2005, 09:27
I'm just in; driving from Motherwell to Hamilton to Bothwell, I nearly knocked down two foxes tonight who bolted across the roads in front of me and the second one was enormous. I thought it was an alsation until I saw the nose and the brush, and you're right, it did have the heavy dark coat too. Maybe that's what's making them seem so big...but this beast was *tall* too, not sleekit.
Cheers,
ToddyIntriguing! Can there be a secret species on the prowl? There are alot of escapees, tales of big Cats etc living successsfully all over our countryside. Do you think there is any chance it could have been a Maned Wolf?
Check out this link (http://www.johnwasserman.com/manedwolf.html) for pictures. Looks just like a Fox on stilts and is a really big fellow.
More info here (http://www.thebigzoo.com/Animals/Maned_Wolf.asp)
Maybe a few have escaped from a Wildlife Park or something? I mean it's not impossible. You only have to think of the Wild Parrots (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3869815.stm) now doing very nicely in London.
FeralSheryl, from what every one's said and those pic's you could have hit the nail on the head. if the big cats can do it i dont see a reson why a wild dog (cant think of the propper term) wouldnt be able to do it as they are more opportunistic by thier nature (from my limited understanding).
if it is one, it'd sure make me look twice if i encountered one while out and about, lmao :D
Foxes round my way look pretty big (especially when out walking the dog myself in the dark...) but I think they are more fur than fesh & blood. Their winter coats are starting to come in so they look a lot larger than they do in summer.
NickBristol
30-09-2005, 11:28
I thought it sounded like it could have been some dog/fox hybrid but just been reading that there is no dog species that can successfully mate with a fox. Not because they're very genetically different but due to a difference in the number of chromasomes in each species. The author of the article described is as akin to Dos and Mac filing systems...
Hope you have some luck on the NV stakeout - have you got a camera attached to the NV? Be good to see the results...
steven andrews
30-09-2005, 12:10
We have these in Jersey:
http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/5097/fox9sj.png (http://imageshack.us)
At Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (http://www.durrellwildlife.org/)
It would be quite a long swim to Dorset though - maybe they stowed away on a ship.
They are very tall animals, I would say that their backs come up to my waist height.
They are quite creepy and have kind of "werewolfness" to them.
Escaped Werewolf stowaways reach Dorset!
BlueTrain
30-09-2005, 13:06
Some of those animals do look like something out of a horror movie. More to the point, however, is that I have only recently seen foxes near my house in a Washington, D.C. suburb about 20 miles from the Potomac River. The ironic thing is that I never saw a fox in West Virginia at all. I also only recently saw my first bears in Shenandoah National Park, about 75 miles west of here.
These foxes I saw on two occasions. The first time I saw one but only briefly. The next time was when I was walking the woods near the house and spotted something moving about 30 or 40 yards to my front. I stopped and watched for moment. I thought it was a couple of small dogs, which would be unusual in itself because people do not let dogs run free around there. It turned out to be not one but two foxes trotting around and coming in my direction. Once they spotted me, however, they promptly changed directions and picked up speed. There are also groundhogs in the same area.
Equally interesting to me, considering that I live in a urban/surburban area, is how often I see hawks. I will invariably notice them perched on power lines and poles alongside highways and major highways at that. They are quite noticeable because of their size and distinctive shape (very upright) when perching.
There are news items now and then about coyotes beginning to move into the area, including into the District of Columbia, but I don't expect to see one anytime soon. Beaver are also common in my neighborhood.
Motorbike Man
30-09-2005, 15:39
I thought it sounded like it could have been some dog/fox hybrid but just been reading that there is no dog species that can successfully mate with a fox. Not because they're very genetically different but due to a difference in the number of chromasomes in each species. The author of the article described is as akin to Dos and Mac filing systems...
Hope you have some luck on the NV stakeout - have you got a camera attached to the NV? Be good to see the results...
Actually, I completely forgot to talk about that to Pumbaa today :rolleyes: I don't have a camera on my N.V. scope, but I know some friends with an N.V. capable camcorder :D
FeralSheryl and steven andrews have come up with the nearest to what i saw , but i would say it wasnt quite so lanky and a lot stockyer . Very wolf like i suppose but reds and browns as opposed to greys, whites and blacks .
Just going to check on google to see if there is such thing as a brown wolf !
Pumbaa
Motorbike Man
30-09-2005, 15:57
As unlikely as I know this is, how about a Red Wolf? (http://www.wolfsource.org/redwolf.html)
Picture (http://www.wolfsource.org/education/vlm2redwolves.jpg)
Now thats weird , i come back on here to post this
http://www.mnh2.si.edu/education/mna/images/images/815432214160015.jpg
and you beat me to it !
if i hadn't read how rare they are i would say that was what i saw . Right size , shape and colouring . How likely is that though ?
Pumbaa
The animal I saw last night was definitely a fox. Nose, ears, brush, black feet and all, but it was big, not with those lanky, horse style legs of the S. American wolf thing and it didn't have the maned look of the other wolf either.
Maybe the foxes are just getting better feeding and less persecution....this one has an entire country park complete with a loch, several ponds and three rivers, and surrounding suburbs to feed in, and presumably it's parents did too.
One of the local poachers says he came across a roe deer carcass with two foxes at it. There's nothing else in the wild apart from us taking them down; maybe there's a niche to be filled. :confused: ......if they can learn to avoid the cars! :rolleyes:
Cheers,
Toddy
There are a lot of deer round here too ,including muntjack . Plenty of rabbits and a land fill site too scavenge from .Whatever it was it was big and strong looking (for a fox anyway) . If it is a wolf then it wasnt long legged but certainly well built , but still agile as it ducked under a barbed wire fence at a run without leaveing fur on the fence !!
how confused am i ?
Pumbaa
I think that's just the description...this beast too, "looked big and strong".
It louped the fence like a fox though, just a h*lluva big one! :)
Cheers,
Toddy
Thats what i thought to start with , but it was twice the size of a normal fox .
Now i am completely baffled as it just seems too big and well built for a fox .
I am going to have too get my tracker head on and try and get some piccys .
Pumbaa
pumbaa, it may well use the same area/tracks all the time, see if you can get down there and sort out some kind of track trap/sand trap for it. The trap may have to be there for a week or so.
At least that way you may be able to get pictures of the prints, a good clear defined print in sand would be quite easy to identify, the likelihood of getting a good print is not brilliant, but it is somewhere to start.
If you layed it before dark and checked it in the morning and then again before dark it would give you a bracket as far as time is concerned as well. This may allow you to get a better look at it by frequenting the same place in the same time frame as it may be there (don't forget your camera:D).
Just a couple of suggestions, Leon:)
Motorbike Man
30-09-2005, 19:25
Now thats weird , i come back on here to post this
http://www.mnh2.si.edu/education/mna/images/images/815432214160015.jpg
and you beat me to it !
if i hadn't read how rare they are i would say that was what i saw . Right size , shape and colouring . How likely is that though ?
Pumbaa
I would say staggeringly unlikely. Mind you, secret re-breeding programs have happened in the past, and wild animals are very good at escaping, so nothing is ever impossible no matter how unlikely :D
I had a word with some of the guys in the field target club i belong to (i know that they shoot fox ) and apparently there are some very big dog foxes about in our area . So it seems most likely that that is what i saw .
I have been down there with the camera (only shot i will take on a fox) at similar times but have not seen hide nor hair of it yet .
Pumbaa
isotonicpies
05-10-2005, 13:57
Went for a walk with the dog earlier on this evening . I was walking down the local bridal way when a fox popped out onto the path about 100ft from my position . What startled me was the size of it . it was at least the size of a full grown german shepard ! Do they normaly get that big?
The bridle way does cross an old landfill site which made me wonder if it was radioactive goo that made it this big (like the 3 eyed fish on the simpsons).
I know there was a lot of talk about green goo being dumped there back in the 80s .
Cheers
Pumbaa
The only animal with fox colouring of that size in the uk is a deer. Could you have got the size right but the animal wrong due to dimishing light levels? Now I'm not suggesting you would normall confuse a fox with a deer, but the brain can play tricks. I know mine does.
My brain does play tricks on me ! More often than id like ! But no , it was definately not a deer.
Pumbaa
was there any tracks left?
I have shot a big fox before, years ago
and that was as big as a springer!
There was very little in the way of tracks that i could find (but then my tracking is rather poor) . The ground although sandyish was rather hard and there are a lot of tracks from dogwalkers and horses . I did find a small tuft of hair on the fence it went under though , it was grey on the base with a redish brown end . Oh yeah it didnt smell too nice either !
Pumbaa
Are you sure it wasn't a wallaby (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3755162.stm)?
Spacemonkey
06-10-2005, 14:03
We had an escaped crocodile in the Stour back inthe 70's so anything's possible. Was there for a few summer months living off fish til they captured it...
Motorbike Man
06-10-2005, 14:23
I was talking to a friend who knows much more about foxes than I do and apparently under good conditions dog foxes this sort of size are a lot more common that we sometimes realise and she reckoms that that was what it was.
Abbe Osram
06-10-2005, 20:14
They sometimes can get real big up here. :D :D :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Abbe/fun01.jpg
cheers
Abbe
Motorbike Man
06-10-2005, 20:36
They sometimes can get real big up here. :D :D :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Abbe/fun01.jpg
cheers
Abbe
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0065.gif http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0064.gif http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0065.gif http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/happy0064.gif
Bugger , just woke swmbo up laughing ! Now i am going to get a thick ear when i dare to enter the bedroom .
:D
Pumbaa
Fallowstalker
06-10-2005, 21:31
Well fox control is part of my job. I've seen big ones, little ones, scabby ones and even extremly lardy Vulpes vulpes living on a diet of Mac Donalds, but nothing as big as that.
Curiously enough DEFRA hire me as a "marksman" (you know, big cat scares and wild boar eats small child type events) and the wildest, scariest most frightening animal I ever saw was an armed policeman. :eek: