Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Space use and resting site selection of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) living near villages and small towns in Southern Germany

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Acta Theriologica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 2005–2008, we radio-tracked 17 foxes in rural areas of Southern Germany. The mean home range size was 76.6 ha (95% MCP) or 138.9 ha (95% fixed kernel), and the built-up area formed an integral part of the home range. Home ranges of juvenile foxes were significantly smaller than home ranges of adult foxes. Gender-specific differences among adult foxes were not established. A minimum population density of 2.7 foxes per km2 and summer densities of up to 13.4 foxes per km2 were calculated. Therefore, the fox density was three to eight times higher than that of strictly rural foxes. Daytime resting sites of foxes were mostly found in forests (62.2%) and reedbed areas (20.6%). Of the resting sites, 14.8% were situated inside settlements, in fallow gardens or gardens of residents. During the day, foxes exhibited habitat preferences for forests and reedbed areas. A habitat structure that offers plenty of cover or dense vegetation is essential for its selection as a safe resting site. If this basic requirement is fulfilled, foxes also choose resting sites within settlements, and are not disturbed by human presence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams CE, Lindsey KJ (2010) Urban wildlife management. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Adkins CA, Stott P (1998) Home ranges, movements and habitat associations of red foxes Vulpes vulpes in suburban Toronto, Ontario. J Zool 244:335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aebischer NJ, Robertson PA, Kenward RF (1993) Compositional analysis of habitat use from animal radio-tracking data. Ecology 74:1313–1325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aitchison J (1982) The statistical analysis of compositional data. J R Stat Soc 44:139–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansorge H (1991) Die Ernährungsökologie des Rotfuchses, Vulpes vulpes, in der Oberlausitz während des Winterhalbjahres. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz 65:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Atwood TC, Weeks HP, Gehring TM (2004) Spatial ecology of coyotes along a suburban-to-rural gradient. J Wildl Manag 68:1000–1009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berghout M (2000) The ecology of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the central tablelands of New South Wales. Dissertation, University of Canberra

  • Burt WH (1943) Territoriality and home range concepts as applied mammals. J Mammal 24:346–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavallini P, Lovari S (1994) Home range, habitat selection and activity of the red fox in a Mediterranean coastal ecotone. Acta Theriologica 39:279–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Contesse P, Hegglin D, Gloor S, Bontadina F, Deplazes P (2004) The diet of urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and the availability of anthrophogenic food in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. Mamm Biol 69:81–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies NB, Houston AI (1984) Territory economics. In: Krebs JR, Davies NB (eds) Behavioural ecology, an evolutionary approach, 2nd edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 148–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Dekker J, Stein A, Heitkönig I (2001) A spatial analysis of a population of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in a Dutch coastal dune area. J Zool 255:505–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gloor S (2002) The rise of urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Switzerland and ecological and parasitological aspects of a fox population in the recently colonised city of Zürich. Dissertation, Universität Zürich

  • Harris S (1977) The food of suburban foxes (Vulpes vulpes), with special reference to London. Mamm Rev 11:151–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris S (1978) Age determination in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)—an evaluation of technique efficiency as applied to a sample of suburban foxes. J Zool 184:91–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris S (1980) Home range and patterns of distribution of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in an urban area, as revealed by radio tracking. In: Amlaner CJ, Macdonald DW (eds) A handbook on biotelemetry and radiotracking. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp 685–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris S (1981) The food of suburban foxes (Vulpes vulpes), with special reference to London. Mamm Rev 11:151–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris S, Rayner JMV (1986) Urban fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations estimates and habitat requirements in several British cities. J Anim Ecol 55:575–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris S, Smith GC (1987) Demography of two urban fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations. J Appl Ecol 24:75–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris S, Cresswell WJ, Forrde PG, Trewhella WJ, Woolard T, Wray S (1990) Home range analysis using radio-tracking data—a review of problems and techniques particularly as applied to the study of mammals. Mamm Rev 20:97–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herr J, Schley L, Roper J (2009) Socio-spatial organization of urban stone martens. J Zool 277:54–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heydon MJ, Reynolds JC, Short MJ (2000) Variation in abundance of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) between three regions of rural Britain, in relation to landscape and other variables. J Zool 251:253–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janko C (2003) Habitatnutzung des Rotfuchses (Vulpes vulpes) in Dörfern und Kleinstädten. Diploma thesis, Universität Hohenheim

  • Janko C, König A (2011) Disappearance rate of praziquantel- containing baits around villages and small towns in southern Bavaria, Germany. J Wildlife Diseases 47:373–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Janko C, Börner K, König A, Schneider R (2011) Fang, Immobilisation und Besenderung von Rotfüchsen (Vulpes vulpes L.) - ein Erfahrungsbericht aus der Praxis. Beiträge zur Jagd- und Wildforschung 36:265–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelt DA, Van Vuren DH (2001) The ecology and macroecology of mammalian home range area. Am Nat 156:637–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keuling O, Greiser G, Grauer A, Strauß E, Bartel-Steinbach M, Klein R, Wenzelides L, Winter A (2010) The German wildlife information system (WILD): population densities and den use of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and badgers (Meles meles) during 2003–2007 in Germany. Eur J Wildl Res. doi:10.1007/s10344-010-0403-z

  • Kenward R (1987) Wildlife radio tagging: equipment, field techniques and data analysis. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidawa D, Kowalczyk R (2011) The effects of sex, age, season and habitat on diet of the red fox Vulpes vulpes in northeastern, Poland. Acta Theriol 56:209–218

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • König A (2005) Neue Untersuchungsergebnisse zur Ausbreitung des Kleinen Fuchsbandwurms (Echinococcus multilocularis) im Großraum München. In: Bayerische Akademie d. Wissenschaften (ed), Rundgespräche der Kommission für Ökologie, Band 29: Zur Ökologie von Infektionskrankheiten: Borreliose, FSME und Fuchsbandwurm. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, pp. 71–84

  • König A (2008) Fears, attitudes and opinions of suburban residents with regards to their urban foxes. Eur J Wildl Res 54:101–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kowalczyk R, Zalewski A (2011) Adaption to cold and predation—shelter use by invasive raccoon dogs Nyctereutes procyonoides in Bialowieza primeval forest (Poland). Eur J Wildl Res 57:133–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs CJ (1985) Ecology: the experimental analysis of distribution and abundance. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald DW (1981) Resource dispersion and the social organization of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). In: Worldwide Furbearer Conference 2, pp. 918–949

  • Macdonald DW (1983) The ecology of carnivore social behaviour. Nature 301:379–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks CA, Bloomfield TE (2006) Home-range size and selection of natal den and diurnal shelter sites by urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Melbourne. Wildl Res 33:339–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millspaugh JJ, Marzluff JM (2001) Radio tracking and animal populations. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohr CO (1947) Table of equivalent populations of North American small mammals. Am Midl Nat 37:223–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulle ML, Artois M, Roeder JJ (1994) Dynamics of spatial relationships among members of a fox group (Vulpes vulpes: Mammalia: Carnivora). J Zool 233:93–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prange S, Gehrt SD, Wiggers EP (2004) Influences of anthropogenic resources on raccoon (Procyon lotor) movements and spatial distribution. J Mammal 85:483–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds JC, Tapper SC (1995) The ecology of the red fox Vulpes vulpes in relation to small game in rural southern England. Wildl Biol 1:105–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley SPD, Sauvajot RM, Fuller TK, York EC, Kamradt DA, Bromley C, Wayne RK (2002) Effects of urbanization and habitat fragmentation on bobcats and coyotes in Southern California. Conserv Biol 17:566–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stiebling U (2000) Untersuchungen zur Habitatnutzung des Rotfuchses, Vulpes vulpes (L. 1758), in der Agrarlandschaft als Grundlage für die Entwicklung von Strategien des Natur- und Artenschutzes sowie der Tierseuchenbekämpfung. Dissertation, Humboldt- Universität Berlin

  • Thoma D (2008) Untersuchungen zum urbanen Übertragungszyklus von Echinococcus multilocularis. Dissertation, Universität Hohenheim

  • Trewhella WJ, Harris S, McAllister FE (1988) Dispersal distance, home-range size and population density in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes): a quantitative analysis. J Appl Ecol 25:423–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vos A (1995) Population dynamics of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) after the disappearance of rabies in county Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, 1987–1992. Ann Zool Fennici 32:93–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber JM, Meia JS (1996) Habitat use by the red fox Vulpes vulpes in a mountainous area. Ethol Ecol Evol 8:223–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White JG, Gubiani R, Smallman N, Snell K, Morton A (2006) Home range, habitat selection and diet of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in a semi-urban riparian environment. Wildl Res 33:175–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiesner H (1998) Tierschutzrelevante Neuentwicklungen zur Optimierung der Distanzimmobilisation. Tierärztliche Praxis 26:225–233

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Worton BJ (1989) Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in home-range studies. Ecology 70:164–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all collaborators, field helpers and the communities of Andechs, Herrsching and Seefeld. Special thanks to the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for furthering this work with a personal scholarship. Additionally, we would like to thank several companies for financial contributions that enabled us to purchase telemetry equipment and collars.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Biology and Management Unit, Animal Ecology, Center of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans Carl von Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Christof Janko, Wolfgang Schröder, Stefan Linke & Andreas König

Authors
  1. Christof Janko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wolfgang Schröder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stefan Linke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andreas König
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christof Janko.

Additional information

Communicated by: Karol Zub

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Janko, C., Schröder, W., Linke, S. et al. Space use and resting site selection of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) living near villages and small towns in Southern Germany. Acta Theriol 57, 245–250 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-012-0074-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-012-0074-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation