Urocyon littoralis

The Channel Islands Fox (scientific name: Urocyon littoralis) is a small fox with 6 subspecies.

The Channel Islands Fox is not afraid of humans, is at the top of the food chain on the island, and has no natural predators. Generally docile and easy to tame. They use smell, hearing and visual signals to communicate with each other. Island foxes will vocalize, stare and fold their ears to make other foxes obey. They use urine and feces to mark their territory.

Island foxes are omnivores, eating fruits, insects, birds, eggs, crabs, lizards and small mammals, including deer mice. They usually roam alone, usually active during the day, and come out at dawn or dusk. The season also affects their activities, and they are more active in summer than in winter.

Island foxes are generally monogamous, entering the breeding season in January each year (lasting until late February or early March). Males and females often appear together during the breeding season. The gestation period is about 33-50 days. The foxes give birth in dens, with a litter size of 5, but an average of 2 or 3. The pups are born in the spring and can leave the den in early summer. The mother fox nurses the pups for 7-9 weeks. The pups reach sexual maturity in 10 months, and the female foxes give birth in their first year. The lifespan of an island fox is about 4-6 years in the wild, and up to 8 years in captivity.

The island fox population experienced a catastrophic decline in the 1990s. Animal conservation experts discovered a decline in the number of island foxes in the 1990s. On San Miguel Island, the number of island foxes began to decline in 1994, and the number of adults dropped from 450 to 15 in 1999. Similar declines were found on Santa Cruz Island, from 2,000 adult island foxes in 1994 to 135 in 2000, and on Santa Rosa Island, from 1,500 in 1994 to 14 in 2000.

Radio collars have been used to monitor the decline of island foxes, which was caused by hunting by golden eagles. Golden eagles were not seen in the Channel Islands until the 1990s, when the first golden eagle nest was discovered on Santa Cruz Island in 1999. Biologists believe that the golden eagles were attracted by the growth of wild livestock (such as pigs) on the islands. In addition, bald eagles (which feed on fish) that had prevented golden eagles from settling on the islands were killed in large numbers in the 1950s due to exposure to DDT, allowing golden eagles to reproduce on the islands. The number of golden eagles on the islands is four times that of island foxes. Additionally, in the Northern Channel Islands, the replacement of the historic dominant vegetation of shrubs with non-native grasslands by sheep grazing has altered the environment that originally provided gray foxes with cover from aerial predators, leading to a decline in gray fox numbers.

Because island gray foxes live in an isolated environment, they lack immunity to parasites and diseases brought by mainland dogs. In 1998, a canine distemper outbreak on Catalina Island killed nearly 90% of the island gray foxes. Introduced species such as cats, pigs, sheep, goats, and American bison (introduced to Catalina Island in the 1920s by Hollywood crews making Western films) have had a negative impact on the island gray fox population, reducing the island's food supply and deteriorating environmental quality. Island gray foxes pose a threat to the endangered Shrike on San Clemente Island, and the U.S. Navy's large-scale killing of island gray foxes on the island has also led to a decline in their numbers. Until 2000, the U.S. Navy had used various strategies, including capturing island foxes during their breeding season, installing electric fences in their habitats, and using electric shock collars. Many island foxes have also been killed by cars on San Clemente, San Nicolas, and Santa Catalina.

In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Game Service (USFWS) listed the four subspecies of island foxes in the archipelago as endangered. The California Department of Natural Resources Fish and Game listed all six subspecies as vulnerable in 1987. The captive breeding program, combined with other measures, has saved the species from extinction, and as of 2013, the number of island foxes is relatively stable.

Listed in the 2013 Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) ver 3.1 - Near Threatened (NT).

Protect wild animals and eliminate game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!

Island foxes live on six islands in the Channel Islands of California, USA. San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Santa Carolina, San Nicholas, and San Clemente. The three largest islands, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel, are managed by the Channel Islands National Park; the other two islands, San Nicholas and San Clemente, are managed by the U.S. Navy; and Catalina, owned by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
Island foxes live in woody scrub. They range in biomes on the islands, including temperate forests and rainforests, temperate grasslands, and jungles, and no single island has more than 1,000 island foxes.

The island fox is about the size of a house cat, with a male body length of 62.5-71.6 cm and a female body length of 59.0-78.7 cm. The weight of the male is 1.6-2.5 kg and the female is 1.5-2.3 kg. The shoulder height is 12-15 cm, and the tail is 11-29 cm long, which is shorter than the gray fox's 27-44 cm long tail. The weight is 1.3-2.8 kg. Males are slightly larger than females. It is the second smallest fox after the fennec fox. There are six subspecies, with the Santa Catalina Island fox being the largest and the Santa Cruz Island fox being the smallest.
The island fox has gray hair on its head, red hair on the sides, white on the belly, neck and bottom of the face, and black on the back of the tail. The fur color is slightly darker than other gray foxes. It sheds its skin once a year from about August to November. Before the first molting, the young foxes have younger and darker fur.