Foxes and coyotes were not harmed in the making of this program

Hi! I’m Ranger Dave here and today we’re going to talk about the canine species here in Shenandoah National Park now when I say the word canine what do you think about? For me personally I think about my pet dog. Some of you guys at home probably have yours with you right there, but the canines are more than just wolves and dogs there’s other species like foxes and coyotes! Here in Shenandoah, we have three canine species: the Red Fox the Gray Fox and the Coyote. And today we’re going to talk about why Shenandoah is so beautiful for them and our ideas about what truly kind of animals they are. We often hear about them being you know like on Dora the Explorer “Swiper no swiping!” that’s a crafty keen Red Fox or you might think of Wiley Coyote hunting down the Roadrunner at every chance he can get. Coyotes and foxes have unique adaptations that give them that reputation.

Their generalist adaptations that help them 01:19 - survive in a diverse amount of habitats. So let’s learn about these guys to see if you think what I think about when I see all of these cool creatures throughout Shenandoah. So let’s start with the Coyote for sure. Here we have a couple of our animals. This is a Coyote that we’re going to see in Shenandoah National Park now you probably thought oh my goodness was he going to be huge and they actually look kind of small. Coyotes don’t usually get much heavier than 50 pounds and they’re seen in a bunch of diverse habitats. They have what’s called generalist adaptations.

02:00 - Things that aren’t too specific that help them survive in a lot of different diverse habitats. Here in Shenandoah we have a deciduous forest which means a lot of trees and it can get colder up at higher elevations and their fur helps keep them warm. A Coyote has a really great pelt typically going to be brown or gray as they survive in their habitats from deserts to forests and even in some cities. Now the coyote is relatively new to Shenandoah because it filled a hole in the ecosystem by the wolf. Their natural ability makes them not an invasive species here and instead filling a hole naturally so they’re not overtaking any other species in the park.

Ways to see signs of Coyotes in the park 03:02 - are by footprints tracks. With all of these species you’ll have the same general idea because they’re all canines. Having a large pad and four toes with signs of nails that’s how we can help identify them. Now they’ll be relatively different based upon the sizes of all of them but the Coyote is the most dog- like of all of these canines. So let’s move on to the Red Fox now one of my favorite foxes.

The Red Fox is quite unique because of 03:36 - of course it’s red fur what was sought after throughout all the years because of the soft fur that everybody wore back in the day. These were the most hunted animals not only because of their fur but because of their famous white tipped tail that we can see on both of our guys right here. Now the Red Fox is extra special it can actually jump at its prey they will have larger hind legs and smaller forelegs to give a hopping Red Fox going after their prey that they’re going after from rabbits to mice to rats to chipmunks squirrels.. you know sometimes even grasshoppers and you know the occasional birds. The Red Fox is the most agile out of all these animals which means he can run around the best and try and sneak after his prey which brings us back to that pop culture reference of “Swiper no swiping”.

Now the Red Fox is going to be a little 04:38 - bit larger than the other fox the Gray Fox he’ll be up to roughly maybe 18 to 20 pounds at his heaviest. The Coyote at maximum you know usually up to 40-45 pounds and of course the Gray Fox the smallest is gonna be you know up to a house cat 12 pounds or so. Another unique fact about identifying the Red Fox is gonna be his legs they’ll often have dark black or brown legs up to about their shin or maybe even higher that help identify them distinctly from the other foxes. Now the Gray Fox over here he’s actually the most cat-like of all the foxes and that’s kind of weird to say right? We’re talking about canines here and the reasoning behind that is right in his face. It’s gonna be more round a shorter snout instead of more pointed like the other two canines.

The Gray Fox of course 05:42 - distinctly in its fur is going to have the salt and pepper fur a little more coarse and rough than our Red Fox right here and the other special unique thing about the Gray Fox are his paws. The Gray Fox has the same pattern as the Coyote and Red Fox with their paws but you’ll have a distinct thing about their their claws. They have bendable wrists, they can rotate their wrists and they can also semi-retract their claws like cats. So they are unique in their ability to climb trees and sometimes even leave tracks that look like cats! Of course most of the time you’ll see their nails just like every other canine species but that’s a cool fact i love about our Gray Fox right here. Distinct things between the Gray Fox and the white..

06:38 - and the Red Fox will be the white tip tail to a black tip tail on the Gray Fox over here. Now we’ve learned a little about these animals finding out little key things that keep them different from each other but why do they all love the same habitat? They each go from the forests mostly the foxes, for the Coyote forests to deserts to even cities for all three of these. And it bases down to resource availability! When I say resource availability you know what does that mean? The prey that they go after those rabbits, birds, eggs, you know, raccoons, chipmunk, squirrels all these animals can be found here in Shenandoah a beautiful habitat and even in cities. Sometimes because of human interaction the human waste that we create, garbage, attracts raccoons all the time and that’s perfect for these animals to want to go after. An overabundance of encroaching habitat. So having a great diverse place for them to live benefits to their survival, creating that natural predator-prey relationship, territorial relationship, creates the environment that benefits these species to keep them wild animals like they are and not encroaching in our cities.

Shenandoah keeps this a beautiful 08:11 - habitat for these canines. With that said why should we care? Why should every hiker care? It comes down to making sure that we don’t encroach in Shenandoah on them. We have dedicated wilderness that will always be a forest for them. We do have picnic grounds and campgrounds in the Skyline Drive, but what we can do as visitors in the park and we as Park Rangers here can help make sure we keep our area clean. Picking up our trash, making sure we stay on trail, and even if we see these animals in the wild keeping a respectable safe distance away from them to not encroach in their own lifestyles.

With Shenandoah being this beautiful 08:59 - habitat for these canine species we come to think of them in a different mindset. The beautiful forest for them doesn’t make them scary animals. They’ll be crafty, they’ll be sneaky, sometimes we might not see them, but we can look for their tracks, we can look for the signs of them being here, and we can enjoy what we can see about their usage of Shenandoah National Park. And as we said keeping our stewardship up, picking up after ourselves keeping our park clean and respecting their distance can keep this a beautiful habitat for them. So next time you’re out here in the park, thinking if you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of a Coyote crossing the road or even a Red Fox walking through the snow over the winter.

Think back to are they big scary animals 09:58 - are they sneaky just trying to find their next little meal? We’ll find out when we come to Shenandoah National Park. Thanks for coming along with me as we learn about our canines here and I hope you guys have a wonderful next visit in the park! .