4. The Fox

A Thirdlander told us that he saw a fox at the park this week. I asked him what the fox was doing and he said, "Oh, he was just doing fox things."  Today, his mom sent a picture of the fox, lying down in the middle of a solid rubber playground surface, near the swings and climbing materials, emitting a certain air of nonchalance. That really didn't seem like a "fox thing" to me, but come to find out, I was wrong about that.

Come to find out, foxes are not true forest animals.  They are an "edge species."  They like to live in between two habitats and quite enjoy hanging out near humans.  I read a fascinating article about a fox slipping into a suburban home when the family was carrying in groceries.  The fox lived in their home for 3 weeks, happy as a clam, sleeping most of the day away in their coat closet and wandering around the house at night. The parents could see the fox slinking around the halls as they prepared for bed.  They never fed the fox because they knew not to do that, but the fox found plenty to eat on its own.  They could hear it catching squealing mice at night in their kitchen.  What's weird is they didn't even know they had a mouse problem until the fox came to stay. 

So, bottom line, foxes are an edge species and they're not dangerous to us.  They are relatively lightweight---topping off at around 15 pounds. They eat mice.  They like to do fox things, so just leave them to it.