Food-caching behaviour of captive-reared red foxes

Abstract

Two juvenile male red foxes exhibited stereotypic patterns of food-caching behaviour when moved into a dirt-floored pen from a concrete-floored run in which they had been raised since being removed from their natal den. The dominant animal did not prevent the subordinate fox from unearthing and/or reburying food which it had buried. Of a total of 44 unearthings of buried food items, 56.8% were made by the subordinate fox. Urine-marking behaviour was not noted in connection with the burying of food and may suggest that this is either learned behaviour or simply related to the lack of maturity of the foxes studied.