Historical Biogeography of the Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Kansas

Abstract

Early published accounts of the gray fox documented its presence in at least the forested regions of easternmost Kansas at the time of settlement of the territory by European man. These accounts suggested that the species generally was rare in the state during the early decades of the 1900's, but that it was becoming more common by about mid-century. Westward dispersal of the species in Kansas apparently was restricted by the Flint Hills. Once that barrier was crossed, by means of riparian communities along the Kansas River, the gray fox began dispersing westward across the northern half of the state in the ribbons of forest that border the principal tributaries of the Kansas River. Movement of the species into south-central and southwestern Kansas apparently was from the south, by means of riparian communities along the Arkansas River and one of its tributaries, the Cimarron River. Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci., Vol. 77 (4), 1974. The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) occurred in at least easternmost Kansas at the time of settlement of the region by European man (Knox, 1875:19). Black (1937:166) described the known distribution of the species in the state as east of the Flint Hills.... Other researchers (e.g., Lantz, 1905:177; Kellogg, 1915; Hibbard, 1933:236; Hibbard, 1944:70) of the first half of the twentieth century commented briefly on the scarcity of the gray fox in Kansas, but added little else to what already had been reported (see above). Cockrum (1952:236) reiterated that the species was nowhere common in the state . ., and pointed out that Only three records of the gray fox being taken in Kansas since 1900 are available, one specimen taken in. . . 1914, one in ... 1949, and