Abstract
The red fox is a highly adaptable mammal that has established itself world-wide in many different environments. Contributing to its success is a social structure based on chemical signalling between individuals. Urine scent marking behaviour has long been known in foxes, but there has not been a recent study of the chemical composition of fox urine. We have used solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the urinary volatiles in 15 free-ranging wild foxes (2 female) living in farmlands and bush in Victoria, Australia. Foxes here are routinely culled as feral pests, and the urine was collected by bladder puncture soon after death. Compounds were identified from their mass spectra and Kovats retention indices. There were 53 possible endogenous scent compounds, 10 plant-derived compounds and 5 anthropogenic xenobiotics. Among the plant chemicals were several aromatic apocarotenoids previously found in greater abundance in the fox tail gland. They reflect the dietary consumption of carotenoids, essential for optimal health. One third of all the endogenous volatiles were sulfur compounds, a highly odiferous group which included thiols, methylsulfides and polysulfides. Five of the sulfur compounds (3-isopentenyl thiol, 1- and 2-phenylethyl methyl sulfide, octanethiol and benzyl methyl sulfide) have only been found in foxes, and four others (isopentyl methyl sulfide, 3-isopentenyl methyl sulfide, and 1- and 2-phenylethane thiol) only in some canid, mink and skunk species. This indicates that they are not normal mammalian metabolites and have evolved to serve a specific role. This role is for defence in musteloids and most likely for chemical communication in canids. The total production of sulfur compounds varied greatly between foxes (median 1.2, range 0.4-32.3 μg 'acetophenone equivalents'/mg creatinine) as did the relative abundance of different chemical types. The urinary scent chemistry may represent a highly evolved system of semiochemicals for communication between foxes.
Highlights
The red fox (Vulpes vulpes, ‘fox’) is a highly successful animal that has a world-wide distribution and has adapted to a great variety of natural landscapes, from temperate and boreal forests, to deserts and arctic tundra, as well as agricultural and urban areas [1, 2]
Analysis by solid-phase microextraction (SPME)-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-mass spectrum (MS)) produced a chromatogram with many peaks, illustrated in Fig 1 Examination showed 68 compounds of interest, and these are listed in Table 1 together with the internal standard
This study has extended our knowledge of the volatile scent compounds in fox urine and has indicated areas for further investigation
Summary
The red fox (Vulpes vulpes, ‘fox’) is a highly successful animal that has a world-wide distribution and has adapted to a great variety of natural landscapes, from temperate and boreal forests, to deserts and arctic tundra, as well as agricultural and urban areas [1, 2]. Foxes eat a wide variety of food including insects, reptiles and other wildlife, farm and domestic animals, various fruits and other plant materials and food scraps [2, 9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Their ecological impact is profound in Australia, where they have spread throughout the continent since their introduction in the 19th century [16]. When they become accustomed to humans, other nuisance behaviour such as bin-raiding and biting can occur [2]
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