Fox Foto Friday - Island Foxes Being Counted

 

What's the word from the northern Channel Islands?

NPS biologist Juliann Schamel says the "season is going well so far, we just caught our 100th fox of the season yesterday!"

If you look closely, you can see the dark squared-off battery end of a radio collar beneath the chin of the captured island fox.

Friends of the Island Fox funded its 417th radio-tracking collar last month. New radio collars arrived for deployment on three islands!

Your donations provide radio collars to monitor island fox survival. Help Island Foxes

More about how biologists capture island foxes for health checks 

Fox Foto Friday - This Is Island Fox Science

Fresh from the fox swabs...This past week, Friends of the Island Fox had the opportunity to spend some time in the field with the biologists of the Catalina Island Conservancy during their final days this season counting and providing island foxes with health checks.

During health checks, samples, like the one shown above, were taken. (how are island foxes swabbed?)

Soon these swabs will be boxed up and sent across the country to enrich the data set of Dr. Alexandra De Candia. During FIF's first virtual "Date with a Fox," Dr. Allie shared her work on the island fox microbiome and its importance for fox health and immunity.

Dr. Allie explains that Catalina Island biologists "have been collecting swabs since 2017, so we are building a really nice longitudinal dataset. 2020–2021 samples will help that dataset grow. This will allow us to look at changes in fox microbiomes through time and (once we have enough repeat individuals sampled) see how treatment or past history of mite infection alters microbiomes in the short- and long-term."

If you missed the virtual event you can watch the video here.

More on the connection between microbiome and fox health on Catalina Island.

Not only were the CIC biologists taking these samples to enrich the microbiome data set, they were also putting radio collars, funded by you, on island foxes.

Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars For National Fox Day

photo courtesy of NPS

Happy National Fox Day!

Meet F269, she's a young island fox on Santa Rosa Island and she's been fitted with a radio collar funded by YOU!

 Not every radio collar is funded by a single large donation. Seven of the new radio collars currently being fitted on island foxes across the northern islands were paid for by multiple small donations. 

$20 here and $50 there quickly adds up to $220 to refurbish a radio collar or $350 to purchase a new radio collar.

Bringing small donations together Friends of the Island Fox has provided 263 radio collars for island foxes over the past 16 years.

Make a Difference for Island Foxes!

19 radio collars are being refurbished RIGHT NOW. 

FIF still needs to raise funds to pay for 11 of those radio collars. 

Every little bit will help reach that $2,420 goal for island foxes.

Why are radio collars important?

See an island fox released wearing its radio collar. 

Help Island Foxes this Fox Day!

DONATE through the secure link DONATE button on the upper right of the screen.

Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars Arrive!

Radio-tracking collars have arrived at Channel Islands National Park. These new and refurbished radio collars will be going on island foxes across San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands over the next two months.

Why is there a pink ribbon? For speed and accuracy in the field

Collar identification numbers and radio frequency are originally noted on the collar band. When the bands are pre-punched with holes to fascilitate an adjustable fit on individual foxes, the numbers can become obscured. 

In the field the goal is to keep an island fox in-hand for as little time as possible. By putting the important numbers on the pink ribbon, the collar can be quickly grabbed from a bag, the ribbon taken off, the collar fitted, and the fox released. Then the collar numbers can be written on the data sheet for that individual island fox. 

 It is a brilliant and simple way to keep data accurate and release island foxes as quickly as possible.

Friends of the Island Fox just provided 15 refurbished and 15 new radio collars for the northern islands. 

But 8 of those new collars still need funding!

If you donate $350 for a new radio collar today, your collar will be going on an island fox in the next few weeks.

FIF also still needs to raise funds for 11 refurbished radio collars that will be finished in early September and ready to go on Catalina Island foxes. 

$220 refurbishes a used radio collar

$350 funds a new radio collar

Radio collars monitor island foxes in the wild, providing an early warning of disease or other threats to an entire island's population. 

When you donate to Friends of the Island Fox you can see where your donation goes

Vaccinations for Catalina Island foxes

Research

Donor Update

Fox Foto Friday - Island Fox Science in Progress

What are these? Look closely. These are swabs from island fox ears and backsides being processed in the lab at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.

This is island fox science in progress! FIF 2020 Research Grant recipient Dr. Allie DeCandia updated us on her work investigating the microbiome of island foxes.

"Between July and December 2020, collaborators across all six Channel Islands collected ear canal swabs, anal swabs, and blood samples from 50–60 foxes per subspecies. After collection in the field, these samples were shipped to Princeton University for temporary storage until all samples arrived on the east coast." In March, DeCandia moved the samples to her lab at the Smithsonian. She spent April and May inventorying samples.

"My collaborators did a fantastic job sampling foxes!" DeCandia says. "In total, I inventoried 851 swabs over the course of 23 hyper-focused laboratory hours (which were thankfully not consecutive)."

Processing the samples must be meticulous because she is investigating DNA.

"I sterilized scissors (bleach dunk / water dunk / superheat in a Bacinerator), snipped off the swab tip, placed the swab tip in a sterile microcentrifuge tube, recorded metadata written on the original swab container, and repeated the process for each swab collected."

The coordinating 300+ blood samples are now being inventoried and the individual island fox DNA extracted. DeCandia will spend the summer extracting microbial DNA from the swabs and preparing samples for "microbiome sequencing." Over the fall/winter, she'll be deep in analyzing the data.

"I am ecstatic to be working with so many amazing researchers in the field and in the lab," DeCandia says, "and can't wait to analyze this impressive dataset in the months ahead!"

FIF grant funds are processing the DNA extraction. 

Your donations support this cutting edge research.

If an island fox is an environment for microbes, what was lost when island fox populations declined to just a few individuals? How is an entire species' health impacted if they recover from near extinction, but have lost some of the microbial biodiversity that protected them from bacteria infection or supported healthy digestion? 

Island fox microbiome investigation will help us understand island fox health and may have implications for other endangered species.

Your donations supporting research are an investment in the island fox's long-term survival.

Friends of the Island Fox is taking applications

through August 31 for our 

2021 Research Grant  (see application)

Fox Foto Friday - 250 Radio Collars To Date

Mike Watling, Chair of FIF's Board of Directors, recently took this photo of an island fox wearing a radio-tracking collar just at dusk on Santa Rosa Island. 

Did you help fund this radio collar?

Since 2005, Friends of the Island Fox has been committed to funding radio-tracking collars for island foxes. In 2006, FIF donors funded 10 radio collars for island foxes being released from captive breeding back into the wild. See video of captive-born island foxes being released in 2006.

In 2021, donors like you funded our 250th radio collar. This landmark collar will go on an island fox on Catalina Island this summer. 

Today island foxes live their lives running free in the wild. Individuals with radio collars help alert biologists to threats for the entire island population. Radio collars also monitor specific foxes recovering from health challenges or injury.

Meet two island foxes with radio collars: F257 and Vixen

FIF is committed to raising funds for an additional:

• 15 new radio collars at $350 each
• 19 refurbished radio collars at $220 each

These radio collars and vaccinations are needed for summer 2021. With your help island foxes will continue to thrive in the wild long into the future.

 

Fox Foto Friday - Island Foxes in Washington D.C.?

What smells like an island fox? Came from an island fox? But is contained on the tip of a cotton swab? A sample of island fox microbiome.

Island fox being swab with cotton swab

Friends of the Island Fox recently heard from FIF 2020 Research Grant recipient, Alexandria DeCandia, Ph.D.

DeCandia wrote "I wanted to let you know that microbiome samples from all six islands have arrived on the east coast :)" Swabs taken from island foxes during health checks have been transferred to a lab in Washington D.C. She added, "I'm very much looking forward to the next steps of this research!"

FIF's Research Grant is funding the DNA analysis of the swabs to get a picture of the biodiversity of microbes living on and in island foxes.

What Is She Looking For?

DeCandia's research is cutting edge science. Her early analysis of Catalina Island foxes led to some important findings on the possible relationships between bacteria in island fox ear canals and a tendency toward extreme immune system response to ear mites. This next stage of research builds on that work.

Maintaining healthy island foxes across the islands requires greater in depth understanding of their health, diet, position in the ecosystem, and interactions with other species, including humans. 

Friends of the Island Fox invests in research to invest in the island fox's future. Applications for the FIF 2021 Research Grant will be available April 15, 2021.

Fox Foto Friday - Island Foxes Healthy Inside and Out

 

While we're all stuck at home, the word from the islands is that island foxes are thriving. Across the Channel Islands biologists are reporting healthy looking individuals and a fair number of pups.

2020 was a normal rain year with a hot summer. Populations may have adjusted down from the record highs of 2019, but that is to be expected. The rains across the islands this week, will help increase resources for island foxes throughout 2021. What do island foxes eat?

During 2020 health checks, island foxes on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, San Clemente, and San Nicolas joined their cousins on Santa Catalina by being swabbed for their microbiome. Samples have arrived at the lab for DNA analysis. Find out more about Dr. DeCandia's island fox microbiome research.

To survive into the future, island foxes need to be healthy inside and out. That's why FIF is helping investigate the biodiversity in the microbes and bacteria on their skin and throughout their bodies.

Fox Foto Friday - A Slice of Fox Science

What is it?

 

This is a microscope slide with thin slices from the canine tooth of a deceased island fox. 

Researchers Stacy Baker and Juliann Schamel are looking at these thin slices through a canine tooth to see if they can discern annual growth layers. If so, this could provide an accurate way to age island foxes at death. Why is that important?

The sample slides from individual island foxes have come back from the lab in Montana. See more on the process and the annual layers.

Baker and Schamel will be analyzing the specimen slides from individuals with known ages. If the layers align with known ages, they will look at the specimens from individuals like M152 to try and determine how old these individual foxes were at death.

This important work is funded by Friends of the Island Fox through a grant from Safari West.

More about island fox research funded by Friends of the Island Fox and donors like you.

2020 FIF Research Grant recipient 

What We Do - FIF Research projects

Remember This Fox Face? - Fox Foto Day

 Do you remember this island fox face? 

 

This is F257–a female island fox on Santa Rosa Island. She first started wearing a radio-tracking collar (funded by FIF) last December when she was captured as a youngster.

In 2020, F257 is 18 months old and a mature female. It surprised everyone when she was caught in the exact same place she was found last year. This means she didn't disperse, or travel away, from her parents' territory.

It is typically expected that island fox pups will move away to find their own territory as they mature. Female offspring sometimes stay close to their parent's territory and that seems to be what F257 is doing.

She is looking healthy and happy in her territory adjacent to the coastline.

Friends of the Island Fox sends a "Hello" and "Thank You" to the biologists working across the Channel Islands. They are finishing up health checks and annual island fox counting. FIF is hearing good news from the field. Individual island foxes look healthy and populations appear stable.

Radio collars, like the one F257 is wearing, provide an important conservation monitoring system that provides an early alert system regarding threats to island foxes.

Your donations help to fund radio-tracking collars for island foxes.

Fox Foto Friday - It's Research

 It's Research For Fox Sake!

 

This is an up close image of tiny bits of island fox whisker in a mini aluminum specimen holder. The micro-sample of whisker is on it's way to a mass spectrometer for analysis. Find out more about Juliann Schamel's research project with FIF.

The deadline to apply for FIF's 2020 Research Grant is August 31, 2020. 

Grant Application information

We're looking for research to support!

Fox Foto Friday - From Refurb to Rome

You've given these radio collars new life and now they are headed to ROME!

Friends of the Island Fox and The Nature Conservancy are working together. FIF funded the refurbishment of 10 radio collars for Santa Cruz Island in 2020. The collars were finished last week and now they are on their way to Rome, Italy, where TNC is having them fitted with specialized accelerometers. 

This additional technology will enable researchers to get a more accurate picture of island fox movements on a daily basis. 

How much of an island fox's time is spent looking for food? How much of their day is spent inactive? What time of day are island foxes most active?

These specialized radio collars will be fitted on island foxes this summer on Santa Cruz Island.

Your donations made these radio collars possible. Working together we can build our knowledge of island fox behavior and help to keep them safe in a changing world.

Fox Foto Monday - FIF Research Grant

How does island fox density impact territory size? 

Does island fox lifespan vary by island? 

How do recent genetic bottlenecks echo through current island fox populations? 

There is so much we don't know. 

What will you discover about island foxes?

Friends of the Island Fox is accepting applications for our 

2020 Research Grant through August 31, 2020. 

For more information and an application form.

Fox Foto Friday - Meeting Up Island Fox Style

Island fox or human, it can be tricky to get to know someone new right now. A wildlife trap camera on Santa Rose Island captured these images of two island foxes meeting on a pathway.

A quick sniff can tell an island fox a lot about another fox. The female on the left is figuring out if she knows this male. Has she detected his scent before or is he a newcomer to her area? She can evaluate his health and what he's been eating in a sniff.

The two island foxes also communicate to each other through their physical stance. Tail and ears up - she is being friendly. Head down and tail at a medium height, he is letting her take the lead.

Both of these island foxes look healthy and well fed. Notice the female is also wearing a radio-tracking collar. Biological technicians on the islands are monitoring this female island fox. During summer counting, we may learn whether or not this meeting led to pups. 

Island foxes know all about epidemic disease. COVID-19 does not impact dogs or island foxes, but other viruses are a serious threat to them. Find out more about the current threat from canine distemper.

Island foxes on Catalina Island survived a catastrophic epidemic from 1998–2000.   

Fox Foto Friday - Happy Foxgiving

Across the Channel Islands, island foxes thank you.

These rare creatures live only on six islands and no where else in the world. (About Island Foxes) Your concern and donations have helped bring them back from the edge of extinction and are vital to protecting their future.

Fox Foto Friday - Where's M152?

Remember this face from last year? M152 is a male fox on the eastern side of Santa Rosa Island. 

This year he was not counted during the annual count and health checks in his area. But don't fear... M152 is doing well. We know he is still in his territory and going about his daily life because he is wearing a radio-tracking collar.

This demonstrates the importance of having two ways to monitor island foxes. 

Annual counts and health checks allow biologists to check the health and well-being of individual animals while they have them in-hand. This provides a snapshot of the population's health as a group at a specific time.

Radio-tracking collars enable the monitoring of individual foxes throughout the year. Their movements in an area can be tracked and if something happens to them, their radio collar reports to  biologists.

M152 did not come into a capture cage this year. Perhaps he was finding plenty of food because of the normal rainfall this spring and saw no reason to enter a capture cage. Perhaps when he came across a capture cage, another fox was already in it.

M152 is a pretty wily fox. We think he is approximately 5–6 years old. In that time he's only been captured twice: in 2014 and last year in 2018. ID micro-chips make is possible for each island fox to be tracked as an individual.

We're sorry that the biologists didn't have a chance to weigh him, check his health, and take a whisker sample this summer. It would have been great to compare to his last health check.

But other foxes did get examined and their stories are important too.

Fox Foto Friday - Time for Health Checks!

Across the Channel Islands, island foxes are being counted and given health checks. This island fox on Santa Cruz Island also received a refurbished radio-tracking collar funded by Friends of the Island Fox. See her as she is released.

For the next three years this radio collar will tell biologists that this island fox is up and moving around in its environment. It will also give off a mortality signal to alert biologists if something should happen to this individual island fox. Rapid response to mortalities enables a quick response to disease or threats to other island foxes. 

What are the current threats to island foxes in 2019?

Fox Foto Friday - The Endangered Species Act Saved This Fox

 Just over two years ago, the Channel Island fox was removed from the Endangered Species List.

The Endangered Species Act saved this fox!

 Survival shouldn't be political.

 

Saving a species is a very complicated task, and it requires a coalition of people all working together to make it happen. 

We shouldn't abandon the Endangered Species Act.
We should embolden it, embrace it, and help the world become a better place. 

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has provided the necessary protection and attention to help save four subspecies of Channel Island foxes from extinction.

Downloadable island-by-island report Island Fox Update 2018. 

Working Together To Save The Channel Island Fox 

Fox Foto Friday - What's That Island Fox Wearing

Yes, it is a new radio-tracking collar! 

Through your generous donations, FIF was able to fund 5 new radio-tracking collars for island foxes on Catalina Island. 

Catalina Island fox receives vaccination during health check

These new collars will be placed on island foxes during this summer/fall annual counting and health checks.

Are you keeping count? We are:

• 7 refurbished collars for Santa Rosa/San Miguel
• 20 refurbished collars for Santa Cruz
• 5 new collars for Catalina

Our goal is to fund 8 more $220 refurbished collars for Santa Rosa/ San Miguel in 2019. 

With your help we can meet this important need.  

Please donate today

Fox Foto Friday - Radio Collars Going On Island Foxes

photo courtesy of M. Navarro, CINP

Island foxes on Santa Cruz Island are receiving health checks and being fitted with newly refurbished radio tracking collars RIGHT NOW!

You refurbished these radio collars and today they are going on island foxes.