In the photo, an animal has dug a hole (or more specifically, scraped away snow) to capture a mouse or other prey in the snow.
When I measured it, I found that it was about one meter deep.
All around were piles of scraped out snow.
From the tracks remaining in the area, I deduced that this was the work of Vulpes vulpes schrencki.
Vulpes vulpes schrencki have an extremely keen sense of smell. With it, they can even find small animals hidden under deep snow.
And when they are done digging, they spray the area with urine as a way of stating that “I dug this hole.”
However, foxes also appear to have an excellent memory. It is said that they do not depend solely on their sense of smell, as they can remember where they buried prey with remarkable accuracy.
It is also thought that they use their urine as a kind of marking. By marking a place with urine, they tell themselves that there is no need to dig in the same place again.
Photo: A fox’s search for food Jan. 19
When I measured it, I found that it was about one meter deep.
All around were piles of scraped out snow.
From the tracks remaining in the area, I deduced that this was the work of Vulpes vulpes schrencki.
Vulpes vulpes schrencki have an extremely keen sense of smell. With it, they can even find small animals hidden under deep snow.
And when they are done digging, they spray the area with urine as a way of stating that “I dug this hole.”
However, foxes also appear to have an excellent memory. It is said that they do not depend solely on their sense of smell, as they can remember where they buried prey with remarkable accuracy.
It is also thought that they use their urine as a kind of marking. By marking a place with urine, they tell themselves that there is no need to dig in the same place again.
Photo: A fox’s search for food Jan. 19
