BIG RED FOXES

by Rosemary Curley, waterside

Fur industry people have long recognized that P.E.I.'s wild red fox is of superior fur quality, but another reason our fox conuends top prices is related to pelt size. we have large foxes here, and weights and measurements best illustrate this point. Table I lists average measurenents of P.E.I. foxes, and those from elsewhere. P.E.I.'s and all Nbrth American foxes are smaller than European foxes, but ours are larger than most Nerth American foxes. Unfortunately, no New Brunswick or Nova Scotia foxes have been measured, but scme representatives from fur auction houses state that P.E.I. has larger foxes. The Newfoundland subspecies is a typically small fox.

Table II shows upper ranges of fox measurements reported in scientific journals, and museum publications. Again P.E.I. foxes are demonstrated as large.

The red fox herais a hybrid, since at least six different subspecies were imported during the fur-farming heyday, but nutritional quality is probably the main reason for the large size.

It would be interesting to see how some of our other mammals stack up size- wise against the rest of the world. In the meantime, you can feel confident in bragging about our red foxes.

Table I. RBported mean measurements (Huo and weights of red foxes.

Length Length Length of Length of Total of hind weight Total of hind weight

Location length tail foot (kg) length tail foot (kg) Source -

Illinois 1029 374 166 5.25 967 348 158 4.13 Stonm, 1972

Iowa 998 359 157 4.82 946 337 145 3.94 "

Indiana ... ... ... 5.25 ... ... ... 4.21 Hoffman and Kirk- patrick, 1954

England 1083 412 152 6.70 1012 385 141 5.40 Kolb and Hewson, 1974

Scotland 1148 436 167 7.30 1090 411 159 6.20 "

N. Ireland 1090 367 161 6.90 1025 348 151 5.80 Fairley, 1970 U.S.S.R. ... ... ... ... ... ... .... Novikov, 1962 P.E.I. 1072 407 170 5.60 1017 382 161 4.82 Curley, 1983

IO