Environmental Variation At The Onset Of Independent Foraging Affects Full-grown Body Mass In The Red Fox

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 16 Jul 2008 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Fox cubs start foraging for themselves in July, but lack the skills to catch larger prey, so hunt insects and earthworms, which are only available on wet nights.

So weather conditions in July determine their rate of growth; cubs born in hot dry summers never make up this loss, and become smaller adults. This in turn means that as adults, males have smaller territories and sire fewer cubs.

This is the first study to show that weather conditions during the period when young mammals learn to forage for themselves have a significant impact on the rest of their life.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/proceedingsb