Age and Beauty

The cubs and the old dog fox may be working out a routine to avoid confrontation. The sequence tonight was: cubs early, dog fox late, cub later still. This could have been coincidence, but if they have sorted themselves out we may get a little more peace in the garden. And more to the point the dog fox can relax a bit.

Here's one of the early arrivals, looking as cute as ever. I'm beginning to tell them apart more easily, and this one has a generally quiet temperament and is very confident.

There's a smaller cub, with distinctive dark strips along the muzzle, who is quite skittish and mean tempered. These next pictures are typical of its behaviour this evening.

In contrast to the prettiness of the cubs, the dog fox is heavily scarred; and having seen the behaviour of the cubs it's perhaps no surprise, although outbreaks of mange can also leave a mark. These photos, especially the second one, show just how tough a life it is out there for them. He actually seems quite healthy in himself, and looks a lot stronger than when we first saw him over a year ago. Then he was in very poor condition, but recovered wonderfully by the autumn. I'll keep an eye on how he shapes up this year.