Home ranges in red fox: territoriality diminishes with increasing area

Red foxVulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) are generally regarded as strictly territorial animals, inhabiting distinct and well-separated ranges. The home ranges of these predators can vary in size from a few dozen hectares to as much as 20–30 km². Because it seemed impossible that foxes could defend areas so different in size with the same intensity, the published data were analysed in order to see how changes in home range size could affect the following parameters: home range overlap, the area visited daily and the distance travelled by animals during 24 h. It was found that the overlap between fox families (groups) occupying large ranges was much greater than between foxes living in small ranges. The ratio of the area visited daily to the seasonal home range size was greater in small ranges than in large ones. No significant correlation was found between the mean distance moved daily and home range size (r = −0.118,p = 0.75). These results suggest different patterns of the use of space and differences in territorial defence by red foxes inhabiting large and small ranges. The implications of home range overlap and intensity of contacts between foxes occupying neighbouring ranges for the spread of disease are discussed. The significant overlap between large ranges found in this paper is discussed in the light of Andrzejewski’s (2002) home range concept.