Would wolves and lynx have eaten foxes 1000s of years ago?

[al woodcock]

As an anti fox hunter, I have joined a few Facebook groups where tensions run high between anti and pros alike. A recent point made by a hunter was that, we are now the only fox's predator, because we have wiped out the wolf and lynx that used to roam our countryside. I thought for a moment about dogs eating dogs!! Surely, as I know from T.V. only, wolves and foxes would have avoided each other, as they do now!! They may well eat each other as carrion, but I for one have never seen a pack of wolves chase down and kill another canine. As for lynx eating foxes, well a lynx's prey is MUCH smaller than a fox or two, surely!!

Can any one shed some more light, please!!

[rossbells]

Aye im sure they would have.

YouTube - Wolves vs Coyote

[Beekeeper]

I would say yes to that as well, a Wolf is considerably larger than a fox so there should be no contest really.

Ian

[STYRBJORN]

The point is not whether the top predators eat the ones lower in the chain. They very rarely do, any more than Golden Eagles eat kestrels. They out compete them for food. Remove a top predator and you leave more food for the others to prey on.

STYRBJORN

[aeshna5]

Lynx will take Roe Deer as well as smaller mammals such as Rabbits, Hares, etc, so I'm sure a Lynx could take A Fox, though I suspect not a common prey item. I think Wolves would take on a Fox much the same way we see various African predators try to remove competition, eg Lions vs Leopard/Cheetah.

The most important predator of Sparrowhawk is often Goshawk in areas where the latter occurs.

[Fauna]

The Lynx would most definately take a Fox, as for Wolves, well yes, they would take them if the opportunity arise.

I can't quite remember where but i think it is the Banff National Park in Canada. As the Wolves increased in numbers the Coyotes decresed, there then showed a marked increase in Fox numbers.

Its been suggested that the Coyotes had been keeping the Fox population down as they more or less directly competed for food. The same goes for the Wolf and the Coyote. In contrast the Wolf and the Fox don't truley compete, so the Wolf don't find them a threat so they tolerate them.

Just found the link....i hope its the right one?

http://www.mountainnature.com/Articl...oyotes&Fox.htm

[al woodcock]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I'm a little wiser now!

[RKB]

Fauna, wasn't that Yellowstone?

What foxhunters don't understand is that they are a drop in the ocean when it comes to the fox population. Fox hunts kill a few thousand foxes a year. Whereas 300,000 are killed by cars, and probably tens of thousands are shot by lampers. So chasing them on horseback is probably the least efficient method of fox predation. If they want to make it more efficient, then they should use a pack of fast lurchers rather than a pack of slow foxhounds (bred to be slower than a fox but have more stamina, to prolong a chase). Fox hunting has nothing to do with population control at all - in fact farmers and keepers on estates are told to LEAVE foxes so that there are some to hunt!

[Hobjob]

Wolves hunt in packs, foxes are more or less solitary - I would have thought they would be easy prey.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Wolves hunt in packs,

not necessarily. You get a lot of solitary wolves and wolf pairs. And foxes can live in loose social groups. Wolves eat a lot of small mammals (voles etc), which they do alone.