The wild animals caught in the photographer’s lens have lost their fierceness and keep away from strangers, presenting vivid expressions, funny action movies, and warm parent-child interaction for people. Through these photos, people see the other side of the animal kingdom, which is not cruel competition and survival of the fittest, but the coexistence of cuteness and warmth.
Squinting, square face, Buddhist, naive… Tibetan foxes would never have imagined that they would become one of mankind’s favorite animals.
Part01 Tibetan fox, the emoji of the fox world
In 2019, the British International Wildlife Photographer Competition, Chinese photographer Bao Yongqing won the championship with a photo called “Life and Death”, which shows the scene of Tibetan fox hunting marmots. In this photo, the Tibetan fox changed its previous “decadent” posture, bared its teeth and grinned in an attacking form, and the marmot was at a loss and panicked. The photos are vivid and impressive. In fact, the scene captured by the photo is a daily routine that Tibetan foxes perform every day. In the impression of many people, the fox is synonymous with “charming” and “smart”. Foxes are slender, athletic, and agile. In “Fengshen Bang”, the fox demon Daji has gathered all people’s impressions of foxes. But the Tibetan fox can’t compete with these characteristics.
Tibetan fox is a typical plateau animal. It is distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, and is common in Nepal and northern India abroad. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Tibetan fox is widely distributed, covering almost the entire plateau, except in the dense forests in southeastern Tibet without its footprints. The vertical range of activities can reach 3000 meters to 5300 meters. The Tibetan fox has a very distinctive appearance, with a large head, short ears, square shape, thick and short legs and tail, thick hair, brownish-yellow or maroon in the center of the back, silver-gray hair on both sides of the body, and white belly. It is similar to the common red fox, about 1 meter in length, and can weigh up to 10 kilograms.
In order to resist the low temperature and special climate on the plateau, the Tibetan fox has evolved a thick coat. As a result, the limbs are short and the face is square and large. These are the mysteries of nature’s evolution, and seemingly ordinary structures are necessary means for animals living in the wild to survive. The breeding season of Tibetan foxes is generally from the end of February to the beginning of March every year. They are monogamous. After choosing a mate, they will accompany them for life. Both sides live together, hunt for food, and raise their offspring.
Tibetan foxes generally feed on pikas, and occasionally birds, insects, lizards, and even marmots that are similar in size to themselves. But the relationship between the Tibetan fox and the marmot is somewhat subtle, not a simple relationship between eating and being eaten.
As we all know, the reproduction of foxes is generally completed in caves, and the same is true for Tibetan foxes, but Tibetan foxes cannot dig holes, but this is not difficult for it, because marmots can burrow. From May to June every year, Tibetan fox cubs are born. At this time, the Tibetan fox will place the cubs in the marmot’s burrow. Even when they are not breeding, Tibetan foxes will crowd marmots out of their homes just to sleep inside.
Although the Tibetan fox is a maverick in the fox population, it is precisely it that sets a different label. Perhaps, compared with other similar species, Tibetan foxes survive in cruel nature with their own special rules of survival.
Part02 Cute fox, the excellent hunter
Most canines live in groups and cooperate with each other to ensure a safe living environment. But the Tibetan fox is an exception. It likes to live alone. Only during the breeding season will males and females raise their offspring together, or form a family group centered on the cubs and live together. Other than that, most of the time it works alone.
Although Tibetan foxes are cute and cute, they are definitely not “waste players”. Herdsmen in Tibetan areas call Tibetan foxes “Wamo”, which represents cunning and insidiousness. Its big face and square head seem to be side by side with insidious and cunning, and even a little funny, but according to research, Tibetan fox’s big face and square head is the most suitable for “eat meat”. Tibetan foxes have shorter foreheads, narrower zygomatic arches and jawbones, and longer canines and molars. The unique skull structure creates the appearance of a square face, but gives Tibetan foxes an advantage when chewing.
In 2014, researchers collected Tibetan fox feces from 62 Tibetan fox habitats. After analysis, it was found that 97% of the DNA of foreign objects in Tibetan fox feces were mainly plateau pikas. Therefore, the distribution range of the Tibetan fox is greatly affected by the plateau pika, which almost overlaps with the plateau pika in terms of macro environment and microhabitat.
For example, in northwestern Tibet, plateau pika and other prey resources are few, and the distribution density of Tibetan foxes is also low; while in northwestern Sichuan, plateau pikas are abundant, and the local Tibetan fox density is also high. It can be seen that the main food of Tibetan fox is plateau pika. The plateau pika is alert and alert, and will burrow into the ground when in danger. In addition to hunting down the pika himself, the Tibetan fox sometimes follows the brown bear. When the brown bear digs a hole in the ground with brute force, the Tibetan fox catches the cicada with the mantis, and takes the opportunity to catch the fleeing pika, waiting for work.
For thousands of years, the Tibetan fox has evolved a very targeted mouth, which can be said to be the most professional hunting tool, which is very suitable for hunting in the small mouth of the pika. In addition to pikas, Tibetan foxes also eat birds, rabbits, rodents, lizards and insects, and are open to carrion. As a member of the plateau ecosystem, the Tibetan fox can control the number of herbivores and protect the ecological balance of the plateau, and is a well-known plateau beast.
Part03
New Crisis of Beneficial Beasts
Pika, a small rabbit species that floods the grasslands, is a mouse-like and rabbit-like creature with strong reproductive ability, strong adaptability and wide distribution. When the pika population surged, the range of its nest system expanded, and new holes and old holes were intertwined into a network underground. Once it encountered rainy weather, it was easy to cause the surface to collapse, thus causing the entire grassland to break and the sand to be exposed. Under the action of wind and sand, the grassland gradually degrades, which eventually brings irreversible damage to the plateau grassland.
Although there is no need to worry too much about the survival of Tibetan foxes, in recent years, researchers have observed that Tibetan foxes are facing a new threat – stray mastiffs. On the plateau at an altitude of 5,000 meters, researchers found pika, hare, wild sparrow, yak and other animals. The grassland has no signs of degradation, and the number of plateau pikas has not fluctuated significantly, but the Tibetan fox has disappeared. Later, on the way up and down the mountain, the researchers discovered the activity of stray mastiff dogs. Researchers believe that the emergence of stray mastiffs drove the Tibetan fox away. As a semi-wild stray mastiff, its survivability is much stronger than that of the Tibetan fox, and its size is large, and it likes to be dispatched in groups. The Tibetan foxes, who are alone, are obviously not their opponents. Once they meet the mastiff group on a narrow road, the Tibetan fox can only choose to avoid it, and the living space is compressed. Stray mastiffs are also dangerous for Tibetan fox cubs. When a mastiff dog that has been wandering for a long time sees Tibetan fox cubs playing alone, they will kill and eat them. This is very scary for Tibetan foxes.
Living in the alpine zone where the ecosystem is relatively fragile, the Tibetan fox will inevitably be affected by the environment. What we can do is to protect the Tibetan fox without disturbing the natural ecology of the food chain. Because the Tibetan fox plays an important role in the plateau ecosystem, its existence will directly affect the ecological environment of the grassland. Tibetan foxes with “world-weary faces” should not only be active in our online world, but also exist in our living environment for a long time. The harmonious coexistence of man and nature is an eternal topic. I hope that after thousands of years, the Tibetan fox, a maverick animal, can still be active on the plateau.
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