الطبيعة والحياة البرية

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duration: 2 Hour and 20 Minute

Urban Foxes Developing Smaller Heads To Help Forage In Bins

00:01:30

Researchers in the UK have found that foxes’ skulls are getting smaller as they adapt to their city environment. Scottish researchers discovered that snouts of urban foxes are shorter and wider than rural foxes’ snouts. 274 skulls of red foxes from London and the surrounding countryside were examined. We saw urban foxes had a smaller brain size capacity but also a different snout shape that would help them forage within urban habitats, Dr. Kevin Parsons, University of Glasgow. The expansion of cities can have a major effect on wildlife and how they access food and shelter. However, foxes appear to be especially good at living within cities, often roaming into pedestrian areas. The gradual change in skull shape is consistent with ‘domestication syndrome’. This occurs when wild animals transition to domesticated ones, just like dogs did thousands of years ago. The researchers say that animals adapting to life around humans actually primes them for domestication.

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