Hill fox

The hill fox (Vulpes vulpes montana), also known as the hill red fox, or the Himalayan red fox, is a subspecies of the red fox that is native to parts of the Himalayan Mountain Range and Karakoram Mountain Range. It has two noticeable populations: one being in northeastern India, far southern Nepal, and far northern Bangladesh. The other is in portions of far northwestern India, and northeastern Pakistan. Populations may be present in way far southwestern China, and in other areas of the Himalayas. Its natural range is made up of rocky terrain, low grasslands, and tundra within a temperate climate. The hill fox is differentiated from the nominate subspecies by having a smaller sized body, smaller skull, teeth, and by having rough or coarse hair. Its feet hair are mixed with softer, woolly hair. It is occasionally known to build dens near human-urbanized areas. Additionally, researchers found these foxes in Shigar valley, Karakorum Range, Pakistan and studied their living habits and their locations of dens. Their studies showed that in their resting state 83.33% of the foxes have a den in a grass/bare habitat.” Many Vulpes Vulpes Montanas are high altitude animals and they have many mechanism adaptations due to their environment. Studies have shown that “many high-altitude animals reduced O2 demand by suppressing total metabolism to compensate for a reduced cellular O2 supply as a response to hypoxia.” There are many studies that take account of their genetic information to understand their evolution and adaptation in high-altitude habitats. One study used, “blood samples obtained from a wild female red fox captured from Lhasa in Tibet, China. Qinghai--Tibet Plateau is the highest plateau in the world with an average elevation above 3500 m.” In this study they analyzed the sequences of their genes and found a gene that corresponds to their ability to adapt in their environments.