User:Jessleeee/San Joaquin kit fox

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The endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) was formerly very common in the San Joaquin Valley and through much of Central California. As an opportunistic hunter, the San Joaquin kit fox primarily preys on kangaroo rats but also targets white-footed mice, pocket mice, ground squirrels, rabbits, and ground-nesting birds. During certain times of the year, especially when other food sources might be scarce, it will also consume insects. Its 1990 population was estimated to be 7,000. This subspecies is still endangered, after nearly 50 years of being on the Endangered Species List. Officially this subspecies was listed March 3, 1967. On September 26, 2007, Wildlands Inc. announced the designation of the 684-acre (2.77 km2) Deadman Creek Conservation Bank, which is intended specifically to protect habitat of the San Joaquin kit fox. However, the population continues to decline mostly due to heavy habitat loss. Other factors include competition from red fox, and the extermination of the gray wolf from California has left the coyote as the dominant meso-predator in kit fox territory bringing an imbalance in ecosystem relationships. Sarcoptic mange has also constituted a significant threat, specifically to the Bakersfield population of the subspecies, with 15 confirmed cases reported by the end of 2014.

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As an opportunistic hunter, the San Joaquin kit fox primarily preys on kangaroo rats but also targets white-footed mice, pocket mice, ground squirrels, rabbits, and ground-nesting birds. During certain times of the year, especially when other food sources might be scarce, it will also consume insects.

San Joaquin Kit Fox, a subspecies of the kit fox, which is the smallest species of dog family in North America. It has a body length average of 20 inches, 12 inches tail length and height from 9 to 12 inches at the shoulder and adult body weight about 5 pounds for males and 4.6 pounds for females.

Taxonomy and Distribution
San Joaquin kit fox, is a subspecies of the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) described by C. Hart Merriam. Over the last 100 years, several different taxonomies for the species and subspecies of small, North American foxes have been proposed. And which Dragoo et al. had concluded in the 1990s that all North American arid-land foxes belonged to the species V. velox, commonly known as swift fox) and recommended that the historically regarded species of V. macrotis should be synoymized under V. velox macrotis. However, later the genetic work by Mercure et al. led to the conclusion of though there was evidence of hybridization between the kit foxes and swift foxes, it appears to be within a limited geographic area, and should be considered separate species. Furthermore, the conclusion also led to the distinction of the San Joaquin kit fox and being considered a subspecies.

It has historically mostly occupied in the San Joaquin Valley from southern Kern County north to Tracy, San Joaquin County, on the west side, and near La Grange, Stanislaus County, on the east side.

Description
San Joaquin kit fox, a subspecies of the kit fox, which is the smallest species of dog family in North America. It has a body length average of 20 inches, of which12 inches are its tail length and height from 9 to 12 inches at the shoulder and adult body weight about 5 pounds for males and 4.6 pounds for females. It's known with its conspicuously large ears. From a sample of 21 tracks from the San Joaquin Valley, the average length of foot pads of the San Joaquin kit fox is about 3.1 centimeters with an average width of 2.6 centimeters, which is comparable smaller than the other canids, foxes, wolves, jackals, etc.

Behavior and Life History
The San Joaquin kit fox tends to favor the open grassland or scrubland, where its inhabits dens and feeds on prey such as field mice, kangaroo rats, ground squirrels and insects for some cases and mostly active at night. Their dens usually appear to be complex and deep dens with multiple openings that provide them with temperature regulation, shelter from the sever environmental conditions, protection from predators and place of reproduction. A study of the San Joaquin kit fox with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mentions about how the kit foxes can change various of dens throughout a month, as the use of numerous dens seems to be one of their survival strategy.