Within the domain of the wild, there have been tragedies, the bliss of finding a mate, young foxes chasing and wrestling with each other, living through seemingly endless droughts, fighting over territory, but likely the rarest and most unusual is when a gray fox couple divorce. 

A Couple of Relevant Facts: 

1. Gray foxes are monogamous, most of the time. 
2. Although a gray fox female is biologically capable of having pups her first year, most often she doesn’t get pregnant that first year, or if so, she has a miscarriage. Most female gray foxes get pregnant in their second year of life. 

The female gray fox named Little One was a small gray fox and I suspect in her second year of life. She had dispersed from the overflow channel along Matadero Creek and taken up territory out along the Adobe Loop Trail otherwise known as Perimeter Road. She lived alone in the brush along the trail and she likely hunted across Matadero Creek out into the vast floodplain. I’d pick her up on one of my trail cameras posted where I had seen her live on a few occasions. In February on one of those occasions, I saw her with another gray fox as they passed by the camera. I suspected that she’d found a mate. 

One early evening I headed toward Little One’s usual sleeping spot. I came around a turn. Two gray foxes approached, stopped, and then slowly drew closer. I stopped just to see what these two might do. The smaller of the two moved off the trail, into the brush, but the other one kept coming. He stopped at about 15 feet away and that was enough for me to get a good look at him. I decided that since he had more of that rusty-brown color on his chest and up around his face than a normal gray fox that I’d call him Brownie. 

So, with that we had a pair and over time when the two of them were lying off in the weeds beside the trail, they didn’t run. I took loads of photos of them, and chattered at them on occasion. I documented their behavior. That first year that Brownie came into Little One’s home range they had three pups. Often the two of the three played in the weeds just off the trail, but one of them did not play. It looked sickly, moved slowly, and seemingly had no energy. Eventually that little pup failed to show up with its siblings and I suspected that he had died. 

It was April again in their second year together. This time they had five pups, all healthy and running, wrestling, squealing and just having fun. They were not at all skittish, as they had seen both Brownie and their mom Little One having accepted me into their environment. On one occasion in the early afternoon, I watched the five pups playing. I jotted down notes on which one may likely become the alpha pup. Little One and Brownie lay nearby. I was about ready to leave, when I looked to my right along the Adobe Loop Trail and stepping from the brush came an adult gray fox. In that moment, I thought that it must be a trespasser and it would trot off in the opposite direction, but instead it trotted toward me.

I was surprised. At about twenty feet from me, that fox slipped off into the brush. I waited and watched. In less than a minute, that fox entered the area where Little One, Brownie and their pups were gathered. The pups gave this newcomer fox kisses. Obviously, they already knew this fox. I came to call her Helper, for she was the first documented case of a helper female helping a gray fox couple with too many little ones. 

Going into their third year together, Helper continued to occupy the territory. It was about mid-March when I began to see changes. Brownie and Helper hung around together and before long the two of them left Little One’s home range and took up lodging out on the salt marsh under a large abandoned building. There were numerous times when checking my trail cameras in Little One’s territory that I’d find her trotting along the road. I’d follow to see where she went, and invariably she walked out into the marsh and headed straight for the large building where Brownie and Helper lived. I could tell by the way she walked that she must have been depressed, and she lacked the spark that she had once displayed. It took me a couple of months to finally conclude that Brownie had divorced Little One. She hung around for those months, but finally, I no longer saw her either live along the trail, or on my cameras. She must have left the region, likely broken hearted. 

Until next month, enjoy the wildlife living in your backyard, and keep them safe.