Species of the Week - Tibetan Fox

By Rachel Shaw | Posted on July 2, 2009

This unusual-looking fox is found on the Tibetan Plateau, where it is locally known as the wa or the wamo.

A creature of high-altitude plains and hills, the Tibetan fox makes its home among rocks and boulders.  In many ways its behaviors are similar to its primary prey, the black-lipped pika: it lives in burrows and rocky crevices, prefers grass- and brushlands, and is comfortable living in proximity with others of its kind.  As with pikas, too, males and females are of similar size and appearance, are monogamous, and share the responsibility of rearing their young.

Tibetan foxes, unlike other foxes, are not very territorial, with mated pairs often living in close proximity with other pairs.  They pair bond for life (as best humans can tell) and are never out of close range to their mates.  As a result of all these traits the foxes’ communication skills are attenuated.  They use short yips to communicate short-range, and scent-mark the territories that they do inhabit.  The mated pairs hunt together, share their catches, and raise their kits together.  These kits are the result of early spring matings and they emerge from their burrows and dens later in spring as they mature and the weather warms.  Typically kits stay with their parents for eight to ten months before striking out to form pairs and find territories of their own. 

At full maturity, a wamo weighs from 3-4 kilograms (6 ½ to 9 pounds), making it about the size of a small cat.  These foxes appear in a range of colors from black to yellowish gray, though a mixture of yellowish brown with a grayish underbelly seems to be the most common.  Their fur is soft and dense, and humans trap them so that this fur can be made into hats that protect the wearers from wind and other inclement weather.  This, and natural causes, are the reasons that most Tibetan foxes live for only about five years, though they probably can manage up to eight to ten years.  These foxes have few natural predators - being small and good at taking shelter in their burrows and dens - and so the main effect on their populations is the state of the local pika population. 

These pikas, the black-lipped or plateau pika, are the foxes’ primary prey, along with the occasional rabbit, hare, bird, lizard, carrion, etc.  They hunt these animals in pairs, sometimes cleverly following brown bears in their own search for prey; the bears dig into the pika burrows, and the foxes pounce on the animals that escape the bears’ predations.  Currently human efforts to reduce pika populations through poisoning programs are a minor threat to these foxes, despite the possibility of secondary poisoning, but if the efforts continue long-term or become more intense, the foxes will suffer as a result of their primary food source diminishing.

Pictures of these animals are hard to find.  You can see footage of the Tibetan fox on the “Great Plains” episode of the Planet Earth series, and there are three good views of them at photographer Milo Burcham’s site.  (It should be noted that at least one of these images has developed a bit of a viral quality - if you image search for “Tibetan fox” many copies of Burcham’s photograph appear, most of them uncredited.)

Sources:

EOL
Wikipedia
Canids.org
Milo Burcham Photography
Planet Earth