Wolf and fox, marking story

One day, by taking videos from one of our trapping cameras, we had the chance to discover Arsene and Lupine. This is not frequent so we were satisfied. Arsene was doing one of his countless urine markings, on a rock where he is used to urinate. Lupine was following him and they quietly trotted away. We were happy to see them being together, just the two of them now. It's always exciting to discover videos of the pack, knowing that they have passed by, sometimes shortly before or after us. 

Then, on the next video, we discovered something that fascinated us. Barely 13 hours after the pack passed by, a fox, living here and that we called "Gege", had an attitude that fwe never observed before. He went directly near the rock where Arsene had urinated and started to rub himself, frantically, notably at the level of the face and the flank, on both sides. 

First of all, we could think that the fox, through these rubbings, simply marked the place of his smell, as he's used to. The fox has scent glands in several places. Anal glands (1), supra-caudal glands (2), at the corner of the mouth (3) and between the paw pads/toes (4). They are used to mark its territory, its congeners (fox cubs), preys too big to be carried away, its particular passages or its den.

Our trapping camera was already in place for a while but Gege had always made only urine markings, over those of Arsene, in the whole visual perimeter of our camera. We made some research on the fox and, coupled to what we already know about canine behavior, we can also deduce that these rubs could also be used by the fox as a a technique to camouflage its own smell. This a common issue for dog owners : the dog rolls or rubs itself in excrement for example, which isn't very pleasant once back home.

So it's possible that Gege technique, rubbing itself with Arsene's urine, is a form of marking but also, possibly, an attempt to "mislead the enemy", to impregnate itself with the wolf's smell in order to hide its own. 

Nature is fascinating, complex and hides many secrets that we don't know about or whose significance and meaning aren't known yet. And this is true for both intra-species and inter-species relationships. As human, we often try to find a role for an animal because, according to our own way of thinking, every single one must have a function. It's important to understand that, on one hand, we don't know all the roles, interactions, and behaviors of wildlife yet and, on the other hand, we will never know them all. So it's dangerous to assume that a particular species has no role, isn't useful to the ecosystem and and that we can eradicate it.

Through this observation, the markings of Arsene and Gege, we wanted to show that even though we think we know a species well by observing or studiyng it, we will never be able to be sure of the meaning of this action, of its real goal at the moment when it was made, in Gege's mind. We can only interpret, assume and keep in mind that we may be wrong. But such actions are a source of information, they are magical and must be shown.

Above, you can watch the videos corresponding to Arsene and Gege markings...

Videos are cut to ensure security and privacy.

La meute à Arsène 2 - Marquage

Gégé le Renard - Marquage

Renard marquage urinaire