Good fox exhibits - any recommendations?

Gulogirl

Gulogirl

New Member
We're looking into building a grey fox exhibit at our facility within a wooded area. Hoping to preserve the existing trees as much as possible, does anyone have any suggestions/examples of a well done habitat? There will be viewing window in the front. Thanks in advance!
 
The Santa Barbara Zoo has an excellent Channel Islands Fox exhibit that is on a wooded hillside. Channel Islands Foxes are grey foxes that shrunk in size while on the islands, so this is essentially a grey fox exhibit.

There are two separate exhibits with viewing areas at both the top and bottom of the hill. snowleopard took this picture of the top of the exhibit; the bottom viewing area is along the boardwalk:http://www.zoochat.com/605/channel-island-fox-exhibit-233723/
 
Thanks David - our challenge will be to keep most of the vegetation at the site, and build around/through it. Nice picture!
 
Gulogirl said:
NYS Zoo at Thompson Park in Watertown, NY. Native species!
Click to expand...

Well welcome to the site and make sure to post some pictures in the gallery as there are only two postcard pictures in there right now. Keep us updated on the status of your Grey Fox exhibit!

~Thylo:cool:
 
Keep in mind that Grey Foxes climb trees - a fact that is probably unknown to the average guest. Take advantage of this and provide lots of opportunities for this behavior. Also grey foxes are mostly nocturnal so plan on them sleeping during the day - either have a den viewing or plan for a day of night exhibit (though it sounds like you are doing this outdoors).
I would suggest presenting several species around your central fox exhibit - turning the exhibit into an specific ecosystem exhibit instead of a fox exhibit - thus if the foxes are sleeping you still have many other things to see that tell a larger story. You may even engage your guest to be a "Fox Researcher" looking for grey foxes. Show signs of fox activity - scat, tracks, digging, claw marks on trees - Present the story that you are looking for foxes but you may not see them. Make a connection to social media - guest that successfully see the fox can upload pictures to the zoo's facebook.
I think there are a lot of ways to present grey foxes without resorting to the usual "here's the fox pen..."
 
wooded hillside is good but be sure to include some open flat land as well. Large enough small birds will land there. It will give the foxes a chance to hunt.
 
Gulogirl said:
Thanks David - our challenge will be to keep most of the vegetation at the site, and build around/through it. Nice picture!
Click to expand...

Preserving the vegetation is not complicated.
Doing so and yet creating great visitor viewing often creates a conflict.
Evaluate the existing vegetation to determine which should be preserved and define protection zones.
Then start designing around those zones and see if that gets you to where you want to be
 
chrisbarela said:
Keep in mind that Grey Foxes climb trees - a fact that is probably unknown to the average guest. Take advantage of this and provide lots of opportunities for this behavior. Also grey foxes are mostly nocturnal so plan on them sleeping during the day - either have a den viewing or plan for a day of night exhibit (though it sounds like you are doing this outdoors).
I would suggest presenting several species around your central fox exhibit - turning the exhibit into an specific ecosystem exhibit instead of a fox exhibit - thus if the foxes are sleeping you still have many other things to see that tell a larger story. You may even engage your guest to be a "Fox Researcher" looking for grey foxes. Show signs of fox activity - scat, tracks, digging, claw marks on trees - Present the story that you are looking for foxes but you may not see them. Make a connection to social media - guest that successfully see the fox can upload pictures to the zoo's facebook.
I think there are a lot of ways to present grey foxes without resorting to the usual "here's the fox pen..."
Click to expand...

This is a good idea, even I didn't know this until I read the last issue of BBC wildlife.
 
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