I recently posted this picture of canines in my yard in a comment.
It’s not a good picture. There are two animals who were both at least slightly moving and the photo was taken by my phone at a distance. My wife thinks they’re foxes but I’m not sure.
That said, whatever they are, there’s a cub in the background. It’s pretty cute. A friend of mine described it as “aww, little blurry guy.” They weren’t wrong.
In the end the question is, were they foxes or coyotes?
Oh hiiii thats me, just doing routine tree inspection, need to know how nap-able the trees are.
In all seriousness, thats a gray fox (Urocyon Cinereoargenteus), with one of their kits from this year. I could only wish to see one one day, as they only exist in north america (and spilled a tiny bit into south america). It’s not entirely clear, but the ears look quite short, so most likely some eastern gray fox, these are the tree climbers. Western ones have larger ears as they live more in desert like areas to help with heat dissipation, and being able to hear small insects.
Unlike any other canine, gray foxes got somewhat rotatable wrists, and retractable claws. This allows them to grip onto trees very well, kinda like cats. So they’ll happily climb trees vertically, see https://findafox.net/post/view/1131?search=gray_fox+climbing
And of course, what does one do in a tree? Take a “comfy” nap
Even though they are named foxes, genetically they are not related to red foxes (vulpes vulpes), instead being its own genus, which is even older than vulpes.
And of course, they’ll do no harm, only bring cuteness :3
It’s a gray fox.
Some other examples:
.
For comparison, this is a coyote:
The coyotes are also larger, and their coloration is more uniform, with big ears on a tall/lanky body where the foxes are generally shorter and smaller, with the gray fox having a white belly/face (with the buff color on the head and shoulders,) but a gray back.
Here is a size comparison chart:
Sadly, they didn’t stick around long enough for me to interview them.
looks like gray fox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_fox Not very closely related to red fox. They can climb trees
Definitely gray fox. The face shape and color patterns are not coyote like at all. Tail also appears more fluffy like a fox, not coyote like.
Just because of the super pointy nose/snout, I’m pretty sure that’s a fox.
Body proportions don’t look right for a coyote, also, where are you? Both coyotes and foxes are regional.
I’m in north east US. I’m pretty certain both coyotes and foxes are around here. It seems likely that this was a fox, though. Thanks for the answer!
Based on the color I’d say it’s not a fox, but I’m in western Europe, I’m sure there are foxes with different colors in other parts of the world.
Try uploading the photo on inaturalist.org, there are volunteers there with much more knowledge than you are likely to find on lemmy.
Its a gray fox. Not a “true fox” in that it’s not much related to red foxes or arctic foxes or that whole group of animals, but it does get called a fox.
Thanks, I didn’t even know they existed, but that definitely looks like one.
Link for anyone interested https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_fox
Seems more fox shaped, but it’s an odd coyote or fox either way. The coloration seems off to me for a fox seems more coyote like.
Probably thinking of the red fox, which looks. Well. Red. Like this:
However gray foxes are , well. Gray.
“Odd” is what I thought as well.
A few months ago I went into my garage and there was very definitely a decent sized animal trying to break in. I don’t know what it was - I retreated pretty quickly - but I wonder whether it was related to this guy.
