Home to these adorable little critters, the Island Fox, also the Alpha predator on the Islands.....damm cute little Alphas....the other Predator was the Bald Eagle, with a major taste for sushi....not little Foxes.....
But then comes DDT....which a lot of scientist types blamed for causing the Bald Eagles eggshell to be too thin to support the weight of nesting Momma Eagles. Thus, the Baldies no longer inhabited the Islands in any great numbers...which left the door open......because,
Without the territorial bald eagle, the islands were open habitat for the Golden eagle. Golden eagles migrated to the islands to hunt the large number of feral pigs on Santa Cruz Island. Preying mainly on mammals, not much into oriental cuisine like the Bald, the golden eagle next began hunting the island fox.
In the late 1990’s predation by golden eagles nearly pushed the island fox to extinction on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands....horrible visual below.....
In the last few years, over 40 golden eagles have been removed from the northern islands and relocated to the mainland.
Since 2001, 46 young bald eagles have been returned to Santa Cruz Island. As the bald eagles have matured they have begun reclaiming the islands as their own.
*Cue Cavalry music*.......besides, I just love this photo......
So, happy ending for the little guys? Well, not yet, but their numbers have increased greatly since ol' Baldy has returned......
When I was at BUDS on San Clemente Island as a civvie contractor, I had one of these little dudes that I named Baloney, cuz it was his favorite thing in the world, would come through the open door of my hooch at night, and I'd awaken with him snuggled at my feet......
There. I'm done.
Wollf
1 comment:
Those are possibly the smartest looking foxes I've ever seen!
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