CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 102 California Fish and Game 93(2):102-105 2007 102 MARKING OF NOVEL OBJECTS BY KIT FOXES HOWARD O. CLARK, JR. H. T. Harvey & Associates 423 West Fallbrook Avenue, Suite 202 Fresno, CA 93711-6138 Scent marking of novel objects by kit foxes, Vulpes macrotis, is not well understood. Generally, kit foxes leave scats (feces) at dens, trail intersections, fence lines, and along unpaved roads (Egoscue 1962, O’Farrell 1987, Ralls and Smith 2004, Smith et al. 2005). In the closely related swift fox, V. velox, researchers commonly found scats near cattle guards, fence intersections, culverts, and intersections of roads and trails (Harrison et al. 2004). Kit foxes occasionally leave scats near or on conspicuous objects, including bottles, tires, and skeletal remains (Ralls and Smith 2004) and are known to mark novel objects with undersized scats (O’Farrell 1987). Scats from the San Joaquin kit fox, V. m. mutica, have been found on or near cement objects, sheep carcasses, coyote skulls, cans, fenceposts, pieces of bone, power line poles, and coyote latrines (Ralls and Smith 2004). In another study of scent marking by urban San Joaquin kit foxes, most marks occurred on or near conspicuous or prominent objects, including large rocks, raised soil mounds, asphalt and concrete surfaces, shrubs, posts/poles, trees, buildings, cars, old food items, and tall vegetation. Males were more likely to mark objects than were females (Murdoch 2004 1 ). Egoscue (1962) described the fecal deposition habits of kit foxes in Tooele County, Utah, and found “scats … along trails, at dens, and occasionally near objects such as bits of bone or other animal remains.” However, frequently visited ‘sign’ stations (old skeletons or natural objects) were not discovered. Egoscue (1962) further described unique behavior of kit foxes marking a rodent live-trap grid: “One fox left small scats on 15 of 50 traps in a single round of the trap-line, and by the third night had urinated on almost every trap.” Egoscue (1962) also reported that after the marking efforts of the kit fox, the trapping success at the rodent live-trap grid dropped considerably. Here I describe fecal marking efforts of the kit fox on a live-trap grid set for diurnal rodents near Ridgecrest, CA. Kit foxes were confirmed in the study area by using infrared motion cameras (Cuddeback™ Digital, Park Falls, WI). A live-trap grid (4 x 25, with 35 m centers; Figure 1) was established along State Route 178, approximately 15 km east of Ridgecrest, CA, in San Bernardino County (35° 38.89’N, 117° 30.30’W). The grid was located on an alluvial-colluvial slope and dominant perennials were Ambrosia dumosa, Grayia spinosa, and Atriplex hymenelytra. Dominant annuals include Eriophyllum wallacei, Erodium cicutarium, and Lepidium flavum. 1 Murdoch, J. D. 2004. Scent marking behavior of the San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica). M.S. Thesis, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA.