Red Foxes in Scotland Are Eating a Significant Amount of Dog Feces, Study Finds

Alexandra Schonfeld
·2 min read
3
Red Fox
Red Fox

Getty Red fox

A new study has revealed that red foxes living in the pine forests of the Scottish highlands are getting their nutrition from an unexpected source.

According to the BBC, the study — produced by scientists at the University of Aberdeen, the University of Grenoble Alps, Forestry and Land Scotland, and Cairngorms Connec, and published in the Ecology and Evolution journal — tested the stool samples of red foxes in Scotland and found that domestic dog DNA made up 40 percent of the tested stool samples' contents.

The researchers behind the study connected the presence of dog DNA to the foxes eating canine feces. Dog poop has similar calorific content to the foxes' wild prey, the BBC reported, though it takes much less work for foxes to obtain dog poop.

RELATED: Two Orcas in South Africa Are Hunting Great White Sharks and Eating Their Livers, Research Finds

According to the study, the discovery that foxes are eating large quantities of another species' feces is "unprecedented."

Fox
Fox

Getty

"Rabbits and other related species are well-known to consume their own feces, but consumption of the feces of another species has seldom been documented and likely represents an overlooked interaction among wild animals," one of the report's co-authors, Cristian Navarro, a Ph.D. student at the University of Aberdeen said according to BBC.

"This phenomenon would be undetectable through traditional diet study methods, but by using DNA-based techniques, our study has revealed this interaction for the first time, leading to important questions about how human activities are affecting wildlife," Navarro continued.

The study's researchers explored multiple theories as to why dog DNA was detected in the tested fox feces, including the possibility of confusion between dog DNA and fox DNA due to the animals' close relation.

RELATED: Dogs Descended from Two Populations of Ancient Grey Wolves, Study Finds

Ultimately, though, researchers found that dog feces has become an important source of food for foxes in Scotland when other prey is harder to come by, the BBC said.

While the dog poop provides sustenance to foxes, researchers highlighted that consuming fecal matter can lead to disease and parasite transmission in wild animals.