San Joaquin kit fox facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Joaquin kit fox |
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| Male San Joaquin kit fox | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Vulpes |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
V. m. mutica
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| Trinomial name | |
| Vulpes macrotis mutica Meriam, 1902
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The endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) was formerly very common in the San Joaquin Valley and through much of Central California. Its 1990 population was estimated to be 7,000. This subspecies is still endangered, after nearly 50 years of being on the Endangered Species List. Officially this subspecies was listed March 3, 1967. On September 26, 2007, Wildlands Inc. announced the designation of the 684-acre (2.77 km2) Deadman Creek Conservation Bank, which is intended specifically to protect habitat of the San Joaquin kit fox. However, the population continues to decline mostly due to heavy habitat loss. Other factors include competition from red fox, and the extermination of the gray wolf from California has left the coyote as the dominant meso-predator in kit fox territory bringing an imbalance in ecosystem relationships.
Images for kids
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V. m. mutica sitting
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V. m. mutica resting
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A San Joaquin kit fox family
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Two San Joaquin kit foxes
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V. m. mutica at Carrizo Plains National Monument
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