Week Seven Reflection

I found this week's Twitter assignment very fun! There is a lot more information and research done on fox habitats compared to fox behavior. I believe this is because of ethical issues, foxes not being great test subjects, and/or behavior research being expensive.

Either way, the assignment went very smoothly, and I enjoyed researching.

Through the ChatGPT section of my assignment, I learned about the loss of habitat and the increase of diseases in foxes. Because of urbanization, foxes have lost a lot of the land they used to inhabit. This has caused foxes to move into cities or become less spread out. Which in turn, has caused more foxes to be diseased as they interact with domesticated animals and deal with the high population densities of smaller areas.

In addition, I also have found research articles on fox populations decreasing as a result of climate change and because of human abuse. These papers are pretty detailed and I was surprised at the amount of evidence the research had.

As for the organizations I followed, I recommend checking out the Defenders of Wildlife (@Defenders) and the Fox Protection International (@FoxProtectIntl).

The Defenders of Wildlife is an organization dedicated to protecting all wildlife - not just foxes. However, I did like their page on foxes; their page detailed the work that they did to save the San Joaquin kit fox habitat. This organization was one of the first advocating for a swift fox reintroduction effort.

The Fox Protection International is a smaller organization specifically advocating for foxes. While they don't have many Twitter followers, I clicked on their website which has a lot more information.

Overall, I learned a lot this week. The research done on fox abuse and the consequences of climate change put into perspective how dangerous humans are.