Researchers at the University of Galway are appealing to the public to register sightings of urban red foxes.

The survey is particularly focused on the largest cities across the island - Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Derry and Waterford.

The increased sightings of Irish wildlife in cities is attributed to the availability of food and shelter.

Red foxes in particular have been known to thrive in built up areas because of increased food opportunities, such as discarded food, insects and fruit.

They also hunt other urban animals such as rats, mice, and pigeons

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One programme, Dr Colin Lawton of University of Galway's School of Natural Sciences said the resources which urban foxes are availing of has caused for their behaviour to differ from rural foxes.

"A recent study has shown that foxes seem to be getting more domesticated in urban areas, they're actually looking cuter, they look more like dogs," Dr Lawton said.

"Their muzzles are getting shorter, and they've got a more domed head, and that's because they've become more appealing to people and more likely to get treats in gardens" he added.

The aim of the survey is to create a distribution map of foxes and to better understand humans’ relationships with the animals.

"A lot of people are delighted to see them, because we don’t see much wildlife in our urban areas, but then others may have problems.

"They can be messy, they can make a lot of noise, and so we’re looking to make sure that we can manage the human-wildlife conflict, without harming the foxes in any way".

Members of the public can record their sightings using the Urban Fox Survey page, hosted by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.