The Case of the Mysterious White Wolverine (updated)

 I am indebted to my colleague, LM, for sending this to me.

Sadly that was all the detail the seller had. Whether it is fox, wild cat or wolverine taxidermy dealers will talk up how great and fantastic the taxidermies are, however, they have no information.  They grab to sell and make money quickly and scientific info is of no interest to them and some can be quite brusque and rude if you ask for information.

What we need for a taxidermy like this to be of use in research is date it was killed or mounted.  Location where it was killed or died. From there we can research. These images are interesting but that is it. No other info other than that the shop it was in was in North Manchester.

You will notice that this is not an albino. 

How rare are white -non-albinistic- wolverine? The thing is that very few people cover the subject of wolverines so LM and myself checked and this is what we came up with...

Again no info on where from but I suspect Russia. Seem to be quite a few wolverine there with more white than dark to their coats. The photographer's name may indicate it is from Russia -Grigore Antipa.

The two images before is of a Wolverine (Gulo gulo) walking over snow, Kamchatka, Russia

Below Victorian Alaskan taxidermy

Below from a Russian museum

And if you think those stories of wolverine being loners are fact watch this:

Translated from Russian: "Very rare footage showing a large concentration of wolverines in Yakutia. Apparently this is some kind of dump or cattle burial ground. The number of wolverines is simply amazing, and most importantly, they do not fight among themselves in the struggle for food."

Winter coats seem to become lighter in Alaska and Russia though I need to look into this more. Below a Canadian wolverine in "winter fur" (no other details)

Below in an Alaska wolverine in "winter coat"

Below no details (surprise! surprise!) apart from that it is from the United States. Love the "fancy" colouration! Thanks to Hayley de Ronde for drawing my attention to this one.

Apologies for the next photo but it shows the reality of being a wild animal and why I still consider 98% of humanity true vermin (and I do not give two **** if the killer was a "native trapper" -this is 2023). Weaselwoman writes:

"Beautiful leucistic wolverine taken near Kotzebue, Alaska by an Alaskan Native trapper. It’s a spirit wolverine! I bet his camouflage was great on the tundra. Would much rather see him alive, but he’s still a beautiful fella. 

"Leucism is not albinism. It’s a mutation to a pigment in the colour gene that makes them more pale than their usual colour. They will have normal coloured eyes, noses, claws and pawpads and even silvery grey markings.

"Another thing to this guy could be he never grew out of his baby colours. Wolverines are born white and eventually turn brown.

Sometimes wolverines can be black, ginger, and blonde, but it is extremely rare."

Below: the wolverine atop the Museum case featuring a possible Old British type fox.

The Red Paper 2022 Volume I: Foxes, Jackals, Wolves, Coyotes and Wild Dogs of the United Kingdom and Ireland

 

361 pp

Paperback

Interior Color & Black and white

Dimensions A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm

£25.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-1-canids/paperback/product-r97ywj.html?

 When the Doggerland bridge flooded the British Isles became separated from

Continental Europe and its wildlife developed uniquely. The British Isles, for the purpose of this work

includes Ireland, and isolated the wolves on both became what would be island species not affected by

the usual island dwarfism. These wolves, after millennia. Became “unwanted” and forests and woodland

was burnt down or cut down for the specific purpose of lupicide; the killing of every and any wolf –and

there was a bounty for “a job well done”.

At the same time there also developed three unique island species of Old fox from the coyote-like

Mountain or Greyhound fox, the slightly smaller but robustly built Mastiff or Bulldog fox and the

smaller Common or Cur fox –the latter like today’s red foxes had a symbiotic relationship with humans.

These canids were mainly ignored until it was decided that they could provide fur and meat and those

things earn money. From that point onward, especially after all other game had been killed off, the fox

faced what writers over the centuries referred to as vulpicide –extermination through bounties paid,

trapping or hunting and despite all the hunters noting that the Old foxes were nearing extinction they

continued to hunt until by the late 1880s the Old were gone and replaced by the New –foxes imported

by the thousands every year for the ‘sport’ of fox hunting and this importation also led the the UK

seeing the appearance of mange (unknown before the importations).

The travelling British sportsmen went coyote, wolf and jackal hunting and on returning to England

wanted to bring a taste of this to “the good old country”. Wolves, jackals and coyotes were set up in

hunting territories from where they could learn the lay of the land and provide good sport later. Some

hunts even attempted to cross-breed foxes, jackals and Coyotes. Then there were the legendary –almost mythical– “beasts”; the black beast of Edale, the killer canids of

Cavan and the “girt dog” of Ennerdale. In more recent times raccoon dogs and arctic foxes have appeared in the UK; some released for ‘sport’

while others are exotic escapees long since established in the countryside. If you thought you knew what fox hunting was about prepare to be woken up by a sharp slap to the face

and the reality that, by admissions of hunts themselves, this was all about fun and sport and nothing to

do with “pest control”.

The Red Paper 2022 Volume II: Wild Cats, Ferals and New Native Species

 

226 pp

Paperback

Interior Color and Black and white

Dimensions  A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-paper-2022-volume-2-felids/paperback/product-n48529.html?

£25.00

In 1896 Scottish naturalists and zoologists declared that the true Scottish wild cat had become extinct by the 1860s. What we see today is nothing more than a wild tabby cat. In this work the true history and destruction of wild cats from England, Wales (where hybrids clung on into the 1940s) and Scotland is explored and after decades of research the true look of the wild cat is revealed. The "English Tiger" and "Highland Tiger" truly lived up to that name.

Dogma is finally thrown out.

There is also a look at the "New Native Cats" ranging from Asian Golden Cats, Lynx, Puma and others and the evidence leading to their being so designated. No silly press or media stories just solid facts backed up by evidence. The author acted as an exotic species wildlife consultant to UK police forces from 1977-2015 as well as cooperated with university projects on the subject.

Island cats as well as feral cats their lifestyles and problems mare also covered .

Fully referenced and including maps, illustrations and very rare photographs -some never before seen in print- make this a book for amateur naturalists and zoologists.

What Killed A Vixen -Not All Foxes Are Killed By Cars

 

Above stock image NOT the fox involved

Don't worry no post mortem photos! This goes to show that, apart from cars and humans, foxes are dying naturally in many ways. Sadly, by the time this vixen was found the cubs may well have been dead a day or two and with no idea where the den was searching would be near to impossible.

PM back on the mastitis fox:

Clinical History:

BS16 ---- 13/5/23. Secret World call out for a collapsed fox in garden. Was taken to the vet, found to have septic mastitis and was PTS. Body is frozen.

Comment:

The jaundice was due to cholestasis in the liver. Uraemia may have been an end stage in a dying fog. Obviously mastitis due to Staphylococcus intermedius was very significant and may have predisposed the other problems.

Summary

Severe mastitis, jaundice and uraemia were confirmed as associated with the clinical signs in this vixen.

Notes: Cholestasis is reduced or stopped bile flow. Bile is the digestive fluid made in the liver that helps break down fats. Instead of leaving the liver for the small intestine, bile builds up in the liver. As a result, bile acids eventually enter the bloodstream.

Staphylococcus intermedius is a Gram-positive, catalase positive member of the bacterial genus Staphylococcus consisting of clustered cocci. Strains of this species were originally isolated from the anterior nares of pigeons, dogs, cats, mink, and horses. Many of the isolated strains show coagulase activity.

January-14th July 2023 half year Fox and Badger Death Toll

 We have now reached the 14th July 2023. The first year of better reporting of fox and badger deaths in the City of Bristol. I do not accept "I heard there was a dead fox Bedminster" or "Looked like a dead fox but cannot recall the street name I drove through.

A problem I have are people on wildlife groups stating they see dead foxes and badgers while out and about but cannot see the point in reporting them. That is on -worth noting again- wildlife groups

I can only go by the foxes and badgers reported directly to me with a date and location and hopefully a photo of the animal which can tell us a lot but also proves it's not a hoax (again, certain factions think hoaxing will achieve something).

The total so far and only halfway through the year is:

158 Foxes (adults and cubs) and 38 badgers (adults and cubs).

It is worth pointing out that my colleagues try to find out whether a vixen or sow badger that died is lactating as young could be nearby. Most people reporting dead animals will not get close enough to check.  Based on the vixens/sows this year, but particularly vixens, that have been reported the number of orphaned cubs left to starve somewhere is pretty high. The number of fox cubs killed or simply found dead under various circumstances is high.

We are coming up to Dispersal when the offspring of foxes move out to find their own territory. We expect more losses at that time.

We know otters, as recorded by the Greater Bristol Otter Group, have been killed by cars and deer and other wildlife are also killed in large numbers (domestic cats are also killed on roads).  We can see some of the hot spots for badger, fox and otter deaths so what is the solution?

The kind of losses noted for foxes and badgers with otters added in is something a city or town in Europe would take very seriously. In fact Europe leads the way in  building wildlife under and overpasses on roads that are ancient wildlife corridors. The UK is in a rather "wildlife does not matter" mindset. Underpasses or overpasses on roads "will disrupt commercial traffic" or "Will be unpopular with drivers due to hold ups". Local and governmental bodies are quite happy to see wildlife killed off in the thousands each year because they adopt the mindset of many drivers -"Why bother?"

If local authorities look at the death toll (and this is not complete and only half the year has passed so far) and were not shocked or determined to try to cut the number of deaths (road bumps may be unpopular with some motorists but they prevent speeds that result in wildlife deaths) then really a new set of politicians is needed and I certainly only intend to vote in future for MPs and councillors with strong wildlife and environmental views and who are willing to take action.

Personally, I am dreading to see the final death toll for 2023 

We Know When The Old British Foxes Died Out So What About The Old Western European Fox?

 We know that Old British foxes (Greyhound/Hill and Cur) were knowingly wiped out through hunting. The hunting fraternity knew that these foxes, particularly the Mountain fox, were becoming scarcer then rarer and later that numbers were so low that these foxes were becoming extinct.

The 'great' naturalist-'sportsmen' of the day reported all of this in the various journals as well as popular and widely read books on hunting. It also became clear that by the start of the 19th century various hunts and hunt masters had developed the methods of creating artificial dens for foxes that were being imported and those kept in stables (but kept wary of humans) were fed correct nutritional diets. Knowledge of buying, homing and even fox diet was well established with various hunt masters having their own variations.

This tells us that the importing of European red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) was well established by 1800 and reading of foxes being scarce to hunt in the 1600s indicates that the Old foxes were facing extinction a lot earlier than the 1860s but managed to hold on until that period. Even then the rare survivors, some possibly crosses with European New foxes, were still hunted and when the mountain foxes in Ireland became very rare some were sent as gifts from English hunt masters to their fellow 'sportsmen' on the island.

It seems that the Old foxes were gradually being replaced from the 17th century at least by imports. This shows us why and when the New red foxes (the ones we see today) got to England and then across the UK and into Ireland. As I noted in The Red Paper Canids my colleague LM and myself have noted the differences between the Old foxes and the new and LM has made several discoveries regarding appearances.

This brings us to the question of when Old West European foxes were replaced by the red fox. There is no doubt, based on art from old sources that that was at least one Old type fox and it may well have been related to the Old British Mountain fox. We have to start by accepting that and build up evidence from there. So what happened to the Old West European fox(es)?

We know, again via art, that by the 1600s (c 1660) the black markings we see on modern foxes started appearing so long before the markings appeared in the UK. We know foxes were hunted for fur, for 'sport' as well as food and it was noted by writers that the country folk in France consumed fox meat -far from unheard of elsewhere in the world. Although some Old types seem to have hung on in Germany and France the numbers fell and as anyone familiar with foxes knows; if foxes in a territory are killed off other foxes will move in.

We know that foxes tend to follow human migration and hang around villages and camps due to the amount of food discarded. This might lead foxes to explore an area and find no larger threats (wolves or jackals) but plenty of rabbits and other food. As human habitations spread and wars forced people to move away from their old lands so did the foxes and we have to remember that there were many migrations from the East and foxes may have followed these or have been kept as live food or even for their furs. Escapes were likely as foxes are notorious escapologists so they would look for territories and breed and  obviously offspring would disperse when old enough. 

This would explain how Vulpes vulpes moved into central and then Western Europe. This was not a process that took a few years but very likely centuries and although local hunters or naturalists (not much difference in the past) and country folk may have noticed that the foxes they used to see were gone and new ones had taken their place. 

We can say that the Old British foxes began to die out and become extinct in the 1860s though a few may have hung on in remote areas. We can hypothesise that the Old Western European foxes began to gradually be replaced so that by the 1600s the New fox was being seen more and moving in. As with the UK where very few naturalists and zoologists even know about the Old foxes the same can be said for Europe -the accounts from the 1800s make it clear that the foxes imported from Scandinavia were just as big or bigger than the British Mountain Fox and yet, no current experts seems to know this and as with the UK experts before we gathered all the evidence,  offer various explanations as to "why not" .

The only way we could track down this information is through any old journals, books or hunting diaries and that would need to be carried out my native language speakers who know where to start.

 Language is a barrier and even with my poor German the work would be beyond me. This is why the work needs European cooperation.

A Request on Old Foxes and Wild Cats In Western Europe

 In an attempt to try to get museums interested in the Extinct Fauna Project I sent emails out to Berlin Natural History Museum (awaiting response) and Paris NHM. Paris replied within a few hours but were far from helpful. My email read:

"Hello.

My name is Terry Hooper-Scharf and I am a naturalist specialising in wild canids and felids since 1976. I run the British Fox Study (1976) and the Wild Cat and Feral Cat Study (1980). I am also a natural history historian and have been looking at foxes and wild cats and how both species in the United Kingdom and Ireland varied from the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and current European wild cat (F. silvestris) -outlined using historical accounts/records, illustrations and taxidermy specimens.

I wanted to find out whether your Museum holds any images or taxidermy/skins of French foxes or wild cats from the mid 19^th century and earlier and whether it would be possible to get photographs of these?

If your Museum has no such specimens are you aware of any private collections with such specimens that I could contact?

My sincere thanks in advance for your assistance

Warm regards

Terry"

The response was to use the museum data base and then request what I needed. Firstly I had to register and join though their data base AI obviously did not like my not being based at a university!  It got quite weird. Then I was faced with very brief info such as date and where the fox was from and not many from France it seems. Also the entries only had three images -all skulls which does not help and I realised that I would be sending in blind requests with no idea what I was asking for.

I then contacted the responder . and asked simply if there were not someone at the museum who knew whether there were old fox and wild cat taxidermies and explained the difficulty with the data base.  I was sent another link and told I would need to submit a request after I found what I wanted. The data base was simply the same thing. This is seen as a "kiss off" from museums by many and I have to say it felt that way there seemed no interest in cooperating.

So I did what I always do when faced with official obstinacy when it comes to cooperation: I began  to search sources as well as online. I found a number of French and German old paintings/illustrations that showed the overall brown colour we find in Old British foxes though as my colleague LM pointed out the true colour is almost a brindle.

Above:1861 Fox Zoology Old Engraving Natural History - Animals print - antique french paper

Below: 1907 French Photogravure Print of Two Foxes

Above: Vintage Fox Image! This wonderful Animal engraving was scanned from an early Natural History print from France!" My guess is that this was a type of fox that had Old and New DNA in it as there are physical markers you do not see in Old foxes and that coat looks brindled.

Above: Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet a 19th-century French painting. Sadly, images of dead foxes (and other animals) are common from Europe but the overall brown colour shows that in some regions Old types (or hybrids thereof) seem to have continued until later than in the UK and Ireland.

Above and below: German Fox Trap. Pitfall (Field Sports- Edward Orme) , old print 1814 (c)2023 BFS

Below:c. 1657 painting by Frans Snyders: b. 1579. d. 1657. Flemish Baroque painter of animals. Painting of the fable " fox and the heron"

Below: Paudiss, Christopher — Wolf, Fuchs und Schaf (Wolf, Fox and Sheep)— 1666 The fox looks unusual and enlarging it and working on the contrast/light shows the animal more clearly

I find this one interesting and it opens up a lot of questions. The head on the fox looks a little odd but look at the colouration. Is it possible that this is typical of the foxes migrating from the East into Western Europe and bred to create the red fox we know?

 This is the only image I have found of a fox pre 19th century looking unlike the brown types.

The foxes found in paintings from Western Europe pre-19th century are of the all brown -dark or light colouration. The "black socks" are actually dark brown. One thing that my colleague LM noted is that the black "tear stain" running from the eye over the muzzle is not seen in Old foxes.

There are similar paintings of foxes -brown with no real hint of black on them from other countries including Spain. These form a data base for future research but goes to show that the "little red dog" (Vulpes vulpes) was not common in Western Europe and even today we are seeing red foxes migrating into Scandinavia as they follow human habitation. With so many historical human migrations across Europe it seems the fox that we know today (or its ancestors) followed and as Old foxes were wiped out so they took their place.

This is research that requires cross Europe cooperation between naturalists and zoologists and the work has only just begun.

Domesticated Foxes and Domesticated Jackals?

Canis aureous

 Hayley De Ronde pointed out an interesting online article: Will you be adopting a pet jackal soon? An Israeli discovery, the first of its kind in the world: Is proximity to humans leading to jackal domestication?

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/371505?fbclid=IwAR2rzxBKZOFpunqehz0XB-CX8KDvc6OcvbXXoy8ZZDDPEL3_t6zfmq6sgCI

In Israel, golden jackals have been living in close proximity to human populations for many years. Jackals thrive in the urban habitats and are considered an "overabundant species." Anyone walking in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park or its surrounding neighborhoods has probably already seen golden jackals disappearing into the bushes or heard their howls after dark. Wildlife and municipal authorities ask the public not to approach the jackals or feed them, but a new study conducted in the Golan Heights reveals the possibility that the existing closeness between humans and jackals is leading the jackal to become a domestic animal in the future.

A novel Israeli study, the first of its kind in the world, was recently published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports discussing the question: Does living near humans lead to the domestication of jackals?

Above: India where we have a photo of a jackal with domestic dog -or is it? Can you guess which is the jackal and which the dog?

The findings of the research, conducted at the Shamir Institute for Research in Katzrin by PhD student Ayelet Barash from the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, under the guidance of Dr. Yaron Dekel, Scientific Director at the Shamir Institute for Research and the University of Haifa, and Professor Tamar Dayan, Chair of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and Tel Aviv University, indicate that living around the environment of humans could possibly be leading to the first stages of domestication in jackals, as probably happened in the domestication of dogs from wolves.

As part of the study, titled, "Possible origins and implications of atypical morphologies and domestication-like traits in wild golden jackals (Canis aureus)," a jackal displaying traits of a domesticated animal was initially suspected to be a hybrid of a jackal and a dog. However, comprehensive genetic and morphological analyses confirmed that it was actually a wild specimen. This is the first report of its kind in the literature – an animal that partially looks domesticated, but is not the result of hybridization, at least not in recent generations.

One of the first signs of domestication is a change in fur color. During a camera survey recently conducted in the Golan Heights by Shlomo Preiss-Bloom, also a PhD student at the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, five unusual jackals were discovered with exceptionally long fur or with white patches and an upright tail. Dr. Yossy Machluf from the Ministry of Education, Dr. Alon Barash from Bar Ilan University, and an Italian research group led by Dr. Romolo Caniglia from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection ISPRA also participated in the study.

From one of the unusual-looking jackals, known in the study as "Jackie," DNA and skull samples were taken for examination. Jackie's DNA was compared to the DNA of other jackals and canid species, which revealed him to be 100% jackal, and not a hybrid with a dog. Jackie was also tested for relevant known coat color mutations and was found to carry none. A scan of the skull also revealed that it matched the skulls of other jackals.

                   *************************************

First thing that came to mind was whether "Jackie" died of natural causes or was "harvested" (killed) and my suspicion is that it was killed. Science must have its 'fun'.

With jackals the situation is similar to foxes. In some cases there is almost a symbiotic relationship.

We know the British Old Cur fox (extinction date circa 1860s) lived near human habitation for centuries as these places were a good source of (waste) food since it was dumped and also attracted rodents. It was also noted that during the 19th century when the British army in India went on campaign, etc., the jackals would follow for the same reason and disperse once the army had.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there were fox feeders at the very least in the 19th century.

In India jackals are commonly found around villages, towns etc for the same reason: waste dumps. It is why many claimed that jackals have cross bred with domestic (and feral) dogs. For many years I stated that I believed that there was jackal-domestic dog cross-breeding going on and we know that cross breeding (or idiotically attempting to) of foxes-domestic dogs, jackals-domestic dog and even coyote and wolf with domestic dog was tried by the various British hunts. Certain “Fox-dog” hybrids may well have been jackal-dog crosses.

In The Red Paper Canids I included photographs of three unusually coloured “hybrids” killed in Croatia (2015) and these were hailed as the first scientifically proven golden jackal (Canis aureous) and domestic dog hybrids/crosses. Long term observation can, of course, be very boring for people who like home comforts and so shooting animals “for science” is always less exertion (not that I am suggesting those involved in this study did so (they would not respond to emails).

Three jackal hybrids killed in Croatia (2015) details in The Red Paper Canids

Basically, yes, jackals and domestic dogs do cross-breed like other wild canid species and domestic dogs. We also know that some jackals were transported into areas deplete of jackals for hunting -something that went on in the UK and Ireland for a long period. 

But are jackals becoming domesticated in the sense that they will live around humans? We have seen in the UK that feeders treat foxes like “garden pets” and feed them as they would a house pet so, yes, people have "adopted" New foxes. In many areas where there are jackals such as (mainly) India they are treated as almost wild pets. Waste food is one attraction and the there is a strong symbiotic relationship between humans and jackals and it would be nice to see naturalists actually study that rather than kill jackals “for science”.

So people have already adopted (or rather habituated) jackals (and foxes) a long time ago. 

•