Comparative Feeding Habits of Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Gray Foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Maryland

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Abstract
Contents of 128 red fox (V. vulpes) and 63 gray fox (U. cinereoagenteus) stomachs were analyzed. Specimens were collected from the Appalachian and Piedmont provinces of Maryland during autumn and winter of 1977-1978 and 1978-1979. Both species were opportunistic feeders. Mammals, primarily meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), were the most important foods of red foxes by percentage weight and frequency of occurrence. Plants were the major source of food for gray foxes. Persimmon fruits (Diospyros virginiana) occurred most often in the gray fox diet, with corn (Zea mays) accounting for the greatest percentage weight. Red foxes consumed significantly greater (P .ltoreq. 0.05) quantities of plants during the autumn. Gray foxes fed on significnalty more (P .ltoreq. 0.05) insects during the autumn. Red foxes are primarily predators of small mammals and gray foxes are truly omnivorous with a preference for plant material. Since most of the sympatric habitats now occurpied by these 2 spp. have been altered, the gray fox probably has ecological advantage over the red fox.

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