Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been here for a while...

I'm currently fostering some orphaned foxcubs as a volunteer for a wildlife charity. The cubs will go back into the wild when they are old enough. Lots of pictures and stories on my

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, as always, but here's a taster:

AWW VERY NICE!! its good to see someone helping out animals! you dont see enough of it these days...

Hey, SittingFox, nice to see you around.

I love the photographs! I've been following your blog and have read all about the cubs.

I am also a bit curious as to the nature of the program - so far, all I've picked up is that these fox cubs are being fostered, and are being moved from foster home to foster home on a regular basis. I'd like to learn more about what is being done, and especially, the 'why' behind these endeavours, you know, the theory.

One of the Q's on my mind is, will the cubs be able to learn everything they need to survive in the wild simply by interacting with each other and thier captive environment?

This curious mind would love to learn more!

@James - thankyou!

@UltraMetaloid - hi, thanks for following the story on my blog!

Basically, I'm volunteering for a charity called the Fox Project who have been caring for foxes now for thirty or so years. I am an intermediary on the cubs' journey to independence so I don't know exactly what the procedure for releasing these ones will be, as I won't be doing that myself. I think that they will be given small amounts of food when they are first released to cushion them as they hone the hunting / caching skills which are deeply instinctive, and they're already displaying, but need to be practiced for perfection. Unlike, say, orang-utans, there isn't much need to train young foxes how to do things! Their instincts are strong.

What they are picking up from each other are basic social skills - from mock-fighting to understanding the meaning of body language - and understanding that they are foxes, not humans! Wild animals raised in solitary confinement, bonding closely to their human fosterer, have extremely poor prospects for release. As much as possible, these cubs are a "real" litter, and behaving as if they were in an earth rather than a hutch!

The moving from fosterer to fosterer bit is, again, to stop them getting too trusting of people. It keeps them nervous of strange people (they're used to me, and anyway everyone loves the chef...) as they really don't like being caught, and they're going to have to be fairly scared of humanity if they're to survive out there.

That sounds like a great program and i hope it goes on for many years more!

Thanks for the info, SittingFox! It's making a bit more sense to me now.

What really interests me is that up until now, I was under the impression that the cubs's parents played a larger role in the teaching of these important skills, like caching and hunting. Now when I read about the cubs your fostering, I see they seem to be developing those skills relatively well without the need of an experienced adult fox to teach them; like you said, the skills are deeply instinctive. There isn't much need to teach them these skills by hands; if there was, your job would be a lot trickier, and more interesting!

With that in mind, it would seem that the role of the cubs' parents in their life, is more to keep them safe and well cared for, until they have learned the needed skills and are big and strong enough to fend for themselves.

This is really the stuff I'd like to learn more about - how and what the cubs learn, how what we call instincts really work (and what is instinct and what is learned), what really goes on insie that head. It's just so facinating to watch this brilliantly designed system that has worked so well for thousands of years, and to try and learn, piece by piece, just how and why it works so well.

Lovelly photos!

Ohh, very nice fox pictures! They look great. I hope that they are able to be released back in the wild soon.

Thanks guys!

I'm not sure where this particular litter is right now (they left me about six weeks ago, headed to another fosterer) but my second litter were taken to a release site on Thursday. They were much more wild than the first ones so I didn't get very many pictures.

old dogfox? who is that? part of the project thing?

The Old Dogfox was one of the oldest regular visitors to Sitting Fox's garden, and one of the best known foxes on his blog. There are numerous pictures in SF's blog and photo galleries.

Hi UltraMetaloid, yes, the Old Dogfox's death was very sad and unexpected - and I'm still trying to adjust to my dog passing away too I cannot be sure exactly how old the Old Dogfox was but he had certainly lived longer than the average British fox. I'm very glad we were able to catch him, as we certainly saved him from suffering. But it does feel strange not having him around anymore

The tall, sandy-coloured male whom I've occasionally mentioned on my blog is still coming most nights. He might end up being the Old Dogfox's successor but we'll have to see.

(PS, I am actually a "she"!)

No worries