Feeding and Diet
	Foxes are omnivorous, feeding on fruit, birds, small 
mammals, insects, and other invertebrates, especially earthworms.  
In rural areas, up to 60% of their diet may come from only a few 
species, the particular species varying by region (Henry, 1986).  
In two major studies of the food of urban and suburban foxes, 
earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) were found to comprise from 5 
to 25 percent of the diet of London foxes and from 15 to 37 
percent of the diet of foxes in Oxford, the exact percentage 
depending on the season.  No single species was more important, 
but the general category of scavenged items formed from 20 to 50 
percent of the diet of both populations of foxes (Harris, 1981b; 
Doncaster et al., 1990).
	Scavenged items is the only type of food found in much 
greater abundance in an urban area than in a rural area.  This 
category includes edible refuse discarded by humans, as well as 
some inedible refuse and food provided by humans for foxes or 
other wildlife.  Harris (1981b) noted that foxes often preyed on 
the other wildlife the food was provided for, although those prey 
would not be included in the scavenged items category.  Table 3 
presents a list of edible scavenged items found in the stomachs 
of London foxes by Harris (1981b), which shows the variety of 
food available to urban foxes.
	Scavenged food is important in the diet of urban foxes 
because it requires less energy to catch than live prey and it is 
available year-round.  Figure 1 shows the seasonal variation in 
food contents of stomachs of London foxes examined by Harris 
(1981b).  Scavenged meat and bones shows the least seasonal 
variation of all the food categories, increasing noticeably in 
importance only in winter.  This may be because other prey was 
scarce, or because people perceive a greater need to feed 
wildlife in the winter and leave more food for them (Doncaster et 
al., 1990).  Seasonal variation is more pronounced in all other 
food categories because they include animals or plants which 
follow a yearly life cycle.  Doncaster et al. (1990) found that 
the abundance of food types in the feces of foxes in Oxford 
followed roughly the same seasonal trends as the measured 
availability of those food types.
	Both Harris (1981b) and Doncaster et al. (1990) conclude 
that scavenged items are readily available and important to the 
survival of urban foxes, and may even create a food surplus.  
Harris (1981) remarks that the body weight of the foxes he 
studied was constant through all times of the year, and that he 
found no evidence of food shortage at any time.  Doncaster et al. 
(1990) observed some sites where food was provided by residents 
for foxes, and found that scavenging foxes were highly selective, 
discarding some edible scavenged items in favor of others.  These 
studies support Harris's assertion that shelter is a more 
important limiting resource for urban fox populations than is 
food (Harris, 1977); food availability does not seem to be 
limiting at all.




Table 3. Edible scavenged items found in the stomachs of 571 
London foxes.  From Harris (1981).

Food type	Number of 	% occurrence	% of diet
		occurrences	
 
Meat and 	278		48.7		18.4
bones from 
poultry 
carcasses 
and meat 
joints

Bread		61		10.7		3.1

Dried fruit	58		10.2		2.4

Potato peelings	48		8.4		1.6

Bird seed	11		1.9		0.4

Bacon rind	10		1.8		0.4

Orange peel	10		1.8		0.3

Fish bones	 8		1.4		0.4

Carrot peel	 6		1.1		0.2

Cooked peas	 6		1.1		0.2

Eggshell	 5		0.9		0.1

Nuts		 5		0.9		0.2

Apple peel	 3		0.5		0.1

Tomatoes	 3		0.5		0.1

Bananas		 2		0.4		0.1

Runner beans	 2		0.4		0.1

Cloves		 1		0.2	      < 0.1

Chinese dinner	 1		0.2		0.1