Natural History Wanderings

NPR has a story on how foxes stalk moles, mice ,voles and shrews that are under snow at distances of up to 25 feet. They seem to use a combination of listening, adjusting their midair jumps by shifting their tales and possibly most significantly by using magnetic fields. It seems when the foxes were aligned with magnetic fields their accuracy greatly increased.

 when they pointed in that particular northeasterly direction… “they killed on 73 percent of their attacks.” If they reversed direction, and jumped exactly the opposite way, they killed 60 percent of the time. But in all other directions — east, south, west, whatever — they sucked. Only 18 percent of those jumps were successful.

Read full story at ‘You’re Invisible, But I’ll Eat You Anyway.’ Secrets Of Snow-Diving Foxes : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR.