Noises in the night
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I was woken from a deep sleep in the wee, small hours. A fox was screaming her unearthly cry and uttering other inhuman, guttural sounds.
Foxes can call at any time of year, but in the December and January of winter in the UK, it is an indication that mating is being invited or enacted. Although dog foxes can call, it is usually the vixen that creates the eery cacophony, advertising that she is ready to mate, and seeking a partner.
Mating can take twenty minutes, and, like dogs, the foxes remain tied until Mother Nature decrees that they can decouple.
The following explains the copulatory tie better than I can:
A breeding tie occurs when the gland at the end of the male’s penis swells up and is gripped by the contracting muscles of the female’s vagina, preventing the two from being separated. A tie is often seen as a sign of a successful mating and is common among dogs, wolves, and foxes.
It essentially locks the male and female together after ejaculation, maximising the chances of successful fertilisation by keeping the semen inside the female for a longer period of time.
People used to throw buckets of water over copulating dogs in the street, which was a cruel and unnecessary reaction, borne of ignorance, or possibly embarrassment if children were likely to witness the sight. With fewer stray dogs, it is rarely seen now.
In addition to screaming, foxes can bark or mutter or sob, and their song can make the blood run cold.
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Having been around dogs mating as a child and seen adults scampering for the hose to drench, I have always felt it was done out of embarrassment over kids being present.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right.
DeleteI see foxes around here rarely, just one sighting sometime last year, but I certainly hear the cats yowling during the night when mating season comes. Lately, it's been much less often and most cats are neutered or spayed.
ReplyDeleteI cannot understand people who don't have their cats neutered but still let them wander.
DeleteI like to hear the foxes.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know that they're around.
DeleteThe things I didn't know I didn't know . . . in my defense, we had only one dog when I was growing up! Somehow I learned more about cats, though :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's better not to know. 😉
DeleteIt is surprising that a horrible, unearthly cry is an indication that mating is being invited. And it is even more surprising that the vixen gets the screaming going. What does the male fox do, if he is a bit tired of vixens running his sex life.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine the males complaining! 😗
DeleteHels
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteIt's a horrible row in the middle of the night! We back on to a golf course, and there are people at either end of our road who feed the 'cute little foxes'. Huh!
ReplyDeleteNot a fan, then?
DeleteI've no idea of the sound foxes make. I think my city has the highest population of urban foxes than anywhere else in the world. Another unfortunate import. The mournful howling of our dingoes during the night is a childhood memory for me.
ReplyDeleteThe 'knot' makes a quickie quite impossible.
The cries of most wild animals are somewhat eery, I think.
DeleteThey are silent visitors most of the year (and most welcome in our UK garden as rat deterents) - so a short party season is easily permitted.
ReplyDeleteWe once saw a mother teaching her cub to catch rats in our garden.
DeleteI really like the images of fox. I find them elegant and stylish
ReplyDeleteI think they're beautiful when healthy.
DeleteI wonder how often their cries are mistaken for human screams?
ReplyDeleteFrequently, I think.
DeleteOur neighbour feeds foxes in her garden, so we hear them all year round, they do make various noises, but waking up to one of their screams is unsettling. Foxes are wonderful animals, but I am against them being encouraged into gardens, where with human help they thrive and communities grow, causing issue as they spread around other gardens.
ReplyDeleteIt's not good for wild animals to become too used to humans, for many reasons.
DeleteHi Janice - yes their scream/cry can be blood curdling ... we get them here - urbanites! Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThey have adapted too well to urban life.
DeleteIn a very lucky year I get to clumps of fox. They are so beautiful. Will live out in the country in a heavily wooded area but at the same time we are a community of houses. Therefore the fox stay well hidden.
ReplyDeleteWise foxes. I guess they have to be aware of larger, more menacing wild animals, too.
DeleteYour description of foxes' mating habits reminds me of university and the "eerie cacophony" from the female halls of residence whenever I walked by.
ReplyDelete😎
DeleteFoxes sound so scary! Fortunately the only love songs we hear on our street are cats, though it's not a brilliant improvement.
ReplyDeleteTheir cries are startling. Our animals don't take any notice. I'm the only one who's startled awake.
DeleteI was kept awake last night, too. But it was the owls in the woodland opposite us; they wouldn’t shut up! We’ve not heard foxes here but have seen one walking down the driveway, so they are obviously around.
ReplyDeleteWe hear the tawny owls here. They can be very persistent.
DeleteI've never heard a fox but I used to live where there were a lot of cats and listening to them in the middle of the night was not fun.
ReplyDeleteCats really can make a devil of a noise.
DeleteHere in North America, we have coyotes. When I lived in the rural countryside years ago, I would hear coyotes, but there are now urban populations in at least one major American city. I wonder if any of the coyote cries I heard were related to mating.
ReplyDeleteI just did a quick google and it seems that coyotes also vocalise during mating.
DeleteIn my 78th year, I learn about tying.
ReplyDeleteI once scurried back to the cottage in the country one night when the yipping of foxes seemed to be getting closer. I had been out with my camera trying to shoot something or other.
You might have got some interesting photographs.
DeleteI have never heard a fox, but I can tell you that the female raccoon makes my blood run cold. she screams and hisses and growls and it sounds like the worst dog fight ever... they also do not mind an audience with a camera. also rain frogs make really awful sounds and the Male is 1/3 the size of the female.... she makes all the noise.
ReplyDeleteThe animal kingdom is full of noisy creatures and it's often the smallest that make the greatest noise.
DeleteI saw a fox a month or so ago running across the neighbor's front yard. He or she was alone and didn't make a sound.
ReplyDeleteClearly not looking for a mate!
DeleteI don't mind hearing foxes ...
ReplyDeleteI heard owls the other night ...
I like the sounds of nature :)
All the best Jan
So do I!
DeleteWhat I hate in the night here is the sound of coyotes getting their prey. It is awful to imagine what is transpiring when I hear the screaming of animals coyotes have gotten as prey.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same when I hear fledglings being grabbed from their nests.
DeleteThanks for the education.
ReplyDelete😀
DeleteI love seeing foxes. I don't see them very often. My sister tells me of the ones she sees and sometimes gets me a photo.
ReplyDeleteThey are such pretty animals.
DeleteThanks for yet another post full of interesting facts. I don't recall ever having heard a fox cry ... xxx
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is the year you will . . .
DeleteI found out the hard way about the mating of dogs!! After a dog jumped my dog in my fenced in yard, I tried to shoo the dog away with a broom only to have the frightened dog run home with my little dog attached. Who knew..
ReplyDeleteIt sounds funny, but I'm sure it wasn't. Your poor little dog. Were there puppies subsequently?
DeleteWe do occasionally see foxes in the garden here. I wouldn't encourage them with food and comfort but they are welcome to visit on their own terms.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a thrill to see wildlife in the garden and larger mammals are a special treat.
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