Title

Detecting the Vanishing Populations of the Highly Endangered Darwin's Fox, Pseudalopex fulvipes

Authors

Carles Vila, University of California - Los Angeles
Jennifer A. Leonard, University of California - Los Angeles
J. A. Iriarte, Servicio Agrıcola y Ganadero - Santiago, Chile
Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow
Warren E. Johnson, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Robert K. Wayne, University of California - Los Angeles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2004

Publication Title

Animal Conservation

ISSN

1367-9430

Volume

7

Issue/No.

2

First Page

147

Last Page

153

Abstract

Darwin's fox (Pseudalopex fulvipes) is known to survive only on Chiloé Island off the coast of southern Chile and in Nahuelbuta National Park, 600 km to the north in mainland Chile. The Valdivian coastal forest, in which the Darwin's fox lives, historically spanned from Nahuelbuta National Park southward past Chiloé Island on the mainland. Furthermore, the forest on Chiloé Island was connected to the mainland forest by a land bridge for much of the Pleistocene. Thus, the distribution of Valdivian forest suggests that the historic range of Darwin's fox may have been much larger. We searched the remnant pockets of coastal forest on mainland Chile using live traps, non-invasive techniques and interviews to look for new populations of the critically endangered Darwin's fox. Although no Darwin's fox was captured, evidence of a new population near Punta Chanchán was found.

Comments

©2004 The Zoological Society of London

NSUWorks Citation

Vila, Carles; Jennifer A. Leonard; J. A. Iriarte; Stephen J. O'Brien; Warren E. Johnson; and Robert K. Wayne. 2004. "Detecting the Vanishing Populations of the Highly Endangered Darwin's Fox, Pseudalopex fulvipes." Animal Conservation 7, (2): 147-153. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/546

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015