Foxes With No Tails

 

 I was  once asked "how did the poor thing lose its tail?" when I posted this image.

The thing is that the fox had a perfectly fine tail but like many foxes was in the habit of curling its tail around one side. To prove the point here is the fox above about one minute later.  Incidentally, the colouration indicates that it has melanism in its make up and this is becoming more common with grey and black coloured foxes being reported.

A few years back (2020/2021?) I was sent a clip and some photos of a fox with no tail. With foxes you expect a quarter or half a tail missing occasionally as they are not fast enough to avoid a car tyre. However, in this particular case the tail was gone.  We call the bones that connect a fox's tail to its body are the caudal vertebrae; these vertebrae are the  direct extensions of the spine, starting from the sacrum (the base of the spine near the hips) and extending down to the tip of the tail. 

Above (c)2026 respective copyright owner. A completely tail-less fox.

Foxes can lose parts of tails from cars driving over them, having them caught in something resulting in tail loss or even by having tails caught in a snare and amputating it.

Above (c)2026 respective copyright owner; a slight stump can be seen

Above (c)2026 respective copyright owner

When I was shown the photographs of the tail-less fox my first thought was that, being that close to the back and so cleanly done that it may have been removed by a veterinary surgeon. There were problems in that vets rarely want to treat a fox let alone amputate a tail and keep it confined until healed.  I could find no vets who had operated on a fox nor any fox released by a wildlife rescue that had had its tail removed.

Above (c)2026 respective copyright owner; a fox with a more prominent stub from its missing tail.

Of course, the photographer then noted the fox had always been like this so it had not had a tail -so why ask me if I could explain why its tail was gone?- and had not disappeared for any length of time as per it being trapped, operated on, recovering and then being released. Even now there are people stating "their" fox needs help as it has no tail and want it trapped and treated.

Looking at the photographs available (and we have a large photo image catalogue) it becomes clear that there is a very simple explanation -over-grooming by the mother when the fox was a cub.  A friend of my grand mothers had a dog with no tail and I asked when it had been removed? I was told "the mother did it" and it was explained that the bitch had over-groomed her pups so much the tails came off. I have found similar with domestic cats 

"Excessive maternal behaviour" or "Mismothering" is well known in cats and dogs. That the foxes in question are all fit and healthy and the caudal vertebrae so clean and hair covered seems to indicate the tail loss occurred during its pup stage.

After decades you find that the 'experts' tend to ignore the basics.