Nutrition of the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Bol’shekhekhtsirskii Nature Reserve and Its Environs (Southern Part of the Amur River Region)

The diet of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L. 1758) was studied in the years 1990–1993, 1996–2000, and 2005–2013 in Bol’shekhekhtsirskii State Nature Reserve (southern part of the Amur River region). The range of foods consumed by the red fox in the nature reserve is pretty broad, but small mammals, including voles, are the main component of its ration (occurrence frequency (OF) = 71.0%, nutritive ratio (NR) = 64.5%). Birds and wild plants (fruits) are additional food sources for the red fox. Reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects play a supplementary role in its diet. However, during the warm season (April–October), fruits of wild plants and insects can locally constitute a significant part of the ration. Within the nature reserve, anthropogenic foods (domestic animals and their corpses, cultivated plants, and food waste) do not play an important role in the nutrition of the red fox. But in areas adjacent to human settlements, domestic animals and their carcasses (cats, dogs, ungulates, and chicken) constitute a significant part of the red fox’s ration in the warm season (OF = 38.2%, NR = 29.6%). In agricultural landscapes south of the nature reserve, mice (OF = 33.3%, NR = 24.8%) and voles (OF = 45.4%, K = 33.9%) are the primary food sources for the red fox among mammals during the cold season; inside the nature reserve, the values of these parameters are significantly different. Red foxes often consume fruits of cultivated plants, especially soybeans (OF = 39.4%, NR = 14.1%). In the vicinity of human settlements in the southern part of Primorskii krai, domestic animals and their corpses are frequently consumed by red foxes during the warm season (OF = 24.0%, NR = 19.8%). In the southern part of the Amur River region, anthropogenic foods locally constitute an integral part of the red fox’s ration playing a supplementary role in its nutrition; however, in some situations, the significance of such foods can increase substantially. The share of anthropogenic foods in the red fox’s diet decreases as the distance between its habitats and human settlements increases. Apparently, the consumption of anthropogenic foods by the red fox is typical for developed regions in the southern part of the Russian Far East.