The age old question of which animal would win…
Fox and coyotes are similar animals, but they have a few significant differences apart from their coloration.
For starters, fox aren’t part of the canine family, but the vulpes genus. They tend to be significantly smaller than coyotes and are mainly scavengers rather than hunters. Coyotes clock in around 15 to 50 pounds, while fox stay in the 2 to 30 pound range, so the size advantage goes to the canines.
So if I was to tell you that a fox was accidentally trapped and a lone coyote took notice and started to attack, you’d think the fox was literally a sitting snack.
But at least in this video, that wasn’t the case.
A man in Wisconsin had set up a trap to get rid of some coyotes that were causing problems on his property, along with a trail-cam to monitor it. While reviewing the overnight recording, he got to see the exact scenario described above play out.
The video begins with the fox frantically trying to escape, but to no avail; its front left paw was in the trap tightly. Then seemingly out of nowhere, the coyote enters with only one thing on its mind.
It attacks the poor fox, who defends valiantly despite not having all limbs to work with. The coyote is relentless but the fox isn’t shaken and starts using one of its best known characteristics, a very smart and cunning mind, to its advantage.
Using the trapped paw as a pivot point, the fox swings around and hip checks the coyote, sending it flying. The coyote returns a few times before realizing this isn’t going the way it planned and scurrying off, leaving the fox still trapped, but alive to see another day.
The video then cuts to the next day when the trapper returns to free the fox, who is naturally pretty freaked out.
I don’t know the first thing about releasing wild animals, but man does it seem dangerous and not a good time…
But despite the fox screaming and trying to rip apart the pipe he was using to free it, the guy does a great job and the fox scampers away, its bushy tail in the air, back to its pack (called a leash) to tell its heroic story.
At the end of the day, I’d still pick a coyote over a fox in a fight to the death, but I’ve got a much larger respect for the tenacity of foxes and will keep doing my best to not get to close to one.
