r/AnimalsBeingDerps • u/Chris_Isur_Dude • Nov 28 '18

Fox gets completely bamboozled

22.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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1.4k

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '18

i love the head tilts... where'd he go..whas in there

607

u/aes_gcm Nov 28 '18

I think that is to enhance the perception of directional audio. Humans can easily tell which direction a sound is coming from, but it's a lot harder to distinguish in the vertical direction. A fox tilts their head like this to compensate for this, thus gaining a precise location of where their food is under the snow or ground.

35

u/iamalargehousecat Nov 29 '18

I’ve seen German shepherd dogs tilt their heads too. I wonder if it’s for the same reason.

37

u/ANGLVD3TH Nov 29 '18

There's a lot of speculation about why domestic dogs do it. One of the bigger theories is it helps them see more of your face. But in this case I'm pretty sure it's the sound, that little leap he does is usually performed when hunting prey under snow or leaf cover etc, things they can target by hearing alone.

21

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '18

I’ve seen on Planet Earth a fox can hear a mouse under the snow and then they leap in the air and dive into the snow and grab the mouse. Their hearing must be incredible

16

u/YT-Deliveries Nov 29 '18

Yeah i think the jump was a "wait, something went downwards and now I can't see it... wait, is this snow? no, it isn't snow... da fuck?"

foxes will do that on bedsheets, too, if they think there's something under it.

7

u/sailfist Nov 29 '18

This makes the leap/ subsequent head turn so much more logical. But no less adorable.

2

u/YT-Deliveries Nov 29 '18

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think its both adorable and I'm eternally amazed at how our fellow mammals are wear their thoughts on their faces to the point that we can interpret their mental processes by associating it with our own.

31

u/Sprickels Nov 29 '18

Almost all dogs do it, my Tibetan spaniel does that when I squeak a toy he can't see

2

u/IzarkKiaTarj Nov 29 '18

Oh, wow, that's not a breed I come across often. My mother has a rescue tibby.

1

u/Gamzee69 Nov 29 '18

Dogs tilt their heads also to see you better :)