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Red Foxes Visited Carrion Most in Cool Seasons and Spent Longest Scavenging in the Arid Bioregion

Wild red fox at Lake Cargelligo in New South Wales, Australia
Research · Ecology

A study published in 2026 found that introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) made extensive use of kangaroo carcasses across three contrasting Australian ecosystems, with scavenging concentrated in cool seasons and particularly strong in the arid bioregion.

Researchers monitored 119 kangaroo carcasses for 30 days each using camera traps in alpine, temperate and arid parts of Australia. The deployments covered warm and cool seasons and both open and closed-canopy habitats. Red foxes visited 65 of the carcasses, or 55%, producing 781 independent visitation events.

Scavenging peaked in the cool season

Most visits occurred in the cool season, which accounted for 81% of the 781 independent events. The arid region alone accounted for 62% of all visits. Foxes also differed strongly in how they used carcasses once they found them: the model estimated that they spent about 1.8 times more time scavenging in the arid region than in the alpine region and detected carcasses about 2.3 times faster there.

Fox activity shifted around dingo activity peaks

Their daily peaks in scavenging activity also tended to occur before and after peak dingo activity in the arid and temperate regions. The authors interpret this temporal separation as consistent with foxes adjusting their use of carcasses in response to the presence of the larger competitor. The camera data show the timing pattern, but do not by themselves demonstrate that dingo activity caused the shift.

The study concludes that carrion can be an important food resource for introduced red foxes in Australia, especially during cool seasons and in less productive arid environments, where carcasses may help support fox populations.

Sources and image credit

  1. Newsome, T. M., Cairncross, R. J., Meisuria, N. Y., Finnerty, P. B., & Spencer, E. E. (2026). Spatiotemporal scavenging dynamics of introduced red foxes across distinct Australian ecosystems. Journal of Mammalogy, 107(1), 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaf096Primary research article published 4 February 2026. Camera traps monitored 119 kangaroo carcasses for 30 days across alpine, temperate and arid bioregions. Red foxes visited 65 carcasses in 781 independent events; 81% of visits occurred in the cool season. Foxes spent 1.81 times more time scavenging and were detected 2.28 times faster in the arid than alpine bioregion.

Image: Harley Kingston / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — red fox (Vulpes vulpes) at Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales, Australia, photographed 3 January 2012. Illustrative Australian species photograph, not a fox recorded in the carrion study. · CC BY 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ · Source

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