San Joaquin kit fox

The endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) was formerly very common in the San Joaquin Valley and through much of Central California. Its 1990 population was estimated to be 7,000. This subspecies is still endangered, after nearly 50 years of being on the Endangered Species List. Officially this subspecies was listed March 3, 1967.[1] On September 26, 2007, Wildlands Inc. announced the designation of the 684-acre (2.77 km2) Deadman Creek Conservation Bank, which is intended specifically to protect habitat of the San Joaquin kit fox.[2] However, the population continues to decline mostly due to heavy habitat loss. Other factors include competition from red fox, and the extermination of the gray wolf from California has left the coyote as the dominant meso-predator in kit fox territory bringing an imbalance in ecosystem relationships.

San Joaquin kit fox
Male San Joaquin kit fox
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Vulpes
Species:
V. macrotis
Subspecies:
V. m. mutica
Trinomial name
Vulpes macrotis mutica
Meriam, 1902

References
  1. http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=A006
  2. Kit fox Gets Some Protection, In California, Environmental News Network, September 27, 2007
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