City foxes braver but not smarter than country foxes, study finds

Red foxes like this one are found all over the UK, but are they smarter in cities?

Ever heard the phrase "cunning as a fox"?

It's used to describe someone who's especially clever and crafty, as foxes are supposed to be - but the truth may be a little different.

Foxes live all over the UK, in both the countryside and cities, and they're known for being incredibly adaptable to their environment.

In particular, urban foxes (so those that live in towns and cities) are thought to be very smart as they've had to learn to take opportunities to get food in an unfamiliar environment - for example, by rooting through people's bins.

Turns out, city life doesn't make foxes more cunning after all

But scientists have found that even though streetwise urban foxes might be bolder than their counterparts in the countryside, they are no smarter than them.

A team from the University of Hull in the North East of England spent two years studying wild foxes in 104 locations in England and Scotland - such as parks, back gardens and woods - by leaving them tasks to do for rewards.

The puzzles were put in lots of different places that foxes can be found

These puzzles included simple mechanisms that the foxes needed to lift, pull or rotate a lid or lever to get to the food inside.

Psychologist and animal behaviourist Dr Blake Morton, who led the research, said that while the foxes from the city were more likely to go up to the puzzles and touch them, they were just as bad at solving them.

Dr Morton said: "For years, researchers have claimed that urbanisation is making wildlife bolder and smarter due to the challenges they face from 'life in the city'.

"We found that urban foxes were more likely to behave bolder than rural populations in terms of their willingness to physically touch the puzzles, but they were not more motivated to try to gain access to the rewards inside."

Dr Morton hopes the study will stop people from thinking that all city foxes do is go through people's bins

The study, published in Animal Behaviour, found that foxes at 96 locations noticed the puzzles, but only those at 31 locations touched them, and there were only 12 in which the foxes solved the puzzles and got to eat the food.

"Although we found a tendency for London foxes to behave bolder and exploit the puzzles, many other foxes in our study were too shy or unmotivated to exploit them despite having access for up to two weeks," Morton said.

All of the foxes wanted a snack, they just didn't want to do a puzzle to get to it

But when food was just left out for them, all the foxes would eat it. So, in conclusion?

"They do like the food, but they don't like the effort," said Morton.

The fox study is part of a larger body of research called the British Carnivore Project.

Founded in 2021 by Dr Morton, it's looking at how climate change and the expansion of cities are affecting the behaviour of wild animals native to Britain.