Behavior of Red Foxes, Vulpes vulpes, Caching Eggs of Loggerhead Turtles, Caretta caretta

Abstract

Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) raided 89% of nests of loggerhead turtles at Dalyan, Turkey, caching at least some eggs from 88% of these. Of the eggs taken by foxes, 48% were scatter-hoarded, and the rest were eaten or ignored. Foxes usually carried eggs inland, and cached them on topographically distinct features such as spurs of pebbles. Foxes retrieved 94% of caches, 80% on the subsequent night. Most caches were made by a single adult, but almost all were recovered by an adult accompanied by young, suggesting that adult foxes were storing turtle eggs specifically to feed their offspring.