The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand

Author:Adele Brand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

FOX COMMUNICATION IS rarely aimed at us, and yet we have absorbed it into our cultural arts, created mythology about it, worried about it sufficiently to create deterrents, and even – as in my farcical experience – embroiled it in office dramas. But when humanity is not part of the equa­tion, and the earthy twang of a fox’s bark rises from bare woods under winter’s bright stars, their voices help restore the wild world to our consciousness too.

8

Counting Foxes

Perfect numbers, like perfect men, are very rare.

DESCARTES

ESTIMATE THE NUMBER of people living in your street.

I’m not sure I could, despite living in a village. Cer­tainly I could count the houses, but without tedious hours of observation, it would be unclear if they were occupied by singletons, retired couples or middle-aged ladies with six children.

There is no faster way to upset an ecologist than to regale them with thumping claims about wildlife numbers from individuals not trained in population demo­graphics. No sane politician would calculate future demand for housing, care homes or schools without firm, objective numbers: trends projected from censuses, and data on births, deaths and immigration. Current populations, whether they are human or wild animal, are not a matter of opinion: they are absolute facts that can be studied to a reasonable degree of accuracy using well-respected tech­niques.

Question 1: How do we count?

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