Near-Extinct Red Fox Caught on Trail Cam in National Park After Years of Hoping to Glimpse Elusive Creatures

Near-Extinct Red Fox Caught on Trail Cam in National Park After Years of Hoping to Glimpse Elusive Creatures

Near-Extinct Red Fox Caught on Trail Cam in National Park After Years of Hoping to Glimpse Elusive Creatures credit – Randy Robbins Photography, via YouTube A California photographer recently captured three minutes of high quality camera trap footage of the state’s rarest mammal. Randy Robbins, whom this reporter chose to feature in GNN’s roundup of the 2024 Wildlife Photography Awards, has been on a three-year-long quest to photograph the Sierra Nevada red fox. Unlike its mainland cousin, this subspecies may number less than 100, and is at serious risk of being inbred out of existence. It lives high in the mountains and developed adaptations that have allowed it to do so—separating it ever-so-slightly with the lowland population. Because it is a reclusive and small animal that lives above 6,000 feet above sea level, camera traps would be a key tool for Robbins to spot it. Where to put them, however, would be the challenge, and it required him to delve into whatever literature exists on th…