The

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

San Joaquin kit fox (''Vulpes macrotis mutica'') was formerly very common in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

and through much of

Central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the S ...

. 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. On September 26, 2007, Wildlands Inc. announced the designation of the Deadman Creek Conservation Bank, which is intended specifically to protect habitat of the San Joaquin kit fox.Kit fox Gets Some Protection, In California
Environmental News Network, September 27, 2007 However, the population continues to decline mostly due to heavy

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. Other factors include competition from

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

, and the extermination of the

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

from California has left the

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...

as the dominant meso-predator in kit fox territory bringing an imbalance in ecosystem relationships. Sarcoptic mange has also constituted a significant threat, specifically to the Bakersfield population of the subspecies, with 15 confirmed cases reported by the end of 2014.

Gallery

San Joaquin Kit Fox-6833 Male-1 20170113 healthy (25282671447).jpg, ''V. m. mutica'' male Vulpes macrotis mutica sitting.jpg, ''V. m. mutica'' sitting File:Vulpes macrotis mutica resting.jpg, ''V. m. mutica'' resting File:San Joaquin kit fox family sit among grasses vulpes macrotis mutica.jpg, A San Joaquin kit fox family File:San Joaquin kit foxes.jpg, Two San Joaquin kit foxes File:San Joaquin Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) (11460676606).jpg, ''V. m. mutica'' at

Carrizo Plains National Monument The Carrizo Plain ( Obispeño: ''tšɨłkukunɨtš'', "Place of the rabbits") is a large enclosed grassland plain, approximately long and up to across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about northwest of Los Angeles. It c ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2322950 Fox Natural history of the Central Valley (California) San Joaquin Valley ESA endangered species