Canids will be canids
August 11, 2015 11:44 AM   Subscribe

Two foxes come across dog's ball. Adorableness and frivolity ensue. slyt
posted by Existential Dread (31 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
omg squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I give many fox about this

h/t sciatrix
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:47 AM on August 11, 2015 [7 favorites]


Pounce pounce pounce, I'm a fox, I'm gonna get this ball.

Balls for all the foxes!
posted by Elly Vortex at 11:51 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


The bigger news is around 0:50 when the foxes engage their cloaking device.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:56 AM on August 11, 2015 [17 favorites]


Amazing footage. So interesting to see the goofy playfulness of youngsters in other species.

My Giant Schnauzer is 15 months old and she has recently stopped playing with toys by herself. She will chase a ball or play keep away or catch a frisbee but she no longer has any interest in her squeaky stuffed toys. Today I tried her out with her stuffed puppy that barely survived her adolescence. I squeaked it and tossed it to her. She gave it a long sniff and then stepped over it to cross the room. My heart broke a tiny bit. For better or worse those days of zany, carefree puppy play are over.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 11:58 AM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


canids gonna cane cane cane cane cane
shake the ball
shake the ball
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:00 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


It's always a delight to see wild animals enjoying some playtime.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 12:20 PM on August 11, 2015


So interesting: their play behavior looks more like our cats than most dogs I've seen. They don't "bow" the way dogs do when playing, and the hopping and ducking is almost identical to what our cats do when they're chasing an insect across the floor.
posted by KGMoney at 12:39 PM on August 11, 2015 [12 favorites]


their play behavior looks more like our cats than most dogs I've seen.

Pretty much exactly what my cat does with the bits of cardboard she tears off of whatever shoebox she is currently using as her pout box. I think of it as Dr. Frankensteining. "I made it alive. Holy crap it's alive! Eeks! Wait, can I eat it?" Repeat repeatedly.
posted by srboisvert at 12:51 PM on August 11, 2015 [8 favorites]


Foxes occasionally try to steal our cones when we're playing ultimate in the park in winter, I guess they're trying to set up a pitch.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:52 PM on August 11, 2015


Higher quality version.
posted by Tenuki at 1:07 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Kits will be kits.
posted by maryr at 1:10 PM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Foxes occasionally try to steal our cones when we're playing ultimate in the park in winter, I guess they're trying to set up a pitch.

Just trying to get some roadwork done, actually.
posted by maryr at 1:11 PM on August 11, 2015 [6 favorites]


SCHO CUTE SMALL FURRY CREATURES.

This outburst has been brought to you by my wife, who speaks in all caps when she sees cute things.
posted by Mooski at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


My favorite bit is right at the end when there's a surprise attack from the rear (by a baby fox guys, it's all good).
posted by immlass at 1:18 PM on August 11, 2015


And sometimes they'll be felids too, apparently.

It's interesting given the slitted pupils they share with cats
that "An angry fox will sometimes hiss like a cat."
posted by jamjam at 1:27 PM on August 11, 2015


I like the poster's comment "They look happy, obviously havent heard the toreys are back in power".

I held a seance for Cecil the lion and he told me he thinks Cameron is a dick.
posted by howfar at 1:35 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Parallel evolution between foxes and domestic cats seems likely, while most domestic dog breeds are exceptionally friendly and custom-sized wolves.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:39 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


They don't "bow" the way dogs do when playing, and the hopping and ducking is almost identical to what our cats do when they're chasing an insect across the floor.

Yeah, foxes aren't quite dogs. They pounce. This is why they think outdoor trampolines are the coolest things on earth.
posted by Naberius at 1:40 PM on August 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Foxes occasionally try to steal our cones when we're playing ultimate in the park in winter, I guess they're trying to set up a pitch.

They're just subtly pointing out that the game you are playing is at best penultimate.
posted by srboisvert at 2:01 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yes- foxes like to pounce, and in winter they will listen for prey under the snow and then pounce on it, leaving their butts in the air.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:02 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


in winter they will listen for prey under the snow and then pounce on it

Our cat does this also. I have pictures of her up to her armpit in a snowdrift trying to grab a mouse.
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:08 PM on August 11, 2015


They really do have a lot in common with cats, including the pounce/stalk hunting behavior on display here as play. And doesn't this cute pair seem like kits? All the frolicking and the obliviousness to the light going on . . .

Anyway, I am putting up a "Kits at Play Wanted" sign when I get home.
posted by bearwife at 2:08 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Now are the foxes!
posted by kinnakeet at 2:22 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Foxes are basically what happens when an area has an evolutionary niche just right for a small feline, but no small feline to fill it - so a canine evolves to fill the gap instead. It's called convergent evolution and it's so neat. So foxes are, essentially, a dog trying to cat.
On the other hand, hyenas are what happens when a cat has a go at making a dog.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 3:39 PM on August 11, 2015 [21 favorites]


In my comment above about foxes having slitted pupils and hissing, like cats, I was thinking about the idea that cats are imitating snakes, which I brought up in the recent Pssscat! thread -- so perhaps cats and foxes are both as it were 'converging' on snakes.
posted by jamjam at 4:15 PM on August 11, 2015


So foxes are, essentially, a dog trying to cat.
On the other hand, hyenas are what happens when a cat has a go at making a dog.


Interesting that one becomes adorable, while the other becomes rather terrifying.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:19 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is the only fox news I want.
posted by adept256 at 4:39 PM on August 11, 2015 [18 favorites]


Yay!!! Pouncy foxes are so happy!

Today I tried her out with her stuffed puppy that barely survived her adolescence.

Our dog stopped being interested in his favorite toys about that age, but still gets insanely excited for new toys (plush, ball, whatever). He's had at least 4 identical stuffed Yodas, and he couldn't care less about the old ones, but when he gets a new one it's like the BEST THING EVER all over again.
posted by vytae at 6:26 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Those are some well-fed foxes ... the ones we see around here are considerably mangier.

Now that foxes are getting so comfortable in suburbia I sort-of wonder if they'll start to slowly self-domesticate. They're wary of humans here, buy not aggressive, and are starting to raise kits very close to houses. Eat my garbage and assorted rodentia, you magnificent beast!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:45 PM on August 11, 2015


I don't know about the "no small feline to fit." Small wild felines don't get as much attention as their bigger cousins but were widespread historically. Unfortunately, small wild felines appear to be more sensitive to human-created habitat loss and competition with domesticated carnivores.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:04 AM on August 12, 2015


A-dor-a-BALL!
Squee!
posted by Gadgetenvy at 11:42 AM on August 13, 2015


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