Bengal Fox: Resilient Canid of Indian Grasslands

My interest in and study of the Bengal fox is a natural fallout of my intense curiosity about jackals. One interest led to another, which is both joy and reward for a field biologist like me. Both are wild canids that look similar and occur in many parts of the country together. Despite their ecological importance, this canid duo is unfairly ascribed with the human quality of being “cunning”. Indeed, if one quality stands out, it is their resilience. In the Surendranagar district in Gujarat, where I conduct my research, a sobering fact is that jackals have become rare and locally extinct in many villages. On the other hand, foxes persist in some grasslands in the district, although confined to small, fragmented savanna grassland patches. The Bengal fox is smaller than the jackal and has a large, bushy tail almost half the length of its body.

The Indian or Bengal fox (Vulpes bengalensis) is endemic to the Indian subcontinent, meaning it is found nowhere else on Earth. The other species of foxes in India are the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), desert fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla) and Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata). The Bengal fox’s geographic range overlaps with only one other fox species, the desert fox’s — in the arid, western parts of India. The jackal is commonly confused with the fox and vice versa. For example, in the Marathi language, fox is “khokad” and jackal is “kolha”. However, people generally use the word “kolha” for both foxes and jackals, and this usage has seeped into popular Marathi stories. 

A grassland-dependent species

Although the Bengal fox is India’s most widely distributed fox species, it is generally rare and occurs in low densities. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) assessment of this species revealed that Bengal fox populations are declining. Research has established that these foxes are grassland specialist species (i.e., they require semi-arid savanna grasslands to survive). Grasslands also happen to be one of India’s most threatened ecosystems. The threats to this ecosystem are numerous. Some of these include government-driven tree-planting projects, large infrastructure projects like wind turbine plants, and the conversion of grassland into agricultural land.

Researchers have shown that foxes prefer natural grasslands over agricultural land and human settlements for denning. Foxes dig dens or use previously occupied animal burrows for resting and pup-rearing. The grassland preference may largely be attributed to the diversity of available food in the form of insects, rodents and wild seasonal fruit, which may not be as abundant in pesticide-laden agricultural fields.

Surendranagar’s foxes

I work in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district and conduct surveys in savanna grasslands outside protected areas. The landscape includes different land ownership types like village grazing commons (gauchar) and privately owned grasslands. I document and understand the presence of wild canid species in these systems. My colleague, Suresh, has traversed tracts of grasslands with pastoralists and their livestock. One day, he took me to a veed in Surendranagar’s Khakhrathal village as he was certain I would find what I was looking for.

A veed or veedi is a privately managed grassland pastoralists use for livestock grazing. The Khakhrathal veed (formally Wadhwan Mahajan veed) is a five sq km patch of savanna grassland, the only one in the surrounding area that has remained a grassland. The veed houses a gaushala or cattle shelter for old and injured cows that no longer produce milk. The purpose of the grassland is for cattle grazing; it serves no other purpose. Khakhrathal village has witnessed large-scale land conversions with the increase in agriculture and the installation of wind turbines for industrial energy production. But this grassland has remained as is for about 50 years. The grassland owners and the pastoralists taking care of it have strongly resisted land acquisition attempts by the government for wind power companies. It is here that I made multiple observations of the Bengal fox.

In one instance, I saw a fox near a Ziziphus nummularia shrub, eating its fallen fruits on the ground. Ziziphus nummularia, or bordi in Gujarati, is a grassland shrub that fruits in the winter. It has fruits that look like red berries when ripe. Researchers have found that in the grazing lands of Kutch, Ziziphus nummularia fruits act as an important seasonal resource for foxes during the dry winter months. Wild canids like foxes and jackals are important mammalian seed dispersers, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Compared to birds, some mammals can disperse seeds farther away from the fruit plant. A study in the semi-arid regions of South Africa looked at the seed dispersal potential of native wild canid species. They found that bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis) and black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) individually consumed and dispersed about 50 kg of fruit per km2.

Can grassland management practices aid the conservation of foxes outside protected areas?

Khakhrathal veed is a grassland that is actively managed by pastoralists. The growth of wild grasses is encouraged by removing the invasive tree Prosopis juliflora and a few native Acacia trees. This practice prevents excessive woody growth and maintains the open habitat of the grassland, which benefits livestock grazing. While this approach primarily supports livestock grazing, it might inadvertently benefit grassland-dependent species such as foxes. Researchers studied the factors that led to the selection of dens by foxes in Maharashtra and found that foxes selected dens where the visibility of the surrounding landscape was higher. Dens in more open habitats would allow easier detection of potential predators.

During the monsoon months, livestock grazing is halted temporarily by the pastoralists to allow for the regeneration of grasses. This practice indirectly allows wildlife increased access to the grassland, and for a few months, there are fewer disturbances to the grassland habitat. Understanding the influence of traditional grassland management practices on foxes is an important area of research. 

Threats to Bengal foxes

While Khakhrathal veed is a remaining patch of savanna grassland that has allowed for the persistence of the Bengal fox and other grassland species, it is also home to several free-ranging dogs. Research from across the world has established that domestic dogs have negative ecological impacts on native wildlife. In one instance, I observed a pet dog with a collar that had come to look for food in the veed. At this very moment, I also observed an Indian fox and managed to capture the two canids in the same frame. According to previous research in Maharashtra, domestic dogs and Bengal foxes may not be competing directly with each other for food since there is very little overlap in their diets. However, scientists found that dogs affected foxes in other ways. Foxes reduced the time they spent consuming food and showed heightened vigilance in the presence of dogs, suggesting that foxes viewed dogs as competitors.

The dry parts of Gujarat consist of large tracts of grasslands that support pastoralism. Some of these grazing lands continue to be contiguous grasslands. The will of pastoralists and other local residents to conserve these grasslands for livestock grazing has prevented the conversion of these areas into agricultural land or areas for large industries. Currently, less than 5 per cent of India’s grasslands are legally protected. In this context, grazing lands like Khakhrathal veed are crucial for the survival of the Bengal fox.