Grey Fox Project

= Description =



This project was for the Animal Robotics Class, it's now being put on hold sorry!

-Dan

Being solitary most of their lives, the Grey Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) has a very small window of socialization beginning in January as mating takes place. After mating, the female then gives birth of one to seven pups about 53 days after copulation. The kits, as baby foxes are called, stay with the mother and father until early autumn. The kits are weaned at about three months and are able to hunt for themselves at four months of age. Yet beside that, little information is known about mother-kit relationships. It could be their elusiveness or when the mother feels as though it has been detected, it will move to another den in the region. This provides us with the perfect opportunity to study and observe mother-kit relationships and gray fox socialization overall using bio-robotics. Designing and building a robotic kit or fox to produce alarm calls, distress calls, and other signals of stress, we can observe a mother fox’s reaction to the calls and understand more about mother-kit relationships. Would the mother be attracted and approach the noise? Would she care about the noise even though she had not given birth to it? If she approaches and attempts to care for the robotic kit, we could place a camera to see behavior that would be taking place inside the den. While the last statement is more advanced, understanding how mother foxes react to alarm calls given by kits can help us to better understand the mother-kit relationship in the Grey Fox. Some problems may include: how to make the robot smell less like humans and make it more approachable to the foxes, deciding what stress calls to use in the experiment, and finding the elusive Grey Fox in the Holyoke Range. We'll also be trying to understand general behavior and develop an ethogram.

= The Model =

The model we're planning on will be a sitting taxidermic fox with a moveable mouth. The fox will give a series of programmed alarm calls and data will be collected to see how the foxes react. We will also be setting up a false territory (scenting the surrounding area with urine and fecal matter) to try and elicit more behaviors.





Design
3/3/09 - For the sound system we currently have an iPod shuffle.

3/19/09 - Thanks to Riley, we may have a great source for fox urine. I also finally got in touch with a wildlife center in Las Vegas, NV and they'll be sending us fecal matter after I get some paperwork and liability forms processed!

3/22/09 - Have to get a new taxidermic fox for the robot body. The other one won't work but I'm talking to a couple taxidermists. Hopefully we can find one at a reasonable price.

3/24/09 - Found someone to give us a frozen fox for free so I'm going to work with Kristian on tanning and all that stuff. It should be here by Thursday 3/26/09 the latest. So if anyone wants to help with that, let me know.

3/25/09 - Finally caved and bought a tanned pelt and a couple of tanned faces. I was hoping not to spend money, but it's all good! Should have everything soon now.

4/3/09 - Built a simple soldered wire and chicken wire body.

4/7/09 - Ordered Arduino, some servos, and are receiving an FM transmitter in the mail along with some mini servos. Have decided to try and make the operation as wireless as possible - sound will be transmitted via an iPod and a transmitter to an on board radio. The Arduino will be programmed to react to a sudden change in sound level, fitted with a microphone (or speaker), moving the head servo at any sharp sound.

4/9/09 - Head and body starting to take shape. Made the head out of copper welding wire.

4/14/09 - Installed the servo.

4/16/09 - Salted and fitted the fox skin to the model. Hopefully it will smell better once it dries! Very convincing (to humans at any rate) from the back.

4/19/09 - Still not much progress on the sound front. Have been unable to find a sensor that gives a clear or intelligible signal. However we do have both a transmitter and a clock radio.

4/21/09 - Finally found a simple microphone, will use Knock Sensor code from Arduino. Fox still smells awful, will make a back up frame and fit the second servo to it if necessary, and use the tanned eBay hide to cover it. Will have the arduino programmed and ready shortly.

Sounds of the Grey Fox
The Grey Fox sounds more like a whiny human baby then any dog most of the time. Their calls range from barking to long whining noises depending on the meaning. To hear more sounds visit this website. It has tons of helpful information and is where I got most of my sounds.

Also the site in general is really helpful for all types of fox information.

Images






= Members =


 * Daniel Taub
 * Arielle Soutar


 * Andrew Fulmer

= Resources =


 * Fox Tracking
 * Fox Info from Texas
 * Animal Behavior Group
 * Fox General Info

= Research Opportunity  =

If anyones interested in helping track, film, photo, map or in general help out with the project, contact Daniel Taub at dgt08@hampshire.edu.