Our friend Rick Lanman who publishes many important wildlife articles in Wikipedia has corressponded with Dr. Ben Sacks at the U. California Davis and Bill leikam, Director of the Urban Wildllife Research Project regarding the Sierra Nevada Red Fox and the newly discovered Sacramento Valley Red Fox............Rick suggests that if both animals are genetically the same, then perhaps they be called the HIGH SIERRA RED FOX, "implying that they are montane(Sierran) but not limited to the Sierra Nevada specifically"

From: Bill Leikam ;wcleikam@gmail.com
Date: Sat, Jul 7, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Subject: RE: Sierra Nevada red fox wikipedia page
To: Richard Lanman ricklanman@gmail.com, Ben Sacks PhD ;bnsacks@ucdavis.edu;
Cc: Rick Meril ;rick.meril@gmail.com

Rick

Thank you for this, Rick. Ben, I'd like to keep track of the work that you
are doing. How can I know when you have something new published?

The issue of monogamy arises in the Wikipedia article. Rick, recall I sent
you a copy of "Multiple paternity and kinship in the gray fox" published in
Mammalian Biology. That research states, "Although most fox species have
been considered to be socially monogamous (Kleiman 1977), an increasing
number of studies have shown they are not genetically monogamous...." (pg
399) I believe it was in Stacy L. Lance's work - pretty sure it was her work
- where she was able to genetically show that in a given litter of gray
foxes, seldom do two pups have the same male parent, that genetically a
litter usually has multiple "fathers."

The pups at the baylands are growing up. Our trail cameras have recently
showed us some fascinating new elements regarding their behavior. All of
that's going into the documentary. There's more that goes with the above but
enough for now.

Sincerely,
Bill Leikam, Director
Independent Urban Gray Fox Research,
Urban Wildlife Research Project,
Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge,
Public lectures and guided tours
Phone: 650 - 856 - 3041
Email:    wcleikam@gmail.com
Palo Alto, California

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-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Lanman [mailto:ricklanman@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2012 2:41 PM
To: Ben Sacks PhD

Cc: Rick Meril; Bill Leikam
Subject: Sierra Nevada red fox wikipedia page

Dear Dr. Sacks,

You may recall that I put up the wikipedia page for the SNRF in April, 2011.
I've been following the torrent of important work you and team have been
doing, including the discovery of the Sacramento Valley red fox (not enough
on it to create its own wikipedia page yet but I just added a section on it
on the SNRF wiki page so that the public can discover it!).

I have a few questions:
1. Have you finished the genetic studies of the new remnant populations on
Mt. Hood and Crater Lake, and confirmed they are SNRF?

2. If they are SNRF, wouldn't a better common name for the subspecies be
just "High Sierra red fox" implying that they are montane (Sierran) but not
limited to the Sierra Nevada specifically?

3. When does USFWS conclude its review of the SNRF status?


4. Any comments/corrections to the article would be most appreciated.
I've tried to capture your recent papers in 2010-2012 as references along
with their salient points. Here's the article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_red_fox

Keep up the exciting work. Bill Leikam here continues to document a
resurgent gray fox population in the Palo Alto Baylands. We think they use
the last un-armored creek around here (San Francisquito Creek) to find
spouses in the Peninsula's foothills. The only reason it isn't concrete is
because its on the border of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, so the two
water districts could never agree on who would pay for turning it into a
concrete ditch.

As you know, Rick Meril, continues to educate us all on your work and all
other native meso and larger carnivores on his great blog
http://coyotes-wolves-cougars.blogspot.com/

--
Best,

Rick Lanman MD
Los Altos, CA

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial
appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in
defense of custom."
- Thomas Paine