The San Joaquin Kit Fox introduces readers to a small wild canid that occupies a prominent position in ongoing conservation battles. Native to central California, where land is in high demand for development purposes, the San Joaquin kit fox population has been significantly impacted by profound habitat loss. The species remains on the original US endangered species list issued in 1966, with dim prospects for recovery.
To guide the work of researchers and conservationists, Brian L. Cypher synthesizes the biological and ecological data collected to date on this species and documents both historical and contemporary efforts to protect it. He details the species' evolutionary and taxonomic history, distribution and habitat preferences, mortality sources, and more. In doing so, he draws out the ever-changing relationship between San Joaquin kit foxes, people, and land use.
Richly illustrated and accessible, The San Joaquin Kit Fox is a necessary reference for students, researchers, and conservationists looking to better understand this charismatic creature and others like it in order to better secure the futures of these species.
Brian L. Cypher is a research ecologist with the Endangered Species Recovery Program at California State University-Stanislaus. He is the co-editor of Urban Carnivores.
"With species going extinct at an accelerated rate, there is a need to understand the many challenges to recovery. In this book, Cypher provides an excellent synthesis, embodying both his passion for the San Joaquin kit fox, while detailing what conservation of an endangered species should look like."
– Lucas Hall, California State University, Bakersfield
"This comprehensive work tells the species' paradoxical story: one of the first to be listed as endangered, it remains unrecovered. Cypher's detail and nuance enhance our understanding of this complex carnivore."
– Tim Coonan, author of Decline and Recovery of the Island Fox