Channel Islands National Park guide · 2 min read
The Island Fox and Other Endemic Survivors
The island fox is a dwarf cousin of the gray fox found on the mainland, shaped by millennia of isolation on the islands.
It is roughly the size of a house cat. On Santa Cruz Island, foxes often turn up at the tables along the stretch from the pier to the campground, nosing around for scraps and coming in close.
The fox came close to disappearing. By the early 2000s, numbers on some of the islands had sunk below 100 animals. A focused recovery program then brought the population back at a rapid pace, and in 2016 the species was taken off the endangered list. Few mammals in the nation have ever rebounded faster.
Isolation has produced a distinctive set of wildlife here. The park holds over two thousand kinds of plants and animals, and about 145 of them occur on no other part of the planet. Among the land animals, 23 are endemic to the islands, and 11 of the land birds belong to island subspecies. The island fence lizard is one of the endemics, while the spotted skunk is a native animal that lives alongside the fox.
The Santa Cruz Island scrub-jay lives only in this park, with no populations on other islands or on the mainland. Scorpion Anchorage is a good place to look for it, and one was once seen perched on a picnic table there, near enough to photograph.
Watching wildlife here takes only a few habits. Keep snacks secured, because foxes reportedly work as a team, with one keeping you occupied while a partner moves in on your bag. Pets are not permitted in the park, since mainland animals can bring illnesses that island wildlife has little natural defense against. The picnic area near the visitor center is a strong spot to start, and birds and foxes there often approach without much searching.
