Rotfuchs
Red foxes colonized the North American continent in two waves: before or during the Illinoian glaciation and during the Wisconsinan glaciation. Gene mapping demonstrates that red foxes in North America have been isolated from their Old World counterparts for over 400,000 years, thus raising the possibility that speciation has occurred. In the far north, red fox fossils have been found in Sangamonian deposits in the Fairbanks District and Medicine Hat. Fossils dating from the Wisconsian are present in 25 sites in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. Although they ranged far south during the Wisconsinan, the onset of warm conditions shrank their range toward the north and they have only recently reclaimed their former American ranges because of human-induced environmental changes. Genetic testing indicates two distinct red fox refugia exist in North America, which have been separated since the Wisconsinan. The northern (or boreal) refugium occurs in Alaska and western Canada and consists of the large subspecies "V. v. alascensis", "V. v. abietorum", "V. v. regalis" and "V. v. rubricosa". The southern (or montane) refugium occurs in the sub-alpine parklands and alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada and consists of the small subspecies "V. v. cascadensis", "V. v. macroura", "V. v. necator" and "V. v. patwin". The latter clade has been separated from all other red fox populations since the last glacial maximum and may possess unique ecological or physiological adaptations.