# Scent marking by red foxes in Central Poland during the winter season

> Where does a red fox leave its mark? By following fox trails through the snow of Central Poland over several winters, this study recorded nearly 2000 urine marks and 200 scats. Foxes marked short-lived things like snow, twigs and weeds as often as tree trunks, marked fox trails through rodent-rich areas more, and stepped up urine marking in the forest late in winter.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1990-goszczynski-scent-marking-red-foxes/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Jacek Goszczyński
- **Year published:** 1990
- **Journal or source:** Acta Theriologica
- **Full citation:** Goszczyński, J. 1990. Scent marking by red foxes in Central Poland during the winter season. Acta Theriologica 35(1-2): 7-16.
- **DOI:** 10.4098/AT.arch.90-2
- **Access status:** Hosted (freely available elsewhere)
- **PDF:** https://www.originalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1990_Goszczynski_scent-marking-by-red-foxes-during-the-winter-season.pdf

## Tags

- **Species:** Mammals > Red fox
- **Region:** Europe > Poland
- **Tracking:** Blood; Digs; Feeding signs; Hair; Kill sites; Scat; Snow tracks; Track counts; Tracking; Tracks and signs identification; Trailing; Urine
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Communication; Feeding; Home range; Hunting; Predation; Scavenging
- **Methods and technology:** Descriptive statistics; Distribution mapping
- **Data type:** New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not reported
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Wildlife tracking
- **Year published:** 1990

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Prey found on fox trails: 12 shrews (Sorex araneus), 1 mole (Talpa europaea) and 1 water shrew (Neomys fodiens); rodents (voles and mice) hunted by digging in the snow. Carrion and larger prey on fox trails: roe deer, hares, dogs, hens and other domestic animals. Mentioned in the discussion: field vole (Microtus arvalis) in western Poland, wild boar and ungulates (which dig up litter that foxes then mark).
- **Location and habitat:** Near Rogów, Central Poland. A 21 km² mosaic of forests and fields; the farmland was cut by a dense network of roads and balks (raised strips between fields) dividing small fields, most under 1 ha. Four fox families lived in the area, with an average winter density of 0.71 foxes per km². Rodent density ranged from several to a maximum of 80 per ha. The coordinates are printed as 51°48’ N, 10°53’ E; the longitude looks like a misprint (10° E would place the site in Germany, not Central Poland).
- **Topics:** scent marking, urine marking, scat (faeces) marking, olfactory communication, marked objects and their durability (permanent, undurable, intermediate), marking on flat snow versus raised objects, seasonal change in marking through the winter, rut (mating season), territory defence, marking near future dens, marking at carrion, kill sites and hunting digs, sex differences in marking, sex determined from where urine lands on the trail, territory borders versus territory interiors, marking and rodent abundance, hunting success estimate, marking of new objects (gloves, plastic bags, rodent traps).
- **Statistics or models:** Counts and percentages; mean and standard deviation; Student’s t-test; a test for comparing two percentages; correlation coefficients (r). Index of intensity of trail marking (ITM: scats or urine marks per 1 km of trail); index of intensity of home range marking (HRM: marks per 1 ha per 24 hours), from a modified formula of Priklonski (1965): HRM = (ITM × A × 1.57) / 100, where A is an index of area searching (fox or rodent trails crossed per 1 km of fox trail per 24 hours). The study area was divided into 400 × 400 m squares; squares with fewer than 10 trail sections were left out. Inconsistencies in the paper: (1) the text gives 2141 marks described in detail (1940 urine marks and 203 scats), but 1940 + 203 = 2143, which matches the totals in Tables 1 and 2; (2) the text says 60% of scats were on flat snow, while Table 1 gives 61.5% in forest and 77.8% in fields (68% pooled); (3) the discussion says carrion, prey and kill sites took 5% of urine marks and 16% of scat marks, while Table 1 gives 2.7% (forest) and 4.9% (fields) for urine and 16.4% (forest) and 8.6% (fields) for scat; (4) the Table 2 note lists shrubs (Table 1, position 2) as both “undurable” and “intermediate” objects; (5) the scale bar on the territory map (Fig. 3) reads “500 km”, which must mean 500 m given the 400 m squares; (6) the longitude given above.
- **Data type:** New field data: winter snow-tracking of foxes, mostly from 1984 to 1988 (Table 2 covers the winters 1984/85 to 1988/89), plus some observations from earlier winters. Tracking ran mostly from November to March, depending on snow. Trail used: 691 km for scat marking (297 km fields, 394 km forest) and 561 km for urine marking (240 km fields, 321 km forest).

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

Scent marking helps mammals communicate with each other, and earlier studies of how red foxes mark with urine and scats had given contradictory results. Over several winters near Rogów in Central Poland, the author followed red fox trails in the snow to find out what objects foxes mark, how often they mark, how this changes through the winter, and where in their territories the marks are placed.

- Snow-tracking (mostly 1984 to 1988, November to March). Each fox trail was split into 250 m sections and drawn on a map. For each section the author recorded the freshness of the trail, carrion or food remains, hunting or attempts at hunting, urine and scat marks, and the number of other fox and rodent trails crossing it.

- Marked objects. For 1940 urine marks and 203 scats, the author noted exactly what had been marked, and grouped the objects by how long they would hold scent: permanent (such as tree trunks, stumps, stones, burrows and clods), undurable (such as flat snow, grasses, weeds and hunting sites) and intermediate (shrubs and saplings).

- Territories. Earlier work in the same area had mapped the territories of four fox families and found them stable over four winters. The area was divided into 400 × 400 m squares, and marking intensity was calculated per square, both per km of trail and per hectare per 24 hours.

- Sex differences. In more than ten cases, the sex of the fox could be told from where the urine landed on the trail, so marking by males and females could be compared.

### 2. What they found

What foxes marked

- In the forest, foxes most often put urine on tree trunks and stumps, shrubs, fallen twigs and sticks, and flat snow. In fields, most urine marks were on cultivated plants and weeds, balks and the tops of clods.

- 70 to 80% of urine marks were on things raised above the ground; on average 13% were on flat snow. Scats were placed on flat snow far more often (the text says 60% of cases), and also at kill sites and on or near carrion.

- Short-lived objects, which hold scent only until the next thaw or snowfall, made up about half of all marks (47% in forest, 55% in fields). Permanent objects made up 34 to 42%, and intermediate ones 19% in forest and 4% in fields.

- Foxes also marked new objects in their range: old gloves and plastic bags left by forest workers, and rodent traps.

Hunting sites and carrion

- The author recorded 240 digs in the snow where foxes tried to catch rodents, about 3 per km of trail. Only 26 could be confirmed as successful, from bits of fur or drops of blood. Urine marks were left at a similar rate at successful digs (3 of 26) and digs with an unknown result (29 of 214), and digs were rarely marked with scat (3 times). Most sites of successful hunts were left unmarked.

- Small insectivores caught by foxes were found on the trails (12 shrews, a mole and a water shrew); only 3 had been partly eaten, and only one was urine marked.

- Of 105 larger prey items and carrion (dead roe deer, hares, dogs and other domestic animals), 34 were marked with urine and 24 with scat. Scats built up near the carcasses of roe deer and dogs that foxes fed on over time. Some carrion, mainly hens and bones of domestic animals, was visited without being eaten or marked.

How often foxes marked

- On average foxes left 4.41 urine marks and 0.35 scats per km of trail.

- Scat marking dropped at the start of winter (November and December) and in the first ten days of February.

- In the forest, urine marking rose in the second half of winter (after 15 January), from 3.56 to 4.99 marks per km. In fields it stayed about the same all winter. Over the second half of winter, forest trails were marked more than field trails (4.99 and 3.85 marks per km); over the whole winter the difference was not significant.

- Males (trailed for 34.3 km) left 5.7 urine marks per km and females (23.3 km) 4.2; scats were 0.39 and 0.56 per km. These distances were too short for statistical testing.

- Males put more of their urine marks on permanent objects than females (50.3% versus 14.1%). Females marked flat snow more often than males.

Marks across the territories

- Marking per square varied widely, from 1 to 8.7 urine marks and 0 to 1.95 scats per km of trail.

- Squares at territory borders, and where two family territories overlapped, were marked about as much as squares inside territories. Areas of very heavy marking were found as often in the centre as at the borders.

- Marking was not related to how much foxes searched an area, or to the number of fox shelters and burrows. It was weakly related to rodent activity: fox trails through areas with many rodents were marked more often.

- Combining these data with earlier work, the author estimated that a fox makes about 44 attacks on voles and mice per 24 hours and catches about 6.7, a hunting success of about 16%.

### 3. What they concluded

- Foxes use whatever objects are common in their habitat, but the frequent marking of short-lived objects stands out. Marking new objects may be a way of getting to know new things in the habitat, which also marks the territory.

- Raised objects probably spread the scent further. The finding that scats were mostly left on flat snow goes against the view that predators place scats on conspicuous objects.

- The marking at kill sites and carrion did not support Henry’s (1977) idea that foxes mark places where food has been eaten but the smell remains, so as not to search them again. Foxes seemed to urinate mainly at places with an attractive smell, and many marks where rodents are plentiful might lead foxes to search those areas harder.

- Marking rates may be slightly underestimated, because urine smell on snow-free trunks may come from earlier visits and cannot be dated.

- Fewer scats early in winter probably reflect less food: the first snow makes rodent hunting harder, hares are in good condition and there is little roe deer or wild boar carrion. The drop in early February matched the rut, when males may eat less while searching for mates.

- The rise in urine marking in the forest late in winter may be due to the rut, but it continued after the rut and did not happen in the fields. The author suggests foxes may mark around their future den as birth approaches, and that after mating these marks may help defend the territory.

- Urine seems more important than scats in fox scent communication.

- The results give no clear answer on whether scent marking defends territories. Scent marking may only support calls and visual signals. Specially designed field experiments are needed, because simple field observations of marking will not answer the question.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

The whole study rests on snow-tracking. Fox trails were followed in the snow, mapped in 250 m sections, and read for urine marks, scats, digs where foxes tried to catch rodents, kill sites, carrion and food remains. Bits of fur and drops of blood at digs showed which hunts had succeeded. The sex of a fox was told from where its urine lay in relation to the trail. Fox and rodent trails crossing each section were counted to give an index of how intensively each area was searched. The author also notes a limit of reading signs: fox urine smell, which people can detect for a few days, cannot be dated precisely, so a smell on a trunk may be from an earlier visit.

### 5. Tracker or observer certification

Not reported. The paper does not say who did the snow-tracking or how their skill was checked, although all the results depend on finding and identifying urine marks, scats and hunting signs, and on telling the sex of foxes from their urine.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- Indices that turn trail records into marking rates per km of trail and per hectare per 24 hours, using a modified formula of Priklonski (1965).

- A grid of 400 × 400 m squares laid over mapped fox territories to show where marks were concentrated.

- Sorting marked objects by how long they would hold scent (permanent, undurable, intermediate).

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- Much fox marking is on short-lived things such as flat snow, grasses, twigs and hunting digs, which lose their scent after a thaw or fresh snow. Snow cover is what made these marks visible and countable, so counts from snow-free ground or old snow may miss much of the marking.

- Where the urine lands relative to the trail let the author tell male and female foxes apart, a practical sign for trackers working on snow.

- Bits of fur or drops of blood at a dig showed a hunt had succeeded, while most digs left no such sign: only 26 of 240 could be confirmed as successful. Counting digs along trails also gave the attack rate the author used, with diet data from earlier work, to estimate hunting success.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Scent marking by red foxes in Central Poland during the winter season (Goszczyński, 1990). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1990-goszczynski-scent-marking-red-foxes/