Eminent British mammal ecologist Brand pens a tribute to the red fox. Omnivorous red foxes range widely across the northern hemisphere from wilderness habitats to rural areas to the suburbs to the streets of London. Brand weaves her personal experience studying foxes and raising their orphaned young into a lay discussion of their folklore and habits. This well-researched work with an extensive bibliography covers the evolutionary history of red foxes as well as their biology, including physical characteristics, breeding behavior, and vocalizations. Brand shares their hunting techniques and relationships with other animals as both predator and prey, as well as the problems with trying to estimate population sizes and feeding and/or keeping foxes as pets. She debunks their danger to humans except in extremely rare cases and addresses the two main diseases, mange and rabies, foxes may contract. The work is rounded out with ideas for studying foxes using photography, tracking, and keeping a wildlife diary and even provides research topics for students to pursue. VERDICT This beautifully written work paying homage to red foxes will appeal to those interested in urban wildlife and the ever-increasing conflicts between humans and other animals.—Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove, IL

Mammal ecologist Brand offers a spirited look at the red fox in this smart and accessible volume. In the introduction, Brand traces a lifelong pursuit which has included writing about foxes in childhood diaries, studying them in college, and, more recently, fostering orphaned cubs and injured adults for the Fox Project charity. Early chapters focus on their distinctive appearance and hugely varied habitats. Noting that foxes can survive across the "full measure of the world's diverse environments," Brand recalls seeing them both in India's Thar Desert, among "a scrubby thicket of what the local people call toothbrush bushes," and in London, "on a patch of grass under one of Brixton's tower blocks, half illuminated by streetlight." Subsequent sections deal with foxes' "paradoxical" interactions with each other—which reveal them as simultaneously "independent and interdependent"—and with other animals, including rabbits, rodents, and deer. Even a digression on 2014's viral music video "What Does the Fox Say?" proves fruitful, with Brand discussing the full range of things which foxes do "say." Thanks to this mix of biology, personal history, and pop culture, Brand's readers will be left both entertained and better informed about "this small, curious member of the dog family." (Oct.)