The photos this week will show the different styles of eating displayed by a domestic cat and a wild urban fox. Basically, the difference is the cat eats the food where she finds it. The fox carries it off somewhere safer to eat.
The cuisine consisted a chicken leg in the set with the fox, and a chicken leg, a piece of chicken skin, and one mouse that had been freshly killed in a snap trap in the set with the cat. The grainy nighttime photos don't allow much distinction between food and terrain. Perhaps the animals can't make a visual distinction either and rely on smell.
Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.
Here the fox sniffs around for the food and finally locates the drumstick. He puts the whole thing in his mouth and carries it off. Maybe he's looking for a place to sit down and eat. After six minutes he still hasn't found that perfect spot, because he passes in front of the camera still carrying the drumstick. Then he's gone for the night.
The cat has a different style. She located the dead mouse and consumed it right there on the spot. (Good cat!) Next she finds the skin and then the drumstick. At each food location she chews on it right there.
Disclaimer: The words "he" and "she" are used for descriptive ease and shouldn't be relied on as gender designators. But don't we typically think of canines as males and cats as females anyway?
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