...whilst almost surrounded by the one species whose apparent size is always so misleading. I've put posts on here before speculating why foxes produce such strange optical illusions, but I forget whether I posted this little graphic.
Note: Shoulder heights:
Red fox: 41cm /
Border Collie: 53cm /
German Shepherd: 66cm /
Greyhound: 76cm /
Human (average male American): 176cm
At a distance, both foxes and coyotes routinely seem much larger than they actually are.
We humans aren't great at estimating the sizes of cats, either, which is why so many tabbies and black cats temporarily get promoted to lions and leopards in the over-excitable press.
Curiously, I rarely hear of anyone who's over-estimated the size of elk or deer. Maybe it is just a carnivore thing So, when I'm trying to establish who is the largest fox who has ever come to the garden, I am mentally trying to compensate for both the fact that I cannot measure them directly and that I'm possibly occasionally falling victim to the size illusion too
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