Red Fox at The Institutes Cold Tub                                  click to enlarge

There  are many strange customs in the animal world, almost too many to catalog. For instance up in Yellowstone the animals all gather around the thermal areas for warmth and fellowship, spending many long hours in the soothing hot water enjoying the company of their friends and neighbors. They talk over the days events, speculate on who the new rangers might be, trade recipes and generally hang out like a bunch of suburbanites.

Down here in Northern Colorado our animals do things a little differently. Our animals don’t tend to be as sociable with each other as they are up further north, consequently their behavior is quite different. Way up here on the mountaintop where the headquarters of the Institute are located we get our share of cold weather. Our animals handle it more like their cousins in the great white north handle things. That is they embrace the cold, revel in it, and look for any reason to celebrate it. You can often see them out on our frozen lakes ice fishing, skinny dipping with the black bear club, having packy fights ( what you know as snowballs) and spending time in the cold tubs that are set up around the Institutes property.

It was noted earlier that our animals don’t tend to be as sociable as they are in  other parts of the country but as in all general statements there are exceptions and this fellow is one. He delights in the companionship of other animals and is often seen inviting others to join him in the cold tub. It has been noted that he tends to befriend his neighbors the cottontails the most as well as the occasional mouse and appears to have a large acquaintance among them. However it’s strange that his companions always seem to be new with little revisiting if you will, strange that, but it may be that he just needs more stimulating conversations as the rabbits all tend to talk about how little grass is left over after the summer heat, who’s expecting again and there’s always somebody expecting, how many redtails have been hanging around and similar topics. If our neighbor the fox was bored you’d think he’d invite another fox to his cold tub. Well, its behavior that we’ll have to look into later. Right now we have to make sure the tubs are cold enough and ready for use. There’s still plenty of winter left.