Extraordinary find in fox’s stomach leaves wildlife researchers ‘blown away’

Wildlife researchers were ‘blown away’ when they found 63 centipedes inside the stomach of a fox.

Project officer at Bush Heritage’s Bon Bon Station Reserve in South Australia, Kate Taylor, is used to going through the contents of animals’ stomachs.

But when she opened up the gut of a fox to find the centipedes, two small mammals and a gecko, she was shocked.

Wildlife researchers were blown away after they found 63 centipedes inside the stomach of a fox

Ms Taylor said analysing the stomach content of predatory pests is important to tell which native species they are eating and impacting.

‘It shows the difference of prey species between feral cats and foxes and we can also look at prey type across different seasons,’ she said.

‘It is also unfortunately another way of sampling for species that we have out on our nature reserves.’

The particular female fox was found while spotlighting on Bon Bon Station Reserve in 2018 and the stomach was extracted and frozen for analysis.

Ms Taylor said this is not the first time she had found a number of centipedes in the stomach of a fox or feral cat, but this occasion was extraordinary.  

‘While dissecting and analysing stomach contents is quite messy and smelly work not for the faint-hearted, it is always fascinating to see what these animals have been eating,’ she said.

‘When we tipped out the contents of this particular stomach I was completely blown away.’

Ms Taylor said analysing the content of predatory pest species is important to tell which native species they are eating and impacting