Endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica) currently persist as a meta- population in central California consisting of 3 core and several satellite populations. Many of these populations are small and the meta-population is highly fragmented, which increases extinction risk. Translocation is a potential strategy for increasing the number of populations. Various factors would need to be considered when selecting source populations and candidate foxes for translocation. One such factor is behavioral attributes of individual foxes, as reflected by level of boldness, particularly in response to novel resources and potential threats. We compared behavioral attributes between and within populations of kit foxes in urban and non-urban habitats, and also examined the relationship of these attributes to survival and fitness. The overall goal of this project was to identify optimal source populations and individual foxes for relocation efforts, and in particular to determine whether urban foxes could be used in such efforts
