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The boat I'm boarding is going to take me out to Santa Cruz Island about 30

miles west of Ventura, California. Santa Cruz Island is one of five islands in

Channel Islands National Park and for an ecologist like me it's a bit of a

dream. Islands are special in ecology they can provide a totally unique

environment to study communities of wildlife and how different species interact.

And the island I'm heading to is home to a quite famous fox. It's like no apex

predator I've ever seen before. These aren't the type of foxes you might see on

the mainland. These island foxes are small. Very small. They're ferocious four-pound

carnivores that have no fear. They're curious. They're mischievous to the point of

being annoying sometimes. These foxes almost look like they were you know

designed by people to be cute sometimes like a cartoon character. Big eyes,

fluffy tails, kind of I know what you just want to pick up and bring home. And these

foxes are endemic to the Channel Islands meaning they are found here and

nowhere else in the world. But about 20 years ago people on these islands

started noticing fewer and fewer foxes on the landscape. Their numbers were

...