{"id":25161,"date":"2025-08-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=25161"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:55:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:55:05","slug":"island-fox-brains-proportionally-larger-than-mainland-foxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/island-fox-brains-proportionally-larger-than-mainland-foxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Outsmart an island fox? Not so fast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-top-1920x1080.jpg 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"A hand holds an island fox skull beneath a digital display of the skull\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Skull scan. Researchers scanned island fox skulls to create digital models, enabling them to calculate brain and body size. (Photos: Nick Neumann\/USC Wrigley Institute.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=science-and-technology\">Science and Technology<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Outsmart an island fox? Not so fast<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Challenging long-held ideas of evolution on islands, a USC Dornsife study found most Channel Islands foxes evolved proportionally larger brains than their mainland cousins \u2014 a surprising trait shaped by novel, isolated conditions and survival demands.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Ileana Wachtel<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">August 20, 2025<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n 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fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n      \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-highlights \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-highlights\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Key findings:\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n      <ul>\n              <li><p>Five of six Channel Island fox subspecies evolved larger brain-to-body ratios than mainland gray foxes.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>The findings challenge long-held beliefs that island species evolve smaller brains and reduced cognitive function.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>The larger brains may reflect a trade-off \u2014 conserving energy elsewhere to adapt cognitively to tough environments.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n  \n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>For decades, scientists believed animals on islands evolved smaller brains relative to body size to save energy. But most Channel Islands foxes \u2014 tiny predators no bigger than a house cat \u2014 defied that rule, evolving larger brains than their mainland cousins.<\/p>\n<p>The findings, published in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0328893\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>PLOS One<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, suggest brain size may hinge less on isolation and more on the demands of survival.<\/p>\n<p>Island syndrome refers to a suite of traits including reduced size, brain shrinkage, loss of flight in birds and tamer behavior. Until now, island brain size has been mainly studied in fossils of herbivores, which face different pressures than carnivores. The island fox provided an opportunity to bridge that research gap.<\/p>\n<p>Lead author <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/edmands\/current-lab-members\/\">Kimberly Schoenberger<\/a> said the results upend long-held assumptions about how animals adapt to island life. \u201cIt was most surprising to discover that island syndrome isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all,\u201d said Schoenberger, a PhD candidate in <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/bisc\/\">biology<\/a>. \u201cWhen we looked at carnivores like Channel Island foxes, the pattern of smaller brains didn\u2019t hold.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Channel Islands offer a natural experiment<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25167\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25167\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25167\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-c-500x370.jpg\" alt=\"Small fox stands in dry grass\" width=\"320\" height=\"237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-c-500x370.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-c-768x568.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-c.jpg 980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Channel Island fox searches for prey on Catalina Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/chis\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Channel Islands<\/a>, an eight-island chain off the California coast, six of which are home to foxes, offered researchers a rare natural experiment to test whether island syndrome holds true across environments. The biologists compared the brains of foxes from those six islands with mainland gray foxes \u2014 their closest living relatives and likely ancestors \u2014 as well as with one another.<\/p>\n<p>The analysis revealed that the brain-to-body ratio appeared to be shaped less by isolation or island size alone \u2014 long thought to drive island syndrome \u2014 and more by local habitat conditions.<\/p>\n<p>On five of the islands \u2014 Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina, San Clemente and San Miguel \u2014 foxes had relatively larger brains despite their smaller bodies. Their brains also showed slightly deeper folds and ridges in areas tied to motor control and spatial processing, traits that may help the foxes navigate rugged terrain and compete for food and shelter, especially on two islands where they share space with rivals like the spotted skunk.<\/p>\n<p>San Nicolas Island, the most remote and resource-limited of the six, was the exception. There, foxes had smaller relative brain sizes. With no predators, little biodiversity and limited food, researchers believe the animals faced fewer cognitive demands and may have conserved energy for basic survival rather than retaining traits like enhanced motor coordination or spatial processing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Channel Island foxes show that brain size reduction is not a universal feature of island life,\u201d Schoenberger said. \u201cIt depends on the pressures each species faces.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Fox brains adapt to island living<\/h2>\n<p>To understand how brain size changed in the island fox, Schoenberger and research collaborators at the <a href=\"https:\/\/nhmlac.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County<\/a> (NHM) studied more than 250 skulls from six island fox subspecies and four mainland gray fox subspecies. The specimens came from collections at NHM and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnature.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25165\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25165\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25165\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-a-500x344.jpg\" alt=\"Kimberly Schoenberger displays fox skulls side by side in each hand\" width=\"320\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-a-500x344.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-a-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/foxes-schoenberger-instory-a.jpg 980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25165\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kimberly Schoenberger shows the size difference between the skulls of Channel Island foxes (left) and mainland gray foxes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>First, they estimated body weights from skull measurements, then compared those estimates to recorded weights from live island foxes. The two sets aligned closely, giving the team a solid basis for analyzing brain-to-body ratios. The brain size was measured using microbeads to approximate the internal volume of the skull, a highly accurate proxy for brain size.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the researchers used CT scans to create 3D models of the skulls\u2019 interiors. By capturing the shape and volume of the braincase \u2014 the hollow cavity that once housed the brain \u2014 they could confirm accuracy of the microbead brain size estimates and examine the structure of brain surface features such as folds and ridges imprinted on the inside of the skull.<\/p>\n<p>The digital scans revealed a surprising feature: Island fox brains had shorter, more compact frontal areas than their mainland relatives. The researchers theorize that this likely relates to their shorter snouts, which reduce the brain space at the front of the skull. To compensate, these foxes developed slightly deeper folds and more pronounced ridges in this region. This preserves key motor control and spatial awareness skills particularly needed to climb trees and forage for food.<\/p>\n<p>Schoenberger explained that while both the island and gray foxes are the only canines known to climb trees, island foxes relied more on foraging in trees compared to mainland foxes, which have more abundant food options on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers also found that brain size didn\u2019t differ between male and female foxes, suggesting that environmental pressures rather than mating competition were the likely drivers of these adaptations.<\/p>\n<h2>Island foxes were likely pest control, not pets<\/h2>\n<p>DNA and carbon dating suggest that foxes first arrived on the northern Channel Islands about 9,000 years ago, likely by riding natural debris rafts or swimming when sea levels were lower and distances between islands were shorter. Thousands of years later, archaeological evidence shows that Indigenous peoples may have transported foxes to other islands, perhaps to help control pests.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this long association with humans, island foxes likely never became truly domesticated \u2014 a fact researchers say may help explain why their brains did not shrink, as often happens in domestic species. In both brain size and behavior, they more closely resemble wildcats than early domestic dogs, which had already begun to lose brain volume as they grew dependent on people.<\/p>\n<h2>Broader lessons from island-bound foxes<\/h2>\n<p>As climate change and habitat loss create more fragmented, island-like environments, understanding which traits help animals adapt could guide conservation efforts. The island fox suggests that intelligence and cognitive flexibility may play a key role in survival but may only be an option if their habitat has enough natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>Still, their future is uncertain. Previous <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/channel-island-foxes-face-new-threat-to-survival\/\">research<\/a> found that low genetic diversity could leave the foxes especially vulnerable to new threats such as disease, raising concerns about how well they\u2019ll weather the next wave of environmental change.<\/p>\n<h2>About the study<\/h2>\n<p>The study was funded by the USC Dornsife <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/\">Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability<\/a>, the Offield Family Foundation and the USC <a href=\"https:\/\/wise.usc.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Women in Science and Engineering<\/a>Graduate Fellowship.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gray fox climbing a fruit tree in Ventura, California\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cnciCM1ezbw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/cosmic-measurements-of-gravity-support-dark-matter\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Scientists test a fundamental rule of gravity on cosmic scales \u2014 and it holds up<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/santec-usa-corporation-funds-fellowships-for-physics-research\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >New fellowship empowers future physicists to explore quantum frontier<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/older-patients-willing-to-travel-longer-than-expected-for-health-care\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >How far will seniors go for a doctor visit? Often much farther than expected<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Challenging long-held ideas of evolution on islands, a USC Dornsife study found most Channel Islands foxes evolved proportionally larger brains than their mainland cousins \u2014 a surprising trait shaped by novel, isolated conditions and survival demands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":25164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[88,121,60,1897],"class_list":["post-25161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-technology","category-student","tag-biological-sciences","tag-graduate","tag-research","tag-wrigley-institute-for-environment-and-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Outsmart an island fox? 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