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First record of the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) on Texas barrier islands.

Article Excerpt
Barrier islands are dominant features of many coastal areas (Pilkey 2003). Approximately two-thirds of the Texas coastline is bordered by six major islands, the largest of these being Padre Island. Padre Island extends ca. 180 km from Corpus Christi south to Port Isabel, and although it was once continuous, it is now divided into North and South Padre Islands by the Mansfield Channel. Although parts of Padre Island are extensively developed, Padre Island National Seashore is the largest (ca. 110 km) stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world (Pilkey 2003).

When compared to other island systems, relatively little research regarding mammals has been conducted on barrier islands. However, this research has demonstrated that barrier islands have relatively depauperate faunas when compared to adjacent mainland areas (McAlister & McAlister 1993; Hice & Schmidly 2002). In Texas, several species of mammals that exist...