Hi friends, Reef the fox here with your weekly “Reef’s Report. As usual, coming to you from the tropics, where the palm trees sway, the air is thicker than Isla’s tail, and the iguanas look like they’re regretting all their life choices.
You’d think living in Key Largo means we foxes could retire our winter wardrobes for good, but every fall, our bodies get the same memo from Mother Nature: “Winter is coming.” Spoiler alert, it’s not.
Here’s what’s happening. As the days get shorter, our eyes detect less daylight. That message travels to a little gland in our brains called the pineal gland, which starts pumping out more melatonin. Melatonin then signals the pituitary gland to chill out on producing prolactin, the hormone that tells us to keep our sleek summer look. With less prolactin around, our bodies panic and start growing thick, luxurious winter coats as if we’re preparing for a blizzard in Iowa instead of a December beach day in Florida.
You see, we were all born from northern fox lineages. Our ancestors were bred on fur farms where “cold and miserable” wasn’t a season, it was a lifestyle. So no matter how many mangroves or Key lime pies surround us, our genetics are still convinced we’re one snowstorm away from extinction.
The result? Chaos. Tufts of fur everywhere. Visitors ask if we’ve gained weight. No, ma’am, just volume. Penny looks like she swallowed a cloud. Louie sulks in the shade, and Kai tries to tunnel to the center of the earth to find air-conditioning (even though we do have an air conditioned room here). Meanwhile, I’ve accepted my fate.
It’s not all bad, though. Our winter coats remind everyone that nature’s rhythm doesn’t change just because the zip code does. So even here in the Keys, we stay fluffy, fabulous and fully tropical, living proof that you can take the fox out of the tundra, but you can’t take the tundra out of the fox. And boy, aren’t we all glad that us foxes here were taken out of the tundra?
Anywho, that’s all for this week. Don’t forget Friday, Oct. 24, is Owl-O-Ween at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center in Tavernier. Head out with the family and support our feathered friends for their biggest event of the year!
Until next time, Reef, over and out!
