Macdonald D W, Bacon P J
Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 1982;5(1-3):247-56. doi: 10.1016/0147-9571(82)90045-5.
The social behaviour of red foxes Vulpes vulpes is flexible and is adapted to their environment. Consequently social organization varies from one habitat to another under the influence of factors such as the availability of food and the pattern of mortality. Variations in social behaviour between fox populations are mirrored in different frequencies of encounters between individual foxes and hence in potentially different 'contact rates' for rabies. We present a computer model whose simulations indicate that such variation in contact rate is of overriding importance in the epizootiology of vulpine rabies, and so emphasize the importance to rabies control of understanding the behavioural ecology of foxes.
赤狐（Vulpes vulpes）的社会行为具有灵活性，并能适应其所处环境。因此，在食物供应和死亡率模式等因素的影响下，社会组织结构会因栖息地的不同而有所差异。狐狸种群之间社会行为的差异反映在个体狐狸之间不同的相遇频率上，进而反映在狂犬病潜在的不同“接触率”上。我们提出了一个计算机模型，其模拟结果表明，这种接触率的变化在狐狂犬病的流行学中至关重要，因此强调了了解狐狸行为生态学对狂犬病控制的重要性。
