title: "Red fox" content: foxes are heavily built, but short, while continental European red foxes are closer to the general average among red fox populations. The largest red fox on record in Great Britain was a , long male, killed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in early 2012. The winter fur is dense, soft, silky and relatively long. For the northern foxes, the fur is very long, dense and fluffy, but is shorter, sparser and coarser in southern forms. Among northern foxes, the North American varieties generally have the silkiest guard hairs, while most Eurasian red foxes have coarser fur. There are three main colour morphs;


title: "Red fox" content: red, silver/black and cross (see "Mutations"). In the typical red morph, their coats are generally bright reddish-rusty with yellowish tints. A stripe of weak, diffuse patterns of many brown-reddish-chestnut hairs occurs along the spine. Two additional stripes pass down the shoulder blades, which, together with the spinal stripe, form a cross. The lower back is often a mottled silvery colour. The flanks are lighter coloured than the back, while the chin, lower lips, throat and front of the chest are white. The remaining lower surface of the body is dark, brown or reddish. During lactation, the belly fur of vixens


title: "Red fox" content: may turn brick red. The upper parts of the limbs are rusty reddish, while the paws are black. The frontal part of the face and upper neck is bright brownish-rusty red, while the upper lips are white. The backs of the ears are black or brownish-reddish, while the inner surface is whitish. The top of the tail is brownish-reddish, but lighter in colour than the back and flanks. The underside of the tail is pale grey with a straw-coloured tint. A black spot, the location of the supracaudal gland, is usually present at the base of the tail. The tip


title: "Red fox" content: of the tail is white. Atypical colourations in red foxes usually represent stages toward full melanism, and mostly occur in cold regions. Red foxes have binocular vision, but their sight reacts mainly to movement. Their auditory perception is acute, being able to hear black grouse changing roosts at 600 paces, the flight of crows at and the squeaking of mice at about . They are capable of locating sounds to within one degree at 700–3,000 Hz, though less accurately at higher frequencies. Their sense of smell is good, but weaker than that of specialised dogs. Red foxes have a pair


title: "Red fox" content: of anal sacs lined by sebaceous glands, both of which open through a single duct. The anal sacs act as fermentation chambers in which aerobic and anaerobic bacteria convert sebum into odorous compounds, including aliphatic acids. The oval-shaped caudal gland is long and wide, and reportedly smells of violets. The presence of foot glands is equivocal. The interdigital cavities are deep, with a reddish tinge and smell strongly. Sebaceous glands are present on the angle of the jaw and mandible. Red foxes either establish stable home ranges within particular areas or are itinerant with no fixed abode. They use their


title: "Red fox" content: urine to mark their territories. A male fox raises one hind leg and his urine is sprayed forward in front of him, whereas a female fox squats down so that the urine is sprayed in the ground between the hind legs. Urine is also used to mark empty cache sites, used to store found food, as reminders not to waste time investigating them. The use of up to 12 different urination postures allows them to precisely control the position of the scent mark. Red foxes live in family groups sharing a joint territory. In favourable habitats and/or areas with low


title: "Red fox" content: hunting pressure, subordinate foxes may be present in a range. Subordinate foxes may number one or two, sometimes up to eight in one territory. These subordinates could be formerly dominant animals, but are mostly young from the previous year, who act as helpers in rearing the breeding vixen's kits. Alternatively, their presence has been explained as being in response to temporary surpluses of food unrelated to assisting reproductive success. Non-breeding vixens will guard, play, groom, provision and retrieve kits, an example of kin selection. Red foxes may leave their families once they reach adulthood if the chances of winning a


title: "Red fox" content: territory of their own are high. If not, they will stay with their parents, at the cost of postponing their own reproduction. Red foxes reproduce once a year in spring. Two months prior to oestrus (typically December), the reproductive organs of vixens change shape and size. By the time they enter their oestrus period, their uterine horns double in size, and their ovaries grow 1.5–2 times larger. Sperm formation in males begins in August–September, with the testicles attaining their greatest weight in December–February. The vixen's oestrus period lasts three weeks, during which the dog-foxes mate with the vixens for several


title: "Red fox" content: days, often in burrows. The male's bulbus glandis enlarges during copulation, forming a copulatory tie which may last for more than an hour. The gestation period lasts 49–58 days. Though foxes are largely monogamous, DNA evidence from one population indicated large levels of polygyny, incest and mixed paternity litters. Subordinate vixens may become pregnant, but usually fail to whelp, or have their kits killed postpartum by either the dominant female or other subordinates. The average litter size consists of four to six kits, though litters of up to 13 kits have occurred. Large litters are typical in areas where fox


title: "Red fox" content: mortality is high. Kits are born blind, deaf and toothless, with dark brown fluffy fur. At birth, they weigh and measure in body length and in tail length. At birth, they are short-legged, large-headed and have broad chests. Mothers remain with the kits for 2–3 weeks, as they are unable to thermoregulate. During this period, the fathers or barren vixens feed the mothers. Vixens are very protective of their kits, and have been known to even fight off terriers in their defence. If the mother dies before the kits are independent, the father takes over as their provider. The kits'


title: "Red fox" content: eyes open after 13–15 days, during which time their ear canals open and their upper teeth erupt, with the lower teeth emerging 3–4 days later. Their eyes are initially blue, but change to amber at 4–5 weeks. Coat colour begins to change at three weeks of age, when the black eye streak appears. By one month, red and white patches are apparent on their faces. During this time, their ears erect and their muzzles elongate. Kits begin to leave their dens and experiment with solid food brought by their parents at the age of 3–4 weeks. The lactation period lasts


title: "Red fox" content: 6–7 weeks. Their woolly coats begin to be coated by shiny guard hairs after 8 weeks. By the age of 3–4 months, the kits are long-legged, narrow-chested and sinewy. They reach adult proportions at the age of 6–7 months. Some vixens may reach sexual maturity at the age of 9–10 months, thus bearing their first litters at one year of age. In captivity, their longevity can be as long as 15 years, though in the wild they typically do not survive past 5 years of age. Outside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely


title: "Red fox" content: vegetated areas, though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather. Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades, while those dug on the steppes last only several years. They may permanently abandon their dens during mange outbreaks, possibly as a defence mechanism against the spread of disease. In the Eurasian desert regions, foxes may use the burrows of wolves, porcupines


title: "Red fox" content: and other large mammals, as well as those dug by gerbil colonies. Compared to burrows constructed by Arctic foxes, badgers, marmots and corsac foxes, red fox dens are not overly complex. Red fox burrows are divided into a den and temporary burrows, which consist only of a small passage or cave for concealment. The main entrance of the burrow leads downwards (40–45°) and broadens into a den, from which numerous side tunnels branch. Burrow depth ranges from , rarely extending to ground water. The main passage can reach in length, standing an average of . In spring, red foxes clear


title: "Red fox" content: their dens of excess soil through rapid movements, first with the forepaws then with kicking motions with their hind legs, throwing the discarded soil over from the burrow. When kits are born, the discarded debris is trampled, thus forming a spot where the kits can play and receive food. They may share their dens with woodchucks or badgers. Unlike badgers, which fastidiously clean their earths and defecate in latrines, red foxes habitually leave pieces of prey around their dens.> The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day. Red fox body language consists of movements


title: "Red fox" content: of the ears, tail and postures, with their body markings emphasising certain gestures. Postures can be divided into aggressive/dominant and fearful/submissive categories. Some postures may blend the two together. Inquisitive foxes will rotate and flick their ears whilst sniffing. Playful individuals will perk their ears and rise on their hind legs. Male foxes courting females, or after successfully evicting intruders, will turn their ears outwardly, and raise their tails in a horizontal position, with the tips raised upward. When afraid, red foxes grin in submission, arching their backs, curving their bodies, crouching their legs and lashing their tails back and


title: "Red fox" content: forth with their ears pointing backwards and pressed against their skulls. When merely expressing submission to a dominant animal, the posture is similar, but without arching the back or curving the body. Submissive foxes will approach dominant animals in a low posture, so that their muzzles reach up in greeting. When two evenly matched foxes confront each other over food, they approach each other sideways and push against each other's flanks, betraying a mixture of fear and aggression through lashing tails and arched backs without crouching and pulling their ears back without flattening them against their skulls. When launching an


title: "Red fox" content: assertive attack, red foxes approach directly rather than sideways, with their tails aloft and their ears rotated sideways. During such fights, red foxes will stand on each other's upper bodies with their forelegs, using open mouthed threats. Such fights typically only occur among juveniles or adults of the same sex. Red foxes have a wide vocal range, and produce different sounds spanning five octaves, which grade into each other. Recent analyses identify 12 different sounds produced by adults and 8 by kits. The majority of sounds can be divided into "contact" and "interaction" calls. The former vary according to the


title: "Red fox" content: distance between individuals, while the latter vary according to the level of aggression. Another call that does not fit into the two categories is a long, drawn out, monosyllabic ""waaaaah"" sound. As it is commonly heard during the breeding season, it is thought to be emitted by vixens summoning males. When danger is detected, foxes emit a monosyllabic bark. At close quarters, it is a muffled cough, while at long distances it is sharper. Kits make warbling whimpers when nursing, these calls being especially loud when they are dissatisfied. Red foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet. Research conducted


title: "Red fox" content: in the former Soviet Union showed red foxes consuming over 300 animal species and a few dozen species of plants. They primarily feed on small rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, woodchucks, pocket gophers and deer mice. Secondary prey species include birds (with passeriformes, galliformes and waterfowl predominating), leporids, porcupines, raccoons, opossums, reptiles, insects, other invertebrates and flotsam (marine mammals, fish and echinoderms). On very rare occasions, foxes may attack young or small ungulates. They typically target mammals up to about in weight, and they require of food daily. Red foxes readily eat plant material, and in some


title: "Red fox" content: areas fruit can amount to 100% of their diet in autumn. Commonly consumed fruits include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, persimmons, mulberries, apples, plums, grapes, and acorns. Other plant material includes grasses, sedges and tubers. Red foxes are implicated in the predation of game and song birds, hares, rabbits, muskrats, and young ungulates, particularly in preserves, reserves, and hunting farms where ground nesting birds are protected and raised, as well as in poultry farms. While the popular consensus is that olfaction is very important for hunting, two studies that experimentally investigated the role of olfactory, auditory, and visual cues found that


title: "Red fox" content: visual cues are the most important ones for hunting in red foxes and coyotes. Red foxes prefer to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening. Although they typically forage alone, they may aggregate in resource-rich environments. When hunting mouse-like prey, they first pinpoint their prey's location by sound, then leap, sailing high above their quarry, steering in mid-air with their tails, before landing on target up to away. They typically only feed on carrion in the late evening hours and at night. They are extremely possessive of their food and will defend their catches from even


title: "Red fox" content: dominant animals. Red foxes may occasionally commit acts of surplus killing; during one breeding season, four foxes were recorded to have killed around 200 black-headed gulls each, with peaks during dark, windy hours when flying conditions were unfavorable. Losses to poultry and penned game birds can be substantial because of this. Red foxes seem to dislike the taste of moles but will nonetheless catch them alive and present them to their kits as playthings. A 2008–2010 study of 84 red foxes in the Czech Republic and Germany found that successful hunting in long vegetation or under snow appeared to involve


title: "Red fox" content: an alignment of the fox with the Earth's magnetic field. Red foxes typically dominate other fox species. Arctic foxes generally escape competition from red foxes by living farther north, where food is too scarce to support the larger-bodied red species. Although the red species' northern limit is linked to the availability of food, the Arctic species' southern range is limited by the presence of the former. Red and Arctic foxes were both introduced to almost every island from the Aleutian Islands to the Alexander Archipelago during the 1830s–1930s by fur companies. The red foxes invariably displaced the Arctic foxes, with


title: "Red fox" content: one male red fox having been reported to have killed off all resident Arctic foxes on a small island in 1866. Where they are sympatric, Arctic foxes may also escape competition by feeding on lemmings and flotsam, rather than voles, as favoured by red foxes. Both species will kill each other's kits, given the opportunity. Red foxes are serious competitors of corsac foxes, as they hunt the same prey all year. The red species is also stronger, is better adapted to hunting in snow deeper than and is more effective in hunting and catching medium to large-sized rodents. Corsac foxes


title: "Red fox" content: seem to only outcompete red foxes in semi-desert and steppe areas. In Israel, Blanford's foxes escape competition with red foxes by restricting themselves to rocky cliffs and actively avoiding the open plains inhabited by red foxes. Red foxes dominate kit and swift foxes. Kit foxes usually avoid competition with their larger cousins by living in more arid environments, though red foxes have been increasing in ranges formerly occupied by kit foxes due to human-induced environmental changes. Red foxes will kill both species, and compete for food and den sites. Grey foxes are exceptional, as they dominate red foxes wherever their


title: "Red fox" content: ranges meet. Historically, interactions between the two species were rare, as grey foxes favoured heavily wooded or semiarid habitats as opposed to the open and mesic ones preferred by red foxes. However, interactions have become more frequent due to deforestation allowing red foxes to colonise grey fox-inhabited areas. Wolves may kill and eat red foxes in disputes over carcasses. In areas in North America where red fox and coyote populations are sympatric, fox ranges tend to be located outside coyote territories. The principal cause of this separation is believed to be active avoidance of coyotes by the foxes. Interactions between


title: "Red fox" content: the two species vary in nature, ranging from active antagonism to indifference. The majority of aggressive encounters are initiated by coyotes, and there are few reports of red foxes acting aggressively toward coyotes except when attacked or when their kits were approached. Foxes and coyotes have sometimes been seen feeding together. In Israel, red foxes share their habitat with golden jackals. Where their ranges meet, the two canids compete due to near identical diets. Foxes ignore jackal scents or tracks in their territories, and avoid close physical proximity with jackals themselves. In areas where jackals become very abundant, the population


title: "Red fox" content: of foxes decreases significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. Red foxes dominate raccoon dogs, sometimes killing their kits or biting adults to death. Cases are known of foxes killing raccoon dogs entering their dens. Both species compete for mouse-like prey. This competition reaches a peak during early spring, when food is scarce. In Tartaria, red fox predation accounted for 11.1% of deaths among 54 raccoon dogs, and amounted to 14.3% of 186 raccoon dog deaths in north-western Russia. Red foxes may kill small mustelids like weasels, stone martens, pine martens, stoats, kolonoks, polecats and young sables. Eurasian badgers may live


title: "Red fox" content: alongside red foxes in isolated sections of large burrows. It is possible that the two species tolerate each other out of mutualism; foxes provide badgers with food scraps, while badgers maintain the shared burrow's cleanliness. However, cases are known of badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters without eating them. Wolverines may kill red foxes, often while the latter are sleeping or near carrion. Foxes in turn may kill unattended young wolverines. Red foxes may compete with striped hyenas on large carcasses. Red foxes may give way to hyenas on unopened carcasses, as the latter's stronger jaws


title: "Red fox" content: can easily tear open flesh that is too tough for foxes. Foxes may harass hyenas, using their smaller size and greater speed to avoid the hyena's attacks. Sometimes, foxes seem to deliberately torment hyenas even when there is no food at stake. Some foxes may mistime their attacks, and are killed. Fox remains are often found in hyena dens, and hyenas may steal foxes from traps. In Eurasia, red foxes may be preyed upon by leopards, caracals and Eurasian lynxes. The lynxes chase red foxes into deep snow, where their longer legs and larger paws give them an advantage over


title: "Red fox" content: foxes, especially when the depth of the snow exceeds one metre. In the Velikoluki district in Russia, red foxes are absent or are seen only occasionally where lynxes establish permanent territories. Researchers consider lynxes to represent considerably less danger to red foxes than wolves do. North American felid predators of red foxes include cougars, Canadian lynxes and bobcats. Occasionally, large raptors such as Eurasian eagle owls will prey on young foxes, while golden eagles have been known to kill adults. Red foxes are wide-ranging animals, whose range covers nearly . They are distributed across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the


title: "Red fox" content: Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and Asia. They are absent in Iceland, the Arctic islands, some parts of Siberia, and in extreme deserts. Red foxes are not present in New Zealand and are classed as a "prohibited new organism" under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing them from being imported. In Australia, 2012 estimates indicate that there are more than 7.2 million red foxes with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland. The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s in the British colonies of Van Diemen's Land


title: "Red fox" content: (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845) for the purpose of the traditional English sport of fox hunting. A permanent fox population was not established on the island of Tasmania and it is widely held that they were outcompeted by the Tasmanian devil. On the mainland, however, the species was successful as an apex predator. It is generally less common in areas where the dingo is more prevalent, however it has, primarily through its burrowing behaviour, achieved niche differentiation with both the feral dog and the feral cat. As such


title: "Red fox" content: it has become one of the continent's most invasive species. The red fox has been implicated in the extinction and decline of several native Australian species, particularly those of the family Potoroidae including the desert rat-kangaroo. The spread of red foxes across the southern part of the continent has coincided with the spread of rabbits in Australia and corresponds with declines in the distribution of several medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals, including brush-tailed bettongs, burrowing bettongs, rufous bettongs, bilbys, numbats, bridled nailtail wallabys and quokkas. Most of these species are now limited to areas (such as islands) where red foxes are absent


title: "Red fox" content: or rare. Local eradication programs exist, although eradication has proven difficult due to the denning behaviour and nocturnal hunting, so the focus is on management with the introduction of state bounties. According to the Tasmanian government, red foxes were introduced to the previously fox-free island of Tasmania in 1999 or 2000, posing a significant threat to native wildlife including the eastern bettong, and an eradication program conducted by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water has been established. The origin of the Sardinian "ichnusae" subspecies is uncertain, as it is absent from Pleistocene deposits in their current homeland. It


title: "Red fox" content: is possible it originated during the Neolithic following its introduction to the island by humans. It is likely then that Sardinian fox populations stem from repeated introductions of animals from different localities in the Mediterranean. This latter theory may explain the subspecies' phenotypic diversity. Red foxes are the most important rabies vector in Europe. In London, arthritis is not uncommon in foxes, being particularly frequent in the spine. Foxes may be infected with leptospirosis and tularemia, though they are not overly susceptible to the latter. They may also fall ill from listeriosis and spirochetosis, as well as acting as vectors


title: "Red fox" content: in spreading erysipelas, brucellosis and tick-borne encephalitis. A mysterious fatal disease near Lake Sartlan in the Novosibirsk Oblast was noted among local red foxes, but the cause was undetermined. The possibility was considered that it was caused by an acute form of encephalomyelitis, which was first observed in captive bred silver foxes. Individual cases of foxes infected with "Yersinia pestis" are known. Red foxes are not readily prone to infestation with fleas. Species like "Spilopsyllus cuniculi" are probably only caught from the fox's prey species, while others like "Archaeopsylla erinacei" are caught whilst travelling. Fleas that feed on red foxes


title: "Red fox" content: include "Pulex irritans", "Ctenocephalides canis" and "Paraceras melis". Ticks such as "Ixodes ricinus" and "I. hexagonus" are not uncommon in foxes, and are typically found on nursing vixens and kits still in their earths. The louse "Trichodectes vulpis" specifically targets foxes, but is found infrequently. The mite "Sarcoptes scabiei" is the most important cause of mange in red foxes. It causes extensive hair loss, starting from the base of the tail and hindfeet, then the rump before moving on to the rest of the body. In the final stages of the condition, foxes can lose most of their fur, 50%


title: "Red fox" content: of their body weight and may gnaw at infected extremities. In the epizootic phase of the disease, it usually takes foxes four months to die after infection. Other endoparasites include "Demodex folliculorum", "Notoderes", "Otodectes cynotis" (which is frequently found in the ear canal), "Linguatula serrata" (which infects the nasal passages) and ringworms. Up to 60 helminth species are known to infect foxes in fur farms, while 20 are known in the wild. Several coccidian species of the genera "Isospora" and "Eimeria" are also known to infect them. The most common nematode species found in fox guts are "Toxocara canis" and


title: "Red fox" content: "Uncinaria stenocephala", "Capillaria aerophila" and "Crenosoma vulpis", the latter two infect their lungs. "Capillaria plica" infect the fox's bladder. "Trichinella spiralis" rarely affects them. The most common tapeworm species in foxes are "Taenia spiralis" and "T. pisiformis". Others include "Echinococcus granulosus" and "E. multilocularis". Eleven trematode species infect red foxes, including "Metorchis conjunctus. Red foxes feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures with which they are sympatric. In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox or Cadmean vixen, was a gigantic fox that was destined never to be caught. The fox was one of the children of Echidna. In


title: "Red fox" content: Celtic mythology, the red fox is a symbolic animal. In the Cotswolds, witches were thought to take the shape of foxes to steal butter from their neighbours. In later European folklore, the figure of Reynard the Fox symbolises trickery and deceit. He originally appeared (then under the name of "Reinardus") as a secondary character in the 1150 poem "Ysengrimus". He reappeared in 1175 in Pierre Saint Cloud's "Le Roman de Renart", and made his debut in England in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale". Many of Reynard's adventures may stem from actual observations on fox behaviour; he is an enemy


title: "Red fox" content: of the wolf and has a fondness for blackberries and grapes. Chinese folk tales tell of fox-spirits called "huli jing" that may have up to nine tails, or "kumiho" as they are known in Korea. In Japanese mythology, the kitsune are fox-like spirits possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others, other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. In Arab folklore, the fox is considered a cowardly, weak, deceitful, and cunning animal,


title: "Red fox" content: said to feign death by filling its abdomen with air to appear bloated, then lies on its side, awaiting the approach of unwitting prey. The animal's cunning was noted by the authors of the Bible, and applied the word "fox" to false prophets (Ezekiel 13:4) and the hypocrisy of Herod Antipas (Luke 13:32). The cunning Fox is commonly found in Native American mythology, where it is portrayed as an almost constant companion to Coyote. Fox, however, is a deceitful companion that often steals Coyote's food. In the Achomawi creation myth, Fox and Coyote are the co-creators of the world, that


title: "Red fox" content: leave just before the arrival of humans. The Yurok tribe believed that Fox, in anger, captured the sun, and tied him to a hill, causing him to burn a great hole in the ground. An Inuit story tells of how Fox, portrayed as a beautiful woman, tricks a hunter into marrying her, only to resume her true form and leave after he offends her. A Menominee story tells of how Fox is an untrustworthy friend to the Wolf. The earliest historical records of fox hunting come from the fourth century BC; Alexander the Great is known to have hunted foxes


title: "Red fox" content: and a seal dated from 350 BC depicts a Persian horseman in the process of spearing a fox. Xenophon, who viewed hunting as part of a cultured man's education, advocated the killing of foxes as pests, as they distracted hounds from hares. The Romans were hunting foxes by 80 AD. During the Dark Ages in Europe, foxes were considered secondary quarries, but gradually grew in importance. Cnut the Great reclassed foxes as Beasts of the Chase, a lower category of quarry than Beasts of Venery. Foxes were gradually hunted less as vermin and more as Beasts of the Chase, to


title: "Red fox" content: the point that by the late 1200s, Edward I had a royal pack of foxhounds and a specialised fox huntsman. In this period, foxes were increasingly hunted above ground with hounds, rather than underground with terriers. Edward, Second Duke of York assisted the climb of foxes as more prestigious quarries in his "The Master of Game". By the Renaissance, fox hunting became a traditional sport of the nobility. After the English Civil War caused a drop in deer populations, fox hunting grew in popularity. By the mid-1600s, Britain was divided into fox hunting territories, with the first fox hunting clubs


title: "Red fox" content: being formed (the first was the Charlton Hunt Club in 1737). The popularity of fox hunting in Britain reached a peak during the 1700s. Although already native to North America, red foxes from England were imported for sporting purposes to Virginia and Maryland in 1730 by prosperous tobacco planters. These American fox hunters considered the red species more sporting than grey species. Red foxes are still widely persecuted as pests, with human-caused deaths among the highest causes of mortality in the species. Annual fox kills are: UK 21,500–25,000 (2000); Germany 600,000 (2000–2001); Austria 58,000 (2000–2001); Sweden 58,000 (1999–2000); Finland 56,000


title: "Red fox" content: (2000–2001); Denmark 50,000 (1976–1977); Switzerland 34,832 (2001); Norway 17,000 (2000–2001); Saskatchewan (Canada) 2,000 (2000–2001); Nova Scotia (Canada) 491 (2000–2001); Minnesota (US) 4,000–8,000 (average annual trapping harvest 2002–2009); New Mexico (US) 69 (1999–2000). Red foxes are among the most important furbearing animals harvested by the fur trade. Their pelts are used for trimmings, scarfs, muffs, jackets and coats. They are principally used as trimming for both cloth coats and fur garments, including evening wraps. The pelts of silver-morph foxes are popular as capes, while cross foxes are mostly used for scarves and rarely for trimming. The number of sold fox scarves


title: "Red fox" content: exceeds the total number of scarves made from other furbearers. However, this amount is overshadowed by the total number of fox pelts used for trimming purposes. The silver morphs are the most valued by furriers, followed by the cross and red morphs respectively.> In the early 1900s, over 1,000 American fox skins were imported to Britain annually, while 500,000 were exported annually from Germany and Russia. The total worldwide trade of wild red foxes in 1985–86 was 1,543,995 pelts. Foxes amounted to 45% of US wild-caught pelts worth $50 million. Pelt prices are increasing, with 2012 North American wholesale auction


title: "Red fox" content: prices averaging $39, and 2013 prices averaging $65.78. North American red foxes, particularly those of northern Alaska, are the most valued for their fur, as they have guard hairs of a silky texture, which, after dressing, allow the wearer unrestricted mobility. Red foxes living in southern Alaska's coastal areas and the Aleutian Islands are an exception, as they have extremely coarse pelts that rarely exceed one-third of the price of their northern Alaskan cousins. Most European peltries have coarse-textured fur compared to North American varieties. The only exceptions are the Nordic and Far Eastern Russian peltries, but they are still


title: "Red fox" content: inferior to North American peltries in terms of silkiness. Red foxes may on occasions prey on lambs. Usually, lambs targeted by foxes tend to be physically weakened specimens, but not invariably. Lambs belonging to small breeds, such as Blackface, are more vulnerable than larger breeds such as Merino. Twins may be more vulnerable to foxes than singlets, as ewes cannot effectively defend both simultaneously. Crossbreeding small, upland ewes with larger, lowland rams can cause difficult and prolonged labour for ewes due to the heaviness of the resulting offspring, thus making the lambs more at risk to fox predation. Lambs born


title: "Red fox" content: from gimmers (ewes breeding for the first time) are more often killed by foxes than those of experienced mothers, who stick closer to their young. Red foxes may prey on domestic rabbits and guinea pigs if they are kept in open runs or are allowed to range freely in gardens. This problem is usually averted by housing them in robust hutches and runs. Urban foxes frequently encounter cats and may feed alongside them. In physical confrontations, the cats usually have the upper hand. Authenticated cases of foxes killing cats usually involve kittens. Although most foxes do not prey on cats,


title: "Red fox" content: some may do so, and may treat them more as competitors rather than food. In their unmodified wild state, red foxes are generally unsuitable as pets. Many supposedly abandoned kits are adopted by well-meaning people during the spring period, though it is unlikely that vixens would abandon their young. Actual orphans are rare, and the ones that are adopted are likely kits that simply strayed from their den site. Kits require almost constant supervision; when still suckling, they require milk at four-hour intervals day and night. Once weaned, they may become destructive to leather objects, furniture and electric cables. Though


title: "Red fox" content: generally friendly toward people when young, captive red foxes become fearful of humans, save for their handlers, once they reach 10 weeks of age. They maintain their wild counterpart's strong instinct of concealment, and may pose a threat to domestic birds, even when well fed. Although suspicious of strangers, they can form bonds with cats and dogs, even ones bred for fox hunting. Tame foxes were once used to draw ducks close to hunting blinds. A strain of truly domesticated red foxes was introduced by Russian geneticist Dmitry Belyayev who, over a 40-year period, bred several generations of silver morph


title: "Red fox" content: foxes on fur farms, selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyayev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans, thus resulting in a population of foxes whose behaviour and appearance was significantly changed. After about ten generations of controlled breeding, these foxes no longer showed any fear of humans, and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. These behavioural changes were accompanied by physical alterations, which included piebald coats, floppy ears in pups, and curled tails, similar to traits that distinguish domestic dogs from wolves.


title: "Red fox" content: Red foxes have been exceedingly successful in colonising built-up environments, especially lower-density suburbs, although many have also been sighted in dense urban areas far from the countryside. Throughout the twentieth century, they established themselves in many Australian, European, Japanese, and North American cities. The species first colonised British cities during the 1930s, entering Bristol and London during the 1940s, and later established themselves in Cambridge and Norwich. In Australia, red foxes were recorded in Melbourne as early as the 1930s, while in Zurich, Switzerland, they only starting appearing in the 1980s. Urban red foxes are most common in residential suburbs


title: "Red fox" content: consisting of privately owned, low-density housing. They are rare in areas where industry, commerce or council-rented houses predominate. In these latter areas, the distribution is of a lower average density because they rely less on human resources; the home range of these foxes average from , whereas those in more residential areas average from . In 2006 it was estimated that there were 10,000 foxes in London. City-dwelling foxes may have the potential to consistently grow larger than their rural counterparts, as a result of abundant scraps and a relative dearth of predators. In cities foxes may scavenge food from


title: "Red fox" content: litter bins and bin bags, although much of their diet will be similar to rural foxes. Urban red foxes are most active at dusk and dawn, doing most of their hunting and scavenging at these times. It is uncommon to spot them during the day, but they can be caught sunbathing on roofs of houses or sheds. Foxes will often make their homes in hidden and undisturbed spots in urban areas as well as on the edges of a city, visiting at night for sustenance. While foxes will scavenge successfully in the city (and the foxes tend to eat anything


title: "Red fox" content: that the humans eat) some urban residents will deliberately leave food out for the animals, finding them endearing. Doing this regularly can attract foxes to one's home; they can become accustomed to human presence, warming up to their providers by allowing themselves to be approached and in some cases even played with, particularly young cubs. Urban foxes can cause problems for local residents. Foxes have been known to steal chickens, disrupt rubbish bins and damage gardens. Most complaints about urban foxes made to local authorities occur during the breeding season in late January/early February or from late April to August,


title: "Red fox" content: when the new cubs are developing. In the UK, hunting foxes in urban areas is banned, and shooting them in an urban environment is not suitable. One alternative to hunting urban foxes has been to trap them, which appears to be a more viable method. However, killing foxes has little effect on the population in an urban area; those that are killed are very soon replaced, either by new cubs during the breeding season or by other foxes moving into the territory of those that were killed. A more effective method of fox control is to deter them from the


title: "Red fox" content: specific areas they inhabit. Deterrents such as creosote, diesel oil, or ammonia can be used. Cleaning up and blocking access to den locations can also discourage a fox's return. In January 2014 it was reported that "Fleet", a relatively tame urban fox tracked as part of a wider study by the University of Brighton in partnership with the BBC's "Winterwatch", had unexpectedly travelled 195 miles in 21 days from his neighbourhood in Hove, at the western edge of East Sussex, across rural countryside as far as Rye, at the eastern edge of the county. He was still continuing his journey


title: "Red fox" content: when the GPS collar stopped transmitting, due to suspected water damage. Along with setting a record for the longest journey undertaken by a tracked fox in the United Kingdom, his travels have highlighted the fluidity of movement between rural and urban fox populations. Red fox The red fox ("Vulpes vulpes") is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, North America and Eurasia. It is listed as least concern by the IUCN. Its range has increased


title: Escalator content: Escalator An escalator is a type of vertical transportation in the form of a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep them horizontal. Escalators are used around the world in places where lifts would be impractical. Principal areas of usage include department stores, shopping malls, airports, transit systems (railway/railroad stations), convention centers, hotels, arenas, stadiums and public buildings. Escalators have the capacity to move large numbers of people. They can be placed in the same


title: Escalator content: physical space as a staircase. They have no waiting interval (except during very heavy traffic). They can be used to guide people toward main exits or special exhibits. They may be weatherproofed for outdoor use. A nonfunctional escalator can function as a normal staircase, whereas many other methods of transport become useless when they break down or lose power. Escalators typically rise at an angle of about 30 degrees from the ground. They move at per second (like moving walkways) and may traverse vertical distances in excess of . Most modern escalators have single-piece aluminum or stainless steel steps that


title: Escalator content: move on a system of tracks in a continuous loop. Escalators are typically configured in one of three ways: "parallel" (up and down escalators adjacent or nearby, often seen in metro stations and multilevel movie theaters), "multiple parallel" (banks of more than one escalator going in the same direction parallel to banks going the other direction), or "crisscross" (escalators going in one direction "stacked" with escalators going the opposite direction oriented adjacent but perpendicular, frequently used in department stores or shopping centers). Most countries require escalators to have moving handrails that keep pace with the movement of the steps as


title: Escalator content: a safety measure. This helps riders steady themselves, especially when stepping onto the moving stairs. Occasionally a handrail moves at a slightly different speed from the steps, causing it to "creep" slowly forward or backward relative to the steps; it is only slippage and normal wear that causes such losses of synchronicity, and is not by design. The direction of escalator movement (up or down) can be permanently set, controlled manually depending on the predominant flow of the crowd, or controlled automatically. In some setups, the direction is controlled by whoever arrives first. Design factors include physical requirements, location, traffic


title: Escalator content: patterns, safety considerations and aesthetics. Physical factors such as the distance to be spanned determine the length and pitch of the escalator, while factors such as the infrastructure's ability to provide support and power must be considered. How upward and downward traffic is separated and load/unload areas are other important considerations. Temporal traffic patterns must be anticipated. Some escalators need only to move people from one floor to another, but others may have specific requirements, such as funneling visitors towards exits or exhibits. The visibility and accessibility of the escalator to traffic is relevant. Designers need to account for the


title: Escalator content: projected traffic volumes. For example, a single-width escalator traveling at about per second can move about 2000 people per hour, assuming that passengers ride single file. The carrying capacity of an escalator system is typically matched to the expected peak traffic demand. For example, escalators at transit stations must be designed to cater for the peak traffic flow discharged from a train, without excessive bunching at the escalator entrance. In this regard, escalators help manage the flow of people. For example, at many airports an unpaired escalator delivers passengers to an exit, with no means for anyone entering at the


title: Escalator content: exit to access the concourse. Escalators are often built next to or around staircases that allow alternative travel between the same two floors. Elevators are necessary for disability access to floors serviced by escalators. Landing platforms are the two platforms (at the two ends) that house the curved sections of the tracks, as well as the gears and motors that drive the stairs. The top platform usually contains the motor assembly and the main drive gear, while the bottom holds the step return idler sprockets. These sections also anchor the ends of the escalator truss. Each platform also has a


title: Escalator content: floor and a comb plate. The floor plate provides a place for the passengers to stand before they step onto the moving stairs, flush with the rest of the floor and usually hinged to allow easy maintenance access, while the comb plate lies between the stationary floor plate and the moving step, so named for the cleats on its edge which mesh with the matching cleats on each step (and resemble a comb). The interlocking cleats help to minimize the gap between the stairs and landing, preventing objects or persons from becoming caught in it. The truss is the hollow


title: Escalator content: metal structure that bridges the lower and upper landings, composed of two side sections joined together with cross braces across the bottom and just below the top. The ends of the truss are attached to the top and bottom landing platforms via steel or concrete supports. It carries all the straight track sections connecting the upper and lower sections. Made of either metal, sandwich panel, or glass, the balustrade supports the handrails of the escalator. It also provides additional protection for the handrail and passengers. Some escalators have direction arrows on the ends of the balustrade. Escalators' on/off buttons are


title: Escalator content: frequently located at the ends of the balustrade. Moving walkways often use balustrades in the same way. The track system is built into the truss to guide the step chain, which continuously pulls the steps from the bottom platform and back to the top in an endless loop. One track guides the front wheels of the steps (called the step-wheel track) and another guides the back wheels of the steps (called the trailer-wheel track). The relative positions of these tracks cause the steps to form a staircase as they move out from under the comb plate. Along the straight section


title: Escalator content: of the truss the tracks are at their maximum distance apart. This configuration forces the back of one step to be at a 90-degree angle relative to the step behind it. This right angle forces the steps into a shape resembling a staircase. At the top and bottom of the escalator, the two tracks converge so that the front and back wheels of the steps are almost in a straight line. This causes the stairs to lay in a flat sheetlike arrangement, one after another, so they can easily travel around the bend in the curved section of track. The


title: Escalator content: tracks carry the steps down along the underside of the truss until they reach the bottom landing, where they pass through another curved section of track before exiting the bottom landing. At this point, the tracks separate and the steps once again assume a staircase configuration. This cycle is repeated continually as the steps are pulled from bottom to top and back to the bottom again. The steps themselves are solid, one piece, die-cast aluminum or steel. Yellow demarcation lines are sometimes added to indicate their edges. In most escalator models manufactured after 1950, both the riser and the tread


title: Escalator content: of each step is cleated (given a ribbed appearance) with comb-like protrusions that mesh with the comb plates on the top and bottom platforms and the succeeding steps in the chain. Seeberger escalators featured flat treads and smooth risers; other escalator models have cleated treads and smooth risers. The steps are linked by a continuous metal chain that forms a closed loop. The front and back edges of the steps each have two wheels, the rear of which are set further apart and fit into the trailer-wheel track while the front set have narrower axles and fit the step-wheel track.


title: Escalator content: The handrail provides a handhold for passengers while they are riding the escalator. The handrail is pulled along its own track by a chain that is connected to the main drive gear by a series of pulleys, keeping it at the same speed as the steps. Four distinct sections make up the rail: at its center is a "slider", also known as a "glider ply," which is a layer of a cotton or synthetic textile that allows the rail to move smoothly along its track. The "tension member" lies on the slider and consists of either steel cable or flat


title: Escalator content: steel tape, providing the handrail with tensile strength and flexibility. The inner components, on top of the tension member, are made of chemically treated rubber designed to prevent the layers from separating. Finally, the outer layerthe part that passengers see—is the cover, typically a blend of synthetic polymers and rubber. Covers are designed to resist degradation from environmental conditions, mechanical wear and tear and vandalism. In a factory, handrails are constructed by feeding rubber through an extrusion machine to produce layers of the required size and type in order to match specific orders. The component layers of fabric, rubber and


title: Escalator content: steel are shaped by workers before being fed into the presses which fuse them together. In the mid-twentieth century, some handrail designs consisted of a rubber bellows, with rings of smooth metal cladding called "bracelets" between each coil. This gave the handrail a rigid yet flexible feel. Additionally, each bellows section was no more than a few feet long, so if part of the handrail was damaged, only the bad segment needed to be replaced. These forms of handrail have largely been replaced with fabric-and-rubber railings. Safety is a major concern in escalator design, as escalators are powerful machines that


title: Escalator content: can become entangled with clothing and other items. Such entanglements can injure or kill riders. In India many women wear saris, increasing the likelihood of entangling the clothing's loose end ("pallu)". To prevent this, sari guards are built into most escalators in India. Children wearing footwear such as Crocs and flip-flops are especially at risk of being caught in escalator mechanisms. The softness of the shoe's material combined with the smaller size of children's feet makes this sort of accident especially common. Escalators sometimes include fire protection systems including automatic fire detection and suppression systems within the dust collection and


title: Escalator content: engineer pit. To limit the danger caused by overheating, spaces that contain motors and gears typically include additional ventilation. Small, targeted clean agent automatic extinguishing systems are sometimes installed in these areas. Fire protection of an escalator floor opening is also sometimes provided by adding automatic sprinklers or fireproof shutters to the opening, or by installing the escalator in an enclosed fire-protected space. The King's Cross fire of 1987 illustrated the demanding nature of escalator upkeep and the devices' propensity to collect "fluff" and other small debris when not properly maintained. The official inquiry determined that the fire started slowly,


title: Escalator content: smoldering virtually undetected for a time, and then exploded into the ticket hall above in a previously-unrecognised phenomenon now known as the "trench effect". In the escalators' undercarriage, approximately of accumulated detritus acted as a wick to a neglected buildup of interior lubricants; wood veneers, paper and plastic advertisements, solvent-based paint, plywood in the ticket hall, and melamine combustion added to the impact of the calamity. Following the report, older wooden escalators were removed from service in the London Underground. Additionally, sections of the London Underground that were actually below ground were made non-smoking; ultimately, the whole system became a


title: Escalator content: smoke-free zone. In October 2015 on a Thursday morning, a 4-year-old boy suffocated and died in a Chinese train station in the city of Chongqing, China. The boy was playing with an escalator handrail when he fell and got stuck underneath it with his chest wedged between the bottom of the handrail and the ground. In the 1930s, at least one suit was filed against a department store, alleging that its escalators posed an attractive nuisance, responsible for a child’s injury. Despite their considerable scope, the two Congressional Acts regarding accessibility (the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with


title: Escalator content: Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)) did not directly affect escalators or their public installations. Since Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act included public transportation systems, for a few years, the United States Department of Transportation considered designs to retrofit existing escalators for wheelchair access. Nonetheless, Foster-Miller Associates' 1980 plan, "Escalator Modification for the Handicapped" was ultimately ignored in favor of increased elevator installations in subway systems. Likewise, the ADA provided more accessibility options, but expressly excluded escalators as "accessible means of egress," advocating neither their removal nor their retention in public structures. In the United States and Canada, new escalators


title: Escalator content: must abide by ASME A17.1 standards, and old/historic escalators must conform to the safety guidelines of ASME A17.3. In Europe, the escalator safety code is EN115. Nathan Ames, a patent attorney from Saugus, Massachusetts, is credited with patenting the first "escalator" in 1859, despite the fact that no working model of his design was ever built. His invention, the "revolving stairs", is largely speculative and the patent specifications indicate that he had no preference for materials or potential use (he noted that steps could be upholstered or made of wood, and suggested that the units might benefit the infirm within


title: Escalator content: a household use). The suggested motive power was either manual or hydraulic. In 1889, Leamon Souder successfully patented the "stairway", an analogous device that featured a "series of steps and links jointed to each other". No model was ever built. This was the first of at least four escalator-style patents issued to Souder, including two for spiral designs. On March 15, 1892, Jesse W. Reno patented the "Endless Conveyor or Elevator." A few months after Reno's patent was approved, George A. Wheeler patented his ideas for a more recognizable moving staircase, though it was never built. Wheeler’s patents were bought


title: Escalator content: by Charles Seeberger; some features of Wheeler’s designs were incorporated in Seeberger’s prototype that was built by the Otis Elevator Company in 1899. Reno, a graduate of Lehigh University, produced the first working escalator (called the "inclined elevator") and installed it alongside the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island, New York City in 1896. This particular device was little more than an inclined belt with cast-iron slats or cleats on the surface for traction, and traveled along a 25 degree incline. A few months later, the same prototype was used for a month-long trial period on the Manhattan side of


title: Escalator content: the Brooklyn Bridge. Reno eventually joined forces with Otis and retired once he had sold his patents. Some Reno-type escalators were still being used in the Boston subway until construction for the Big Dig precipitated their removal. The Smithsonian Institution considered re-assembling one of these historic units from 1914 in their collection of Americana, but "logistics and reassembly costs won out over nostalgia," and the project was discarded. Around May 1895, Charles Seeberger began drawings on a form of escalator similar to those patented by Wheeler in 1892. This device consisted of flat, moving stairs, not unlike the escalators of


title: Escalator content: today, except for one important detail: the step surface was smooth, with no comb effect to safely guide the rider's feet off at the ends. Instead, the passenger had to step off sideways. To facilitate this, at the top or bottom of the escalator the steps continued moving horizontally beyond the end of the handrail (like a miniature moving sidewalk) until they disappeared under a triangular "divider" which guided the passenger to either side. Seeberger teamed with Otis in 1899, and together they produced the first commercial escalator. It won first prize at the 1900 Paris "Exposition Universelle". Also on


title: Escalator content: display at the "Exposition" were Reno's inclined elevator, a similar model by James M. Dodge and the Link Belt Machinery Co., and two different devices by the French manufacturers Hallé and Piat. Piat installed its "stepless" escalator in Harrods Knightsbridge store on Wednesday, November 16, 1898, though the company relinquished its patent rights to the department store. Noted by Bill Lancaster in "The Department Store: a Social History", "customers unnerved by the experience were revived by shopmen dispensing free smelling salts and cognac." The Harrods unit was a continuous leather belt made of "224 pieces . . . strongly linked


title: Escalator content: together traveling in an upward direction," and was the first "moving staircase" in England. Hocquardt received European patent rights for the "Fahrtreppe" in 1906. After the "Exposition", Hallé continued to sell its escalator device in Europe but was eventually eclipsed in sales by other major manufacturers. In the first half of the twentieth century, several manufacturers developed their own escalator products, though they had to market their devices under different names, due to Otis’ hold on the trademark rights to the word "escalator." New York-based Peelle Company called their models the Motorstair, while Westinghouse called their model an Electric Stairway.


title: Escalator content: The Toledo-based Haughton Elevator company referred to their product as simply Moving Stairs. The Otis trademark is no longer in effect. Kone and Schindler introduced their first escalator models several decades after the Otis Elevator Co., but grew to dominate the field over time. Today, they, Mitsubishi, and ThyssenKrupp are Otis' primary rivals. Kone expanded internationally by acquisition in the 1970s, buying out Swedish elevator manufacturer Asea-Graham, and purchasing other minor French, German and Austrian elevator makers before assuming control of Westinghouse’s European elevator business. As the last of the "big four" manufacturers to emerge onto the global market, Kone


title: Escalator content: first acquired Montgomery Elevator company, then took control of Germany’s Orenstein & Koppel "Rolltreppen". In the twenty-first Schindler became the largest maker of escalators and second largest maker of elevators in the world, though their first escalator installation did not occur until 1936. In 1979, the company entered the United States market by purchasing Haughton Elevator. A decade later, Schindler assumed control of the North American escalator/elevator operations of Westinghouse, forming Schindler's American division. Jesse Reno also designed the first escalators installed in any underground subway system in the form of a helical escalator at Holloway Road tube station in


title: Escalator content: London in 1906. The experimental device never saw public use and its remains are now in the London Transport Museum's depot in Acton. Although the first fully operational spiral escalator, Reno’s design was nonetheless only one in a series of similar proposed contraptions. Souder patented two helical designs, while Wheeler drafted helical stairway plans in 1905. Seeberger devised at least two helical designs between 1906 and 1911 (including an unrealized arrangement for the London Underground), and Gilbert Luna obtained West German, Japanese, and United States patents for his version of a spiral escalator by 1973. When interviewed for the "Los


title: Escalator content: Angeles Times" that year, Luna was in the process of soliciting major firms for acquisition of his patents and company, but statistics are unclear on the outcome of these endeavors. Karl-Heinz Pahl received a European and a US patent for a spiral escalator in 1992. The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation was most successful in its development of spiral/helical escalators, and it alone has sold them since the mid-1980s. The world's first practical spiral escalator—a Mitsubishi model—was installed in Osaka, Japan, in 1985. Helixator, an experimental spiral/helical escalator design which currently exists as a prototype scale model, could further reduce floor space


title: Escalator content: demands. Its design has several innovations that allow a continuous helix; driven by a linear motor instead of a chain system, it spreads force evenly along the escalator path, avoiding excessive force on the top chain links and hence avoiding the geometry, length and height limits of standard escalators. Levytator, a design originating at City University in London, can move in straight lines or curves with or without rising or descending. The returning steps do not move underneath the in-use steps: rather, they provide steps for travel in the opposite direction, as in the Pahl spiral escalator patent. Authors and


title: Escalator content: historians have offered multiple interpretations of the source of the word “escalator”, and some degree of misinformation then proliferated. For reference, contradictory citations by seven separate individuals, including the Otis Elevator Company itself, are provided below. Seeberger trademarked the word "escalator" in 1900, to coincide with his device’s debut at the "Exposition Universelle". According to his own account, in 1895, his legal counsel advised him to name his new invention, and he then set out to devise a title for it. As evidenced in Seeberger's handwritten documents, the inventor consulted "a Latin lexicon" and "adopted as the root of the


title: Escalator content: new word, 'Scala'; as a prefix, 'E' and as a suffix, 'Tor.'" His own rough translation of the word thus created was "means of traversing from," and he intended for the word to be pronounced, "es‧ʹkæl‧ə‧tər" (es-CAL-a-tor). By 1906, Seeberger noted that the public had instead come to pronounce it "escə‧lāʹ‧tər" (es-ca-LĀ-tor). "Escalator" was not a combination of other French or Greek words, and was never a derivative of "elevator" in the original sense, which means "one who raises up, a deliverer" in Latin. Similarly, the root word ""scala"" does not mean "a flight of steps", but is the singular


title: Escalator content: form of the plural noun ""scalae"", which can denote any of: "a flight of steps or stairs, a staircase; a ladder, [or] a scaling-ladder." The alleged intended capitalization of "escalator" is likewise a topic of debate. Seeberger’s trademark application lists the word not only with the "E", but also with all of the letters capitalized (in two different instances), and he specifies that "any other form and character of type may be employed . . . without altering in any essential manner the character of [the] trade-mark." That his initial specifications are ostensibly inconsistent. Otis Elevator Co. advertisements so frequently


title: Escalator content: capitalized all of the letters in the word. In 1950, the landmark case "Haughton Elevator Co. v. Seeberger" precipitated the end of Otis's exclusive reign over the word "escalator", and simultaneously created a cautionary study for companies and individuals interested in trademark retention. Confirming the contention of the Examiner of Trademark Interferences, Assistant Commissioner of Patents Murphy’s decision rejected Otis’ appeal to keep their trademark intact, and noted that "the term 'escalator' is recognized by the general public as the name for a moving stairway and not the source thereof", observing that Otis had "used the term as a generic


title: Escalator content: descriptive term . . . in a number of patents which [had] been issued to them and . . . in their advertising matter." All trademark protections were removed from the word "escalator", the term was officially genericized, and it fell into the public domain. Notable examples of historic escalators still in operation include: According to Guinness, the shortest escalator in the world is the "Puchicalator" in the Okadaya Mores shopping mall in Kawasaki Japan. Its vertical rise is and has 5 steps. In most major countries, the expectation is that escalator users wishing to stand keep to one side


title: Escalator content: to allow others to climb past them on the other. Due to historic design purposes, riders in Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States are expected to stand on the right and walk on the left. However, in Australia and New Zealand, the opposite is the case. Practice may differ from city to city within countries – in Osaka, riders stand on the right, whereas in Tokyo (and most other Japanese cities), riders stand on the left. In certain high-traffic systems, including the East Japan Railway Company and the Prague metro, escalator users are encouraged to


title: Escalator content: stand on whichever side they choose, with the aim of preventing wear and tear and asymmetrical burdening. All Tokyo metro stations also have posters next to the escalators that ask users not to walk but instead to stand on either side. The practice of standing on one side and walking on the other may cause uneven wear on escalator mechanisms. Escalator An escalator is a type of vertical transportation in the form of a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on


title: Maize content: Maize Maize ( ; "Zea mays" subsp. "mays", from after ), also known as corn, is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The leafy stalk of the plant produces pollen inflorescences and separate ovuliferous inflorescences called ears that yield kernels or seeds, which are fruits. Maize has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat or rice. However, little of this maize is consumed directly by humans: most is used for corn ethanol, animal feed and other , such


title: Maize content: as corn starch and corn syrup. The six major types of maize are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn. Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States in 2014 (Production table). Approximately 40% of the crop—130 million tons—is used for corn ethanol. Genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009. Sugar-rich varieties called sweet corn are usually grown for human consumption as kernels, while field corn varieties are used for animal feed, various


title: Maize content: corn-based human food uses (including grinding into cornmeal or masa, pressing into corn oil, and fermentation and distillation into alcoholic beverages like bourbon whiskey), and as chemical feedstocks. Maize is also used in making ethanol and other biofuels. Most historians believe maize was domesticated in the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico. Recent research in the early 21st century has modified this view somewhat; scholars now indicate the adjacent Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico as the center of domestication. An influential 2002 study by Matsuoka "et al". has demonstrated that, rather than the multiple independent domestications model, all maize arose from


title: Maize content: a single domestication in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. The study also demonstrated that the oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Later, maize spread from this region over the Americas along two major paths. This is consistent with a model based on the archaeological record suggesting that maize diversified in the highlands of Mexico before spreading to the lowlands. Archaeologist Dolores Piperno has said: Since then, even earlier dates have been published. According to a genetic study by Embrapa, corn cultivation was introduced in South America from Mexico, in two great waves: the first, more


title: Maize content: than 6000 years ago, spread through the Andes. Evidence of cultivation in Peru has been found dating to about 6700 years ago. The second wave, about 2000 years ago, through the lowlands of South America. Before domestication, maize plants grew only small, long corn cobs, and only one per plant. In Spielvogel's view, many centuries of artificial selection (rather than the current view that maize was exploited by interplanting with "teosinte") by the indigenous people of the Americas resulted in the development of maize plants capable of growing several cobs per plant, which were usually several centimetres/inches long each. The


title: Maize content: Olmec and Maya cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica; they cooked, ground and processed it through nixtamalization. It was believed that beginning about 2500 BC, the crop spread through much of the Americas. Research of the 21st century has established even earlier dates. The region developed a trade network based on surplus and varieties of maize crops. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe and introduced it to other countries. Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be


title: Maize content: substituted for wheat for communion bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation and be transformed into the body of Christ. Some Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, they would weaken and risk turning into Indians. "In the view of Europeans, it was the food they ate, even more than the environment in which they lived, that gave Amerindians and Spaniards both their distinctive physical characteristics and their characteristic personalities." Despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize. Archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well. Maize spread to


title: Maize content: the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates. It was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbus's voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. The word "maize" derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant, "mahiz". It is known by other names around the world. The word "corn" outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, its meaning understood to vary geographically to refer to the local staple. In the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, "corn" primarily means


title: Maize content: maize; this usage started as a shortening of "Indian corn". "Indian corn" primarily means maize (the staple grain of indigenous Americans), but can refer more specifically to multicolored "flint corn" used for decoration. In places outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand, "corn" often refers to maize in culinary contexts. The narrower meaning is usually indicated by some additional word, as in "sweet corn", "sweetcorn", "corn on the cob", "baby corn", the puffed confection known as "popcorn" and the breakfast cereal known as "corn flakes". In Southern Africa, maize is commonly called "mielie" (Afrikaans) or "mealie" (English), words derived from


title: Maize content: the Portuguese word for maize, "milho". "Maize" is preferred in formal, scientific, and international usage because it refers specifically to this one grain, unlike "corn", which has a complex variety of meanings that vary by context and geographic region. "Maize" is used by agricultural bodies and research institutes such as the FAO and CSIRO. National agricultural and industry associations often include the word "maize" in their name even in English-speaking countries where the local, informal word is something other than "maize"; for example, the Maize Association of Australia, the Indian Maize Development Association, the Kenya Maize Consortium and Maize Breeders


title: Maize content: Network, the National Maize Association of Nigeria, the Zimbabwe Seed Maize Association. However, in commodities trading, "corn" consistently refers to maize and not other grains. The maize plant is often in height, though some natural strains can grow . The stem is commonly composed of 20 internodes of length. A leaf, which grows from each node, is generally in width and in length. Ears develop above a few of the leaves in the midsection of the plant, between the stem and leaf sheath, elongating by around per day, to a length of with being the maximum alleged in the subspecies.


title: Maize content: They are female inflorescences, tightly enveloped by several layers of ear leaves commonly called husks. Certain varieties of maize have been bred to produce many additional developed ears. These are the source of the "baby corn" used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine. The apex of the stem ends in the tassel, an inflorescence of male flowers. When the tassel is mature and conditions are suitably warm and dry, anthers on the tassel dehisce and release pollen. Maize pollen is anemophilous (dispersed by wind), and because of its large settling velocity, most pollen falls within a few meters of the


title: Maize content: tassel. Elongated stigmas, called silks, emerge from the whorl of husk leaves at the end of the ear. They are often pale yellow and in length, like tufts of hair in appearance. At the end of each is a carpel, which may develop into a "kernel" if fertilized by a pollen grain. The pericarp of the fruit is fused with the seed coat referred to as "caryopsis", typical of the grasses, and the entire kernel is often referred to as the "seed". The cob is close to a multiple fruit in structure, except that the individual fruits (the kernels) never


title: Maize content: fuse into a single mass. The grains are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows around a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. The maximum size of kernels is reputedly . An ear commonly holds 600 kernels. They are of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize yields more flour with much less bran than wheat does. It lacks the protein gluten of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability. A genetic variant that accumulates more sugar and less starch in the ear is consumed


title: Maize content: as a vegetable and is called sweet corn. Young ears can be consumed raw, with the cob and silk, but as the plant matures (usually during the summer months), the cob becomes tougher and the silk dries to inedibility. By the end of the growing season, the kernels dry out and become difficult to chew without cooking them tender first in boiling water. Planting density affects multiple aspects of maize. Modern farming techniques in developed countries usually rely on dense planting, which produces one ear per stalk. Stands of silage maize are yet denser, and achieve a lower percentage of


title: Maize content: ears and more plant matter. Maize is a facultative short-day plant and flowers in a certain number of growing degree days <nowiki»</nowiki> in the environment to which it is adapted. The magnitude of the influence that long nights have on the number of days that must pass before maize flowers is genetically prescribed and regulated by the phytochrome system. Photoperiodicity can be eccentric in tropical cultivars such that the long days characteristic of higher latitudes allow the plants to grow so tall that they do not have enough time to produce seed before being killed by frost. These attributes, however,


title: Maize content: may prove useful in using tropical maize for biofuels. Immature maize shoots accumulate a powerful antibiotic substance, 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one (DIMBOA). DIMBOA is a member of a group of hydroxamic acids (also known as benzoxazinoids) that serve as a natural defense against a wide range of pests, including insects, pathogenic fungi and bacteria. DIMBOA is also found in related grasses, particularly wheat. A maize mutant (bx) lacking DIMBOA is highly susceptible to attack by aphids and fungi. DIMBOA is also responsible for the relative resistance of immature maize to the European corn borer (family Crambidae). As maize matures, DIMBOA levels and resistance


title: Maize content: to the corn borer decline. Because of its shallow roots, maize is susceptible to droughts, intolerant of nutrient-deficient soils, and prone to be uprooted by severe winds. While yellow maizes derive their color from lutein and zeaxanthin, in red-colored maizes, the kernel coloration is due to anthocyanins and phlobaphenes. These latter substances are synthesized in the flavonoids synthetic pathway from polymerisation of flavan-4-ols by the expression of maize pericarp color1 (p1) gene which encodes an R2R3 myb-like transcriptional activator of the A1 gene encoding for the dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (reducing dihydroflavonols into flavan-4-ols) while another gene (Suppressor of Pericarp Pigmentation 1


title: Maize content: or SPP1) acts as a suppressor. The p1 gene encodes an Myb-homologous transcriptional activator of genes required for biosynthesis of red phlobaphene pigments, while the P1-wr allele specifies colorless kernel pericarp and red cobs, and unstable factor for orange1 (Ufo1) modifies P1-wr expression to confer pigmentation in kernel pericarp, as well as vegetative tissues, which normally do not accumulate significant amounts of phlobaphene pigments. The maize P gene encodes a Myb homolog that recognizes the sequence CCT/AACC, in sharp contrast with the C/TAACGG bound by vertebrate Myb proteins. Maize flowers may sometimes exhibit mutations that lead to the formation of


title: Maize content: female flowers in the tassel. These mutations, "ts4" and "Ts6", prohibit the development of the stamen while simultaneously promoting pistil development. This may cause inflorescences containing both male and female flowers, or hermaphrodite flowers. Maize is an annual grass in the family Gramineae, which includes such plants as wheat, rye, barley, rice, sorghum, and sugarcane. There are two major species of the genus "Zea" (out of six total): "Zea mays" (maize) and "Zea diploperennis", which is a perennial type of teosinte. The annual teosinte variety called "Zea mays mexicana" is the closest botanical relative to maize. It still grows in


title: Maize content: the wild as an annual in Mexico and Guatemala. Many forms of maize are used for food, sometimes classified as various subspecies related to the amount of starch each has: This system has been replaced (though not entirely displaced) over the last 60 years by multivariable classifications based on ever more data. Agronomic data were supplemented by botanical traits for a robust initial classification, then genetic, cytological, protein and DNA evidence was added. Now, the categories are forms (little used), races, racial complexes, and recently branches. Maize is a diploid with 20 chromosomes (n=10). The combined length of the chromosomes


title: Maize content: is 1500 cM. Some of the maize chromosomes have what are known as "chromosomal knobs": highly repetitive heterochromatic domains that stain darkly. Individual knobs are polymorphic among strains of both maize and teosinte. Barbara McClintock used these knob markers to validate her transposon theory of "jumping genes", for which she won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Maize is still an important model organism for genetics and developmental biology today. The Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center, funded by the USDA Agricultural Research Service and located in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,


title: Maize content: is a stock center of maize mutants. The total collection has nearly 80,000 samples. The bulk of the collection consists of several hundred named genes, plus additional gene combinations and other heritable variants. There are about 1000 chromosomal aberrations (e.g., translocations and inversions) and stocks with abnormal chromosome numbers (e.g., tetraploids). Genetic data describing the maize mutant stocks as well as myriad other data about maize genetics can be accessed at MaizeGDB, the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database. In 2005, the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) formed a consortium to


title: Maize content: sequence the B73 maize genome. The resulting DNA sequence data was deposited immediately into GenBank, a public repository for genome-sequence data. Sequences and genome annotations have also been made available throughout the project's lifetime at the project's official site. Primary sequencing of the maize genome was completed in 2008. On November 20, 2009, the consortium published results of its sequencing effort in "Science". The genome, 85% of which is composed of transposons, was found to contain 32,540 genes (By comparison, the human genome contains about 2.9 billion bases and 26,000 genes). Much of the maize genome has been duplicated and


title: Maize content: reshuffled by helitrons—group of rolling circle transposons. Maize reproduces sexually each year. This randomly selects half the genes from a given plant to propagate to the next generation, meaning that desirable traits found in the crop (like high yield or good nutrition) can be lost in subsequent generations unless certain techniques are used. Maize breeding in prehistory resulted in large plants producing large ears. Modern breeding began with individuals who selected highly productive varieties in their fields and then sold seed to other farmers. James L. Reid was one of the earliest and most successful developing Reid's Yellow Dent in


title: Maize content: the 1860s. These early efforts were based on mass selection. Later breeding efforts included ear to row selection (C. G. Hopkins c. 1896), hybrids made from selected inbred lines (G. H. Shull, 1909), and the highly successful double cross hybrids using four inbred lines (D. F. Jones c. 1918, 1922). University supported breeding programs were especially important in developing and introducing modern hybrids (Ref Jugenheimer Hybrid Maize Breeding and Seed Production pub. 1958). By the 1930s, companies such as Pioneer devoted to production of hybrid maize had begun to influence long term development. Internationally important seed banks such as the


title: Maize content: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the US bank at the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign maintain germplasm important for future crop development. Since the 1940s the best strains of maize have been first-generation hybrids made from inbred strains that have been optimized for specific traits, such as yield, nutrition, drought, pest and disease tolerance. Both conventional cross-breeding and genetic modification have succeeded in increasing output and reducing the need for cropland, pesticides, water and fertilizer. There is conflicting evidence to support the hypothesis that maize yield potential has increased over the past


title: Maize content: few decades. This suggests that changes in yield potential are associated with leaf angle, lodging resistance, tolerance of high plant density, disease/pest tolerance, and other agronomic traits rather than increase of yield potential per individual plant. CIMMYT operates a conventional breeding program to provide optimized strains. The program began in the 1980s. Hybrid seeds are distributed in Africa by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project. Genetically modified (GM) maize was one of the 26 GM crops grown commercially in 2016. Grown since 1997 in the United States and Canada, 92% of the US maize crop was genetically modified in


title: Maize content: 2016 and 33% of the worldwide maize crop was GM in 2016. As of 2011, Herbicide-tolerant maize varieties were grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, El Salvador, the European Union, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and USA, and insect-resistant corn was grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, the EU, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA, and Uruguay. In September 2000, up to $50 million worth of food products were recalled


title: Maize content: due to the presence of Starlink genetically modified corn, which had been approved only for animal consumption and had not been approved for human consumption, and was subsequently withdrawn from the market. Maize is the domesticated variant of teosinte. The two plants have dissimilar appearance, maize having a single tall stalk with multiple leaves and teosinte being a short, bushy plant. The difference between the two is largely controlled by differences in just two genes. Several theories had been proposed about the specific origin of maize in Mesoamerica: In the late 1930s, Paul Mangelsdorf suggested that domesticated maize was the


title: Maize content: result of a hybridization event between an unknown wild maize and a species of "Tripsacum", a related genus. This theory about the origin of maize has been refuted by modern genetic testing, which refutes Mangelsdorf's model and the fourth listed above. The teosinte origin theory was proposed by the Russian botanist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov in 1931 and the later American Nobel Prize-winner George Beadle in 1932. It is supported experimentally and by recent studies of the plants' genomes. Teosinte and maize are able to cross-breed and produce fertile offspring. A number of questions remain concerning the species, among them: The


title: Maize content: domestication of maize is of particular interest to researchers—archaeologists, geneticists, ethnobotanists, geographers, etc. The process is thought by some to have started 7,500 to 12,000 years ago. Research from the 1950s to 1970s originally focused on the hypothesis that maize domestication occurred in the highlands between the states of Oaxaca and Jalisco, because the oldest archaeological remains of maize known at the time were found there. Genetic studies, published in 2004 by John Doebley, identified "Zea mays" ssp. "parviglumis", native to the Balsas River valley in Mexico's southwestern highlands, and also known as Balsas teosinte, as being the crop wild


title: Maize content: relative teosinte genetically most similar to modern maize. This was confirmed by further studies, which refined this hypothesis somewhat. Archaeobotanical studies, published in 2009, point to the middle part of the Balsas River valley as the likely location of early domestication; this river is not very long, so these locations are not very distant. Stone milling tools with maize residue have been found in an 8,700 year old layer of deposits in a cave not far from Iguala, Guerrero. Doebley was part of the team that first published, in 2002, that maize had been domesticated only once, about 9,000 years


title: Maize content: ago, and then spread throughout the Americas. A primitive corn was being grown in southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America 7,000 years ago. Archaeological remains of early maize ears, found at Guila Naquitz Cave in the Oaxaca Valley, date back roughly 6,250 years; the oldest ears from caves near Tehuacan, Puebla, 5,450 B.P. (Before Present) Maize pollen dated to 7,300 B.P. from San Andres, Tabasco, on the Caribbean coast has also been recovered. As maize was introduced to new cultures, new uses were developed and new varieties selected to better serve in those preparations. Maize was the staple


title: Maize content: food, or a major staple – along with squash, Andean region potato, quinoa, beans, and amaranth – of most pre-Columbian North American, Mesoamerican, South American, and Caribbean cultures. The Mesoamerican civilization, in particular, was deeply interrelated with maize. Its traditions and rituals involved all aspects of maize cultivation – from the planting to the food preparation. Maize formed the Mesoamerican people's identity. It is unknown what precipitated its domestication, because the edible portion of the wild variety is too small, and hard to obtain, to be eaten directly, as each kernel is enclosed in a very hard bivalve shell. In


title: Maize content: 1939, George Beadle demonstrated that the kernels of teosinte are readily "popped" for human consumption, like modern popcorn. Some have argued it would have taken too many generations of selective breeding to produce large, compressed ears for efficient cultivation. However, studies of the hybrids readily made by intercrossing teosinte and modern maize suggest this objection is not well founded. Around 4,500 B.P., maize began to spread to the north; it was first cultivated in what is now the United States at several sites in New Mexico and Arizona, about 4,100 B.P. During the first millennium AD, maize cultivation spread more


title: Maize content: widely in the areas north. In particular, the large-scale adoption of maize agriculture and consumption in eastern North America took place about A.D. 900. Native Americans cleared large forest and grassland areas for the new crop. In 2005, research by the USDA Forest Service suggested that the rise in maize cultivation 500 to 1,000 years ago in what is now the southeastern United States corresponded with a decline of freshwater mussels, which are very sensitive to environmental changes. Because it is cold-intolerant, in the temperate zones maize must be planted in the spring. Its root system is generally shallow, so


title: Maize content: the plant is dependent on soil moisture. As a plant that uses C4 carbon fixation, maize is a considerably more water-efficient crop than plants that use C3 carbon fixation such as alfalfa and soybeans. Maize is most sensitive to drought at the time of silk emergence, when the flowers are ready for pollination. In the United States, a good harvest was traditionally predicted if the maize was "knee-high by the Fourth of July", although modern hybrids generally exceed this growth rate. Maize used for silage is harvested while the plant is green and the fruit immature. Sweet corn is harvested


title: Maize content: in the "milk stage", after pollination but before starch has formed, between late summer and early to mid-autumn. Field maize is left in the field until very late in the autumn to thoroughly dry the grain, and may, in fact, sometimes not be harvested until winter or even early spring. The importance of sufficient soil moisture is shown in many parts of Africa, where periodic drought regularly causes maize crop failure and consequent famine. Although it is grown mainly in wet, hot climates, it has been said to thrive in cold, hot, dry or wet conditions, meaning that it is


title: Maize content: an extremely versatile crop. Maize was planted by the Native Americans in hills, in a complex system known to some as the Three Sisters. Maize provided support for beans, and the beans provided nitrogen derived from nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria which live on the roots of beans and other legumes; and squashes provided ground cover to stop weeds and inhibit evaporation by providing shade over the soil. This method was replaced by single species hill planting where each hill apart was planted with three or four seeds, a method still used by home gardeners. A later technique was "checked maize", where


title: Maize content: hills were placed apart in each direction, allowing cultivators to run through the field in two directions. In more arid lands, this was altered and seeds were planted in the bottom of deep furrows to collect water. Modern technique plants maize in rows which allows for cultivation while the plant is young, although the hill technique is still used in the maize fields of some Native American reservations. When maize is planted in rows, it also allows for planting of other crops between these rows to make more efficient use of land space. In most regions today, maize grown in


title: Maize content: residential gardens is still often planted manually with a hoe, whereas maize grown commercially is no longer planted manually but rather is planted with a planter. In North America, fields are often planted in a two-crop rotation with a nitrogen-fixing crop, often alfalfa in cooler climates and soybeans in regions with longer summers. Sometimes a third crop, winter wheat, is added to the rotation. Many of the maize varieties grown in the United States and Canada are hybrids. Often the varieties have been genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate or to provide protection against natural pests. Glyphosate is an herbicide which


title: Maize content: kills all plants except those with genetic tolerance. This genetic tolerance is very rarely found in nature. In the midwestern United States, low-till or no-till farming techniques are usually used. In low-till, fields are covered once, maybe twice, with a tillage implement either ahead of crop planting or after the previous harvest. The fields are planted and fertilized. Weeds are controlled through the use of herbicides, and no cultivation tillage is done during the growing season. This technique reduces moisture evaporation from the soil, and thus provides more moisture for the crop. The technologies mentioned in the previous paragraph enable


title: Maize content: low-till and no-till farming. Weeds compete with the crop for moisture and nutrients, making them undesirable. Before the 20th century, all maize harvesting was by manual labour, by grazing, or by some combination of those. Whether the ears were hand-picked and the stover was grazed, or the whole plant was cut, gathered, and shocked, people and livestock did all the work. Between the 1890s and the 1970s, the technology of maize harvesting expanded greatly. Today, all such technologies, from entirely manual harvesting to entirely mechanized, are still in use to some degree, as appropriate to each farm's needs, although the


title: Maize content: thoroughly mechanized versions predominate, as they offer the lowest unit costs when scaled to large farm operations. For small farms, their unit cost can be too high, as their higher fixed cost cannot be amortized over as many units. Before World War II, most maize in North America was harvested by hand. This involved a large numbers of workers and associated social events (husking or shucking bees). From the 1890s onward, some machinery became available to partially mechanize the processes, such as one- and two-row mechanical pickers (picking the ear, leaving the stover) and corn binders, which are reaper-binders designed


title: Maize content: specifically for maize (for example, ). The latter produce sheaves that can be shocked. By hand or mechanical picker, the entire ear is harvested, which then requires a separate operation of a maize sheller to remove the kernels from the ear. Whole ears of maize were often stored in corn cribs, and these whole ears are a sufficient form for some livestock feeding use. Today corn cribs with whole ears, and corn binders, are less common because most modern farms harvest the grain from the field with a combine and store it in bins. The combine with a corn head


title: Maize content: (with points and snap rolls instead of a reel) does not cut the stalk; it simply pulls the stalk down. The stalk continues downward and is crumpled into a mangled pile on the ground, where it usually is left to become organic matter for the soil. The ear of maize is too large to pass between slots in a plate as the snap rolls pull the stalk away, leaving only the ear and husk to enter the machinery. The combine separates out the husk and the cob, keeping only the kernels. When maize is a silage crop, the entire plant


title: Maize content: is usually chopped at once with a forage harvester (chopper) and ensiled in silos or polymer wrappers. Ensiling of sheaves cut by a corn binder was formerly common in some regions but has become uncommon. For storing grain in bins, the moisture of the grain must be sufficiently low to avoid spoiling. If the moisture content of the harvested grain is too high, grain dryers are used to reduce the moisture content by blowing heated air through the grain. This can require large amounts of energy in the form of combustible gases (propane or natural gas) and electricity to power


title: Maize content: the blowers. Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2014, total world production was 1.04 billion tonnes, led by the United States with 35% of the total (table). China produced 21% of the global total. In 2016, maize (corn) production was forecast to be over 15 billion bushels, an increase of 11% over 2014 American production. Based on conditions as of August 2016, the expected yield would be the highest ever for the United States. The area of harvested maize was forecast to be 87


title: Maize content: million acres, an increase of 7% over 2015. Maize is especially popular in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Illinois; in the latter, it was named the state's official grain in 2017. The susceptibility of maize to the European corn borer and corn rootworms, and the resulting large crop losses which are estimated at a billion dollars worldwide for each pest, led to the development of transgenics expressing the "Bacillus thuringiensis" toxin. "Bt maize" is widely grown in the United States and has been approved for release in Europe. Maize and cornmeal (ground dried maize) constitute a staple food in