Utah
Utah scientists discover incredibly well-preserved ancient skeleton of an Ice Age fox
VERNAL, Utah — While Vernal is known for dinosaurs, with many being discovered in the area, there is a different kind of creature making waves for being found nearby.
Scientists at the Utah Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum spend their days studying bones, but gathering them is a rarity.
That’s why when they heard of a perfectly preserved Ice Age discovery, they were thrilled.
What is it, you ask? Well, those of us here at FOX 13 News are especially excited about it because it is a perfectly preserved red fox skeleton.
Her name is “Roxy,” and she was found undisturbed in a cave in the Uintah Mountains, representing one of the most significant Ice Age mammal discoveries in the region.
The bones were known about for years, but it wasn’t until the U.S. Forest Service dated some of them that the researchers realized what a rarity they had on their hands. When they learned how old the bones were last year, they knew they had to collect them, and then they recently learned the species.
“This is probably the most exciting vertebrate skeleton I’ve ever collected,” said John Foster, the curator of collections at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. “I hate to say it, but it was a lot more fun than a dinosaur.”
The fox skeleton includes skull material, neck, back, tail, ribs, and what Foster describes as one of the best-preserved parts: the left lower jaw.
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Among his favorite elements are the individual claws from the front paws of the animal.
Incredibly, you can make out the details in them as if the fox died just a few years ago, but she’s quite a bit older than that.
At 26,000 years old, Roxy predates the pyramids, written language, and even farming.
Red foxes are the most widely distributed terrestrial carnivores in the world.
The team of researchers said the species appeared in North America from Eurasia between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago.
Roxy remained perfectly preserved on the surface of that remote cave until scientists carefully extracted her.
The recovery process was challenging, requiring hours of hiking just to reach the cave entrance, followed by more hours navigating to the back of the cave where the skeleton lay.
“Of course, it was completely nerve-wracking collecting it. The scariest part was deciding that we hadn’t missed anything,” Foster said. “We’re trying not to break anything. It was six hours in there just to get all that done.”
Before Roxy was discovered, few Ice Age mammals had been found in northeastern Utah. Foster said the only one of note that he personally knows of is a shin bone of a camel found in the 1980s south of Vernal.
Now that the bones have been acclimated and preserved, the science can begin.
To start, researchers will take small portions of two ribs and send them off to be carbon dated, which should provide dating accuracy within about 100 years.
Next, the team will also analyze ear bones to extract DNA and conduct isotope analysis.
DNA and isotope analysis will unlock what Roxy’s diet was like, and if it was any different from modern red foxes.
It also might offer clues to the relationship between different canine species, from foxes to wolves, to my two adorable spaniels.
Finally, one question Foster is hoping the DNA might answer is what color her fur was, since it was the Ice Age, and a red fox might stick out like a sore thumb.
All of this discovery is the reason Foster says he keeps coming back and doing what he does.
“That’s kind of the highlights of doing this stuff,” he said.
All of this adds up to making Roxy the most important skeleton discovered, ever…
Okay, I made that last sentence up but we’re partial at FOX13 since Roxy is one of us!
Following the science that will be done, Roxy’s bones will go on display at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park so we all can share in her incredible story.
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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