RED FOX

The red fox has a doglike face and a bushy tail. Although it has traditionally been found in the countryside, urban fox populations are expanding. Over the centuries the fox has been hunted, trapped, snared, and shot, yet its numbers are stable. The main reason for its success is its ability to adapt to most habitats. In recent years, the fox has moved into cities as well.

HABITS

Red foxes are most active during the hours between midnight and dawn. Even in big cities, foxes can be seen in vacant lots or on undeveloped land. Their calls can be heard most often during the mating season, in January or February. Another sign that foxes are in the area is the presence of their distinctive paw prints. By learning to recognize a particular fox by an identifying characteristic, such as its particular coloring, you can more readily observe and take note of its habits.

The red fox is a solitary animal, except during the breeding season. Most of the day is spent in the den or above ground in cozy hollows called kennels. Foxes usually mate in winter. Because of their short lifespan, females, or vixens, breed two or three times, and males, called dogs, usually mate only once.

Vixens are sometimes helped in rearing their cubs by a sister or a female cub from the previous litter. The male is not allowed into the den just prior to the birth. After the birth he is allowed to bring food to the family. The cubs' eyes and ears open after two weeks, and they first emerge from the den at four weeks. The cubs are boisterous and curious, and they grow quickly. By September they weigh as much as their parents and they rapidly develop their hunting skills. Many cubs die before they are able to mate at the age of 10 months. They are killed by predators, some are hit by cars, and others die of starvation or of exposure.

Foxes are nocturnal animals whose nighttime vision is expecially acute. Behind the light-sensitive cells in a fox's eye lies another layer of cells called the tapetum lucidum, which reflects light back through the eye, increasing the sharpness of its vision and better allowing it to spot prey. The fox's sensitive hearing also enables it to locate prey easily. It can pick up low-frequency sounds, such as a mouse rustling in the grass or earthworms moving on the surface of the soil.

For thousands of years, man has hunted the red fox for its fur. In England, in particularly, foxes are hunted with fox hounds, a practice that many people regard as inhumane. Traditionally, the fox has been considered a pest by farmers because it preys on poultry, although today it rarely gets the chance. Foxes do, however, scavenge on the afterbirth and carcasses of stillborn lambs. Foxes can cary the dangerous rabies virus. In parts of Europe, where many wild animals suffer from the disease, attempts have been made to eradicate rabid red fox populations.

CAN'T FIND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR? CLICK HERE!!!