A small,amber-eyed canine peers out from it’s den. It’s large, black ears twitching, listing for danger. A fluffy red tail with a white tip waves back and forth. This animal is a red fox. Red foxes are small mammals that are related to canines. They are smaller than a coyote, but are still very vicious. Red foxes are very interesting animals with their own unique features.

 

                                    What are the Measurements and Characteristic of a Red Fox?  

   Red foxes are very different from other foxes. Red foxes feature a very prominent red color. They have black feet and ears with and white underside and a very distinct white tail tip (Red). Their eyes are brownish-yellow or amber in color and their pupils are slits. They can grow 18 to 35 inches long. Their tails are half their body length (lookseek).

 

                                                              What are Female Foxes Like?

   Like many animals, female foxes have a different name than the males. They are called vixens. They normally live in solitude until late winter, which is their mating season. They can live three to seven years and are able to breed around the age of eight months (Henry). When they give birth to their young the do not leave them until they are two weeks old, because they have little fur and she acts like a thermal blanket and keeps them warm. During this time period the male brings her food (Henry).

 

                                 What are Baby Foxes Like and How Do They Establish Dominance?

   All living things start out as babies. Fox babies are called ‘’ kits’’. Kits are born weighing less than a quarter pound. Their eyes are closed when they are first born and do not open until the tenth or twelfth week. Red fox kits are born dark gray instead of red, but they do have their digestive white tipped tail (Henry). They are born with blue eyes instead of their brownish-yellow or amber ones. Around the age of twenty-five weeks old the kits start fighting for dominance. The largest kit become alpha, regardless of the gender. The alpha steals from the smaller kits. Even older foxes will act like pups toward dominate foxes and beg for food (Henry).

 

                                                What Do They Eat and What Is Their Habitat Like?

   Red foxes’ environment supply many important things for them. Foxes are not actually carnivores, they are omnivores (Read). They do prefer meat though. They are partially scavenger but for the most part do their own hunting. Red foxes live in canada, U.S. Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Their territory range is three square miles (Henry). Their habitats are very mix together, ranging from marsh to medows. The more divers the area the better.

 

                                                            What are Some Other Facts?

   There are many other amazing things about the red fox. Their scientific name is ‘’ vulpes vulpes ‘’ which means ‘’ the foxes’ fox (Henry). They can run 30 miles per hour ( 48 kilometers per hour) at top speed. They have been dubbed ‘’ the cat-like canine’’ ( Read). Red foxes can jump seven feet strate in the air from a standing position! Thought the red fox is a canine, they share more similarities with a cat. They have barbed tongues and retractable claws. They even occasionally sleep in trees (lanzendorfer).

 

   Red foxes are very special in their own way, with their distinctive colors and their stubbornness to leave their young for a while. Their eating patterns and their varied habitats. They may be small but are very agile and even though they are canines they bear more similarities with cats. Red foxes a very different from other animals.

                                                                              Works Cited

Lazendorfer,Joy. "14 Fascinating Facts About Foxes." Mental Floss. N.p., 08 Oct. 2016. Web. 3 May 2017.

Christiansen, Per. The Encyclopedia of Animals. London: Amber, 2006. Print.

Henry, J. David. Red Fox: The Catlike Canine. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1996. Print.

KnowledgeBase.LookSeek.com. "Knowledge Base LookSeek.com." KnowledgeBase.LookSeek.com. N.p., n.d.            Web. 1 May 2017.

Read, Tracy C. Exploring the World of Foxes. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Firefly, 2010. Print.

"Red Fox." National Wildlife Federation. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2017.