Red fox facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Red fox |
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| Conservation status | |
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Vulpes
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| Species: |
vulpes
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| Distribution of the red fox
native
introduced presence uncertain |
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The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the largest of the true foxes. It is and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora. Red foxes live across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus parts of North Africa. It is listed as least concern by the IUCN.
Contents
Origin
The red fox originated from smaller-sized ancestors from Eurasia during the Middle Villafranchian period, and colonised North America shortly after the Wisconsin glaciation. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a more progressive form in the direction of carnivory.
Description
The red fox has an elongated body and relatively short limbs. The tail, which is longer than half the body length (70 percent of head and body length), is fluffy and reaches the ground when in a standing position. The forepaws have five digits, while the hind feet have only four and lack dewclaws. They are very agile, being capable of jumping over 2-metre-high (6 ft 7 in) fences, and swim well.
Their skulls are fairly narrow and elongated, with small braincases. Female red foxes tend to have smaller skulls than males, as well as larger canines.
North American red foxes are generally lightly built. British red foxes are heavily built, but short. Continental European red foxes are closer to the general average among red fox populations.
Red foxes are the largest species of the genus Vulpes. On average, adults measure 35–50 cm (14–20 in) high at the shoulder and 45–90 cm (18–35 in) in body length with tails measuring 30–55.5 cm (11.8–21.9 in). Weights range from 2.2–14 kg (5–31 lb), with vixens typically weighing 15–20% less than males.
Fur
The winter fur is dense, soft, silky and relatively long.
There are three main colour morphs; red, silver/black and cross (see Mutations). In the typical red morph, their coats are generally bright reddish-rusty with yellowish tints. 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 is usually present at the base of the tail. The tip of the tail is white.
Despite its name, the species often produces individuals with other colourings, including leucistic and melanistic individuals.
Senses
Red foxes have binocular vision, but their sight reacts mainly to movement. Their auditory perception is acute. The red fox is able to hear black grouse changing roosts at 600 paces, the flight of crows at 0.25–0.5 kilometres (0.16–0.31 mi) and the squeaking of mice at about 100 metres (330 ft). 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.
Distribution and habitat
The red fox is a wide-ranging species. Its range covers nearly 70 million km2 (27 million sq mi) including as far north as the Arctic Circle. It occurs all across Europe, in Africa north of the Sahara Desert, throughout Asia apart from extreme Southeast Asia, and across North America apart from most of the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is absent in Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic islands, the most northern parts of central Siberia, and in extreme deserts.
It is not present in New Zealand and is classed as a "prohibited new organism" under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, which does not allow import.
Most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely vegetated areas. 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.
Behaviour
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Red foxes use their urine to mark their territories.
Red foxes live in family groups sharing a joint territory. Families ususally consist of a mated pair and their young, or a male with several females having kinship ties. The young of the mated pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits.
Red foxes may leave their families once they reach adulthood if the chances of winning a territory of their own are high. If not, they will stay with their parents, at the cost of postponing their own reproduction.
Reproduction
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Red foxes reproduce once a year in spring. The average litter size consists of four to six kits, though litters of up to 13 kits have occurred.
Kits are born blind, deaf and toothless, with dark brown fluffy fur. At birth, they weigh 56–110 g (2.0–3.9 oz) and measure 14.5 cm (5.7 in) in body length and 7.5 cm (3.0 in) 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' 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 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.
Communication
Body language
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Red fox body language consists of movements 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 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.
- When launching an assertive attack, red foxes approach directly rather than sideways, with their tails aloft and their ears rotated sideways.
Vocalisations
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 distance between individuals, while the latter vary according to the level of aggression.
- Contact calls: The most commonly heard contact call is a three to five syllable barking "wow wow wow" sound, which is often made by two foxes approaching one another. This call is most frequently heard from December to February (when they can be confused with the territorial calls of tawny owls). The "wow wow wow" call varies according to individual; captive foxes have been recorded to answer pre-recorded calls of their pen-mates, but not those of strangers. Kits begin emitting the "wow wow wow" call at the age of 19 days, when craving attention. When red foxes draw close together, they emit trisyllabic greeting warbles similar to the clucking of chickens. Adults greet their kits with gruff huffing noises.
- Interaction calls: When greeting one another, red foxes emit high pitched whines, particularly submissive animals. A submissive fox approached by a dominant animal will emit a ululating siren-like shriek. During aggressive encounters with conspecifics, they emit a throaty rattling sound, similar to a ratchet, called "gekkering". Gekkering occurs mostly during the courting season from rival males or vixens rejecting advances. Both tamed and domesticated foxes have been observed making sounds similar to laughter, which is believed to be used as a contact call when communicating with human owners and handlers.
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.
Diet
Red foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet. 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, flotsam (marine mammals, fish and echinoderms) and carrion. On very rare occasions, foxes may attack young or small ungulates. They typically target mammals up to about 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) in weight, and they require 500 grams (18 oz) of food daily. Red foxes readily eat plant material and in some 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.
Red foxes prefer to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening.
Predators
Although the red fox tends to kill smaller predators, including other fox species, it is vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves, coyotes, golden jackals, large predatory birds such as golden eagles and Eurasian eagle owls, and medium- and large-sized felines.
Relationship with humans
The species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. Because of its widespread distribution and large population, the red fox is one of the most important furbearing animals harvested for the fur trade. Too small to pose a threat to humans, it has extensively benefited from the presence of human habitation, and has successfully colonised many suburban and urban areas. Domestication of the red fox is also underway in Russia, and has resulted in the domesticated red fox.
Red foxes are still widely persecuted as pests, with human-caused deaths among the highest causes of mortality in the species. Annual red 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 (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).
Taming and domestication
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Red foxes are generally unsuitable as pets. In the second half of the 20th century, a lineage of domesticated silver foxes was developed by Russian geneticist Dmitry Belyayev who, over a 40-year period, bred several generations 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 silver foxes whose behaviour and appearance was significantly changed. After about 10 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 kits and curled tails, similar to the traits that distinguish domestic dogs from grey wolves.
Urban red foxes
Distribution
Red foxes have 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 Ireland, they are now common in suburban Dublin. In Australia, red foxes were recorded in Melbourne as early as the 1930s, while in Zurich, Switzerland, they only started appearing in the 1980s. Urban red foxes are most common in residential suburbs 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 80–90 hectares (200–220 acres), whereas those in more residential areas average from 25–40 hectares (60–100 acres).
In 2006, it was estimated that there were 10,000 red foxes in London. City-dwelling red foxes may have the potential to consistently grow larger than their rural counterparts as a result of abundant scraps and a relative lack of predators. In cities, red foxes may scavenge food from litter bins and bin bags, although much of their diet is similar to rural red foxes.
Behaviour
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. Urban red 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. They sleep at night in dens. While urban red foxes will scavenge successfully in the city (and the red foxes tend to eat anything that humans eat) some urban residents will deliberately leave food out for the animals, finding them endearing. Doing this regularly can attract urban red 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 kits.
Urban red fox control
Urban red foxes can cause problems for local residents. They have been known to steal chickens, disrupt rubbish bins and damage gardens. Most complaints about urban red foxes made to local authorities occur during the breeding season in late January/early February or from late April to August when the new kits are developing. In the U.K., hunting red foxes in urban areas is banned and shooting them in an urban environment is not suitable. One alternative to hunting urban red foxes has been to trap them, which appears to be a more viable method. However, killing red foxes has little effect on the population in an urban area; those that are killed are very soon replaced, either by new kits during the breeding season or by other red foxes moving into the territory of those that were killed. A more effective method of urban red fox control is to deter them from the 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 an urban red fox's return.
Relationship between urban and rural red foxes
In January 2014 it was reported that "Fleet", a relatively tame urban red fox tracked as part of a wider study by the University of Brighton in partnership with the BBC TV series Winterwatch, had unexpectedly traveled 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 when the GPS collar stopped transmitting due to suspected water damage. Along with setting a record for the longest journey undertaken by a tracked red fox in the United Kingdom, his travels have highlighted the fluidity of movement between rural and urban red fox populations.
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An urban red fox crossing a street
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An urban red fox in central London
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An urban red fox eating from a bag of biscuits in Dorset, England
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"Fleet", the urban red fox from the BBC TV series Winterwatch
Interesting facts about the red fox
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- The word "fox" comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz. This, in turn, derives from Proto-Indo-European *puḱ- 'thick-haired; tail'.
- The earliest fossil specimens of V. vulpes were uncovered in Baranya, Hungary dating from 3.4 to 1.8 million years ago.
- The red fox was introduced to Australia by the Europeans, where it is considered harmful to native mammals and bird populations.
- It is included on the list of the "world's 100 worst invasive species".
- The red fox is distinguished from other fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments.
- Males red foxes are called tods or dogs, females are called vixens, and young cubs are known as kits.
- As the red fox is the only fox native to Western Europe, it is simply called "the fox" in colloquial British English.
- There 46 subspecies of the red fox in the world.
- Red foxes colonised the North American continent in two waves: before or during the Illinoian glaciation, and during the Wisconsinan glaciation.
- The largest red fox on record in Great Britain was a 17.2 kg (38 lb), 1.4-metre (4 ft 7 in) long male, killed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in early 2012.
- In captivity, red foxes can live as long as 15 years, though in the wild they typically do not survive past 5 years of age.
- The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day.
- Red foxes have a wide vocal range, and produce different sounds spanning five octaves.
- 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 an alignment of the red fox with the Earth's magnetic field.
- Red foxes are the most important rabies vector in Europe.
Images for kids
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Comparative illustration of skulls of the red fox (left) and Rüppell's fox (right): note the more developed facial area of the former.
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Skull of a northern fox
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Skull of a southern grey desert fox
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Red fox kit
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Side and above view of a red fox den
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A red fox challenging two Eurasian badgers
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A red fox confronting a grey fox
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A European fox (V. v. crucigera) with mange
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Beagle and Fox (1885) by Bruno Liljefors
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A red fox in a fur farm in Vörå, Finland
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A red fox in a Birmingham garden investigating a rabbit hutch
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See also
In Spanish: Zorro común para niños
