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Red Fox Stuff

Red Fox Facts
Weight: 9-12 pounds, larger in Britain
Color: from black to white; most often red, with black socks and ears
Lifespan: 6-8 in wild; 10 or older in captivity
Food: small animals, birds, insects, fruit, vegetables

Red foxes are distantly related to wolves. They are both in the "dog" family, but they are different species. Red foxes are much, much smaller than wolves and physically kind of resemble cats. (They aren't really related to cats, but they are kind of like cats.) They are slender and agile and like to climb. Red foxes even have vertically slit pupils like a cat's! They see really well in the dark.

All the pictures on this page are of red foxes. That's right! The term "red fox" refers to the species "red fox", not the color of the animal. "Red foxes", in fact, come in any color from white to black. The ones you'll see in the wild are the "traditional" red with black legs, or silver like the animal above, or a red animal with black "spots" on it, which is called the "cross" fox. Red foxes who are different colors, like white or spotted, were probably bred by humans who thought they looked better that way. Humans who make fur coats out of foxes have bred red foxes who are all sorts of colors.

Red foxes are "opportunists", like coyotes. That means they will live just about anywhere and eat just about anything. Red foxes are even better at opportunism than coyotes are, and they are the most widely distributed canid ever. They live everywhere except Antarctica and in some desert areas -- and, where there are no red foxes, there is another kind of fox living there!

Red foxes eat anything. That includes vegetables, plants, birds, bugs, small animals, carrion (animals that are already dead), fungi, and garbage. They live anywhere they can find shelter -- in fields, rocks, mountains, forests, and even under human houses.

Likewise, red foxes do all sorts of things when it comes to family life. While all red foxes breed sometime in the late winter and give birth in the spring, some red foxes are solitary, some live in pairs, and some live in small family groups where (usually) several related females "share" one male and may help each other to raise their litters. Usually red foxes hunt alone, because the prey they can catch really isn't big enough to feed more than one fox, but red foxes have been seen hunting together. It all depends on where the red foxes live and what kind of food is available.


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