A red fox usually has red fur and a bushy tail with a white tip. Adult red foxes weigh from 3 to 14 kilograms (6.6 to 30.8 pounds). A red fox's head and body are 45.5 to 90 centimeters (18 to 35.4 inches) long, not counting the tail, and its tail is 30 to 55.5 centimeters (11.8 to 21.8 inches) long. A red fox has five toes on each front foot and four on each back foot.
Red foxes are active at night, and around dusk and dawn. Red foxes have excellent hearing, and a red fox can hear low sounds very well, including rodents digging underground. It can also hear small animals it cannot see, such as a mouse under snow or hidden in leaves. A red fox that is hunting a mouse can stand still and listen for it. It creeps close, the way a cat does, and then pounces. A red fox can run about 30 miles per hour for a short time.
Red foxes are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. They eat rodents and rabbits, and they also eat fruit. Voles are a favorite food of red foxes, and a red fox eats about half a kilogram to one kilogram of food each day. Red foxes store extra food by hiding it, in a den or buried in the ground. Red foxes help to control the numbers of rodents and rabbits.
Most red foxes are monogamous: one male and one female form a pair and raise their young together. A young red fox is called a kit, and red fox kits are born in a den, which is a hole in the ground. A red fox litter averages about five kits, and newborn red foxes are blind. While the mother stays with the newborn kits, the father brings her food. Red fox kits stay in the den until they are about 4 to 5 weeks old, and they are weaned when they are 8 to 10 weeks old. The mother and her kits stay together until the autumn after the kits are born.
Red foxes mark their home ranges with scent. How big a home range is depends on its habitat and on how much food is there. Red foxes live about 3 years on average in the wild and 10 to 12 years in captivity. Red foxes have the widest distribution of any canid, which means they live over more of the world than any other member of the dog family. Red foxes live in many kinds of places, from forests and deserts to cities.
Words to know
- omnivores: eats plants, animals
- monogamous: one mate pair
- scent: a smell
- weaned: no longer nursing
