The red fox
A red fox in winter
Image: Hamsterkiste
1 Master Fox
The fur is bright white underneath and "fox red" on top
Image: Hamsterkiste
The fox appears in many fairy tales and fables. There, it is portrayed as very clever, cunning, sometimes wicked, and concerned only with its own advantage. It is depicted as a liar and a cheat. Sometimes it is also called “Master Fox.” But is that really true? Foxes hunt and kill animals. But so do other predators. Perhaps foxes have their reputation because they can adapt so well to many different habitats. They know how to catch mice, sneak into poorly secured chicken coops, and survive in forests as well as big cities. Foxes have thick fur with long, smooth hairs. Their undersides are pale, while their backs are “fox-red.” This is why we call the fox that lives here the red fox. The red fox has many relatives. The Arctic fox and the blue fox live in the cold northern regions. In Asia, there are the steppe fox and the Tibetan fox. The smallest fox lives in North Africa and Arabia. It is the fennec, also known as the desert fox. It is about the size of a cat, but its ears can grow up to 15 cm long.
Find out:
1. How is the fox often portrayed?
2. What does the fur of our foxes look like?
3. What are our foxes’ relatives called?
2 The Fox’s Body
The tail is almost as long as the rest of the body
Image: Hamsterkiste
We call male foxes dogs and females vixens. Fox cubs are called kits. The red fox is about 30 to 40 cm tall. Its tail is almost as long as the rest of its body. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, a fox measures more than a metre. Foxes weigh between five and ten kilograms. They have 42 teeth and can live for about 12 to 15 years. They have an extremely keen sense of smell, and can hear and see well. In the dark, they widen their pupils. They can hear earthworms crawling underground and spot the slightest movements of their prey. They can run very fast for short periods, reaching speeds of 55 km/h. Foxes have slender bodies. They can squeeze through holes just eight centimetres wide. They can also jump two metres high and five metres far.
Find out:
4. What are male and female foxes called?
5. What are fox cubs called?
6. How big do foxes get?
7. How old can they get?
8. What are foxes especially good at?
3 Foxes hunt other animals
A fox on the hunt
By Henk Monster, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57679505
A red fox needs about 350 to 500 grams of food a day. That is the equivalent of 15 to 20 mice. Mice are its favourite food, and it also likes earthworms. The fox will also eat dead animals it happens to find. Foxes hunt young and sick rabbits, hares and deer. They rarely catch healthy adult animals. In summer, foxes also eat berries and fruit. Foxes living in cities like to rummage through people’s rubbish. They also eat food meant for dogs or cats. In the past, foxes often broke into sheds where chickens, ducks or geese were kept. Sometimes foxes dig small holes to hide food in. Foxes usually live outdoors. They only retreat to their den in bad weather. A den always has several entrances and consists of long, branching tunnels. Sometimes foxes simply take over dens made by badgers or rabbits. They may even share a den with other animals.
Find out:
9. What do foxes eat?
10. Why do they sometimes stay near human settlements?
11. Where do foxes live?
4 Young foxes
A young fox on the move
By peupleloup - Exploration, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128783613
Fox cubs are born once a year in the den, from late March to early May. There are usually three to five cubs, but there can be twice as many. The cubs weigh only about 80 to 150 g. They are blind for the first few days. Their mother nurses them for about eight weeks. During this time, the male fox brings food to the family. The young foxes have to learn to fend for themselves within four months. They are fully grown by the age of ten to eleven months.
Find out:
12. Where are fox cubs born?
13. How old are they when fully grown?
5 Foxes are hunted
A fox in Hoge Veluwe National Park in the Netherlands
By Maarten Nijman - Een vos nogmaals, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63946087
Foxes are hunted by wolves, eagles and lynxes. But these animals are now rare in our area. Most foxes here are killed by hunters. Dachshunds are often used for fox hunting. These dogs are small enough to crawl into a fox’s den and flush the fox out. When it leaves the den, hunters shoot it. Many foxes are also killed by traffic.
Foxes are hunted because they can transmit rabies. They can also carry the fox tapeworm, which is very dangerous to humans. A fox can shed the tapeworm's eggs. The eggs can stick to shrubs and berries in the forest.
Find out:
14. Which animals hunt foxes?
15. What causes most foxes to die?
16. What disease can foxes transmit?