Hey fox fans! Wanna find out a little about your favourite animal? Wanna get an A+ on your next science report? Then look no further! As THE fox wiz, I have all the infomation you need here and more. Hope you find what you're looking for!
- Description – Red foxes are small, dog-like animals, a rusty-red
colour with white stomach, chin and throat. Their tail is long and bushy with a white tip. The backs of their ears, lower legs and the feet are black or dark brown. They are normally about 9 to 12 pounds and 82 to 110cm including the tail.
- Diet – Red foxes are omnivorous. They eat what ever they find, including various grasses, grains, fungi, berries, fruit, insects (especially grasshoppers
where abundant), small rodents, rabbits, birds, eggs, amphibians, small reptiles, fish, molluscs, earthworms, carrion and more. They also forage for food in garbage cans or the dump.
- Habitat – Red foxes live in coniferous and deciduous forests, marshes, deserts, shrub land, cities, the arctic and on prairies. They have one of the largest
ranges of any land animal.
- Breeding – Red foxes are ready to mate around October and November, but if the vixen detects a cold spring, she may hold off until January to February.
In the southern parts, mating may occur as early as December, because spring usually comes early. In the northern parts, mating may be held off until March. Before the cubs are born, the vixen will prepare a den in which to give birth. Kits are born after a gestation period of 49 to 56 days. When they are born, kits weigh about 70 to 120 g and are blind and helpless. During the first two weeks, when the mother constantly remains with the kits to nurse them and keep them warm, she relies on her mate for any food she herself needs. The kits develop very rapidly, tripling their weight in ten days. Their eyes are open by their second week and the mother is able to leave them for brief periods of time. By the third week, the cubs are capable of moving around, and over the next ten days they begin fighting amongst themselves. It is also within this third week that the cub’s first teeth start coming in, although they will need another three weeks to acquire their complete set of twenty-eight. By week four, weaning begins. The kits are fed partially digested food and will also begin sucking on small pieces of meat, developing a taste for meat. The mother still nurses her young, but will soon begin to discourage this by lying on her stomach when they try to feed. The kits first leave the den by their fourth or fifth week. By the second month the kits are fully weaned, and by the third month they are able to catch small prey such as insects. As summer arrives, the grey juvenile coat has turned into the reddish colour of their parents. In addition to play, the kits begin accompanying their parents on hunting trips to sharpen their skills. At six months, a young red fox is fully grown and has most of the skills it needs to survive.
|
