The Incredible Red Fox

by Charlotte Overby
photography by Jim Rathert

Excellent hunters, thrifty eaters and smart homebuilders, red foxes are neat animals. And they live in every one of Missouri's 114 counties, not to mention many parts of North America and four other continents.


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Born in late March, these fox pups are less than a week old. A female red fox gives birth to an average litter of five pups, and a newborn pup weighs less than 1/4 pound. Their coats are charcoal gray and the pups look like other members of the canidae-or dog-family. Just about every red fox pup, however, has a white tip of a tail. They may look cute and cuddly, but even before they open their eyes at about 10 days of age, fox pups fight, scratch and bite one another as they compete for a place to nurse from their mother.

Before pups are born, parent foxes establish their home territory. During her 7 1/2-week pregnancy, the female builds a den, often digging a hole into a hillside or under a fallen tree or by cleaning out a space under a toppled shed or abandoned building. Dens usually have more than one entrance and lie within about 100 feet of water. A female fox makes sure she has two to five back-up dens nearby. That way, if predators or people threaten the pups or main den, the parents can move them to a safer spot.

When a fox pup-also called a kit-is about two to three weeks old, its teeth begin to grow. Canines come first, then incisors and finally the premolars. An adult fox has long, slender, almost daggerlike teeth. Even though kits nurse until they are five to eight weeks old, they begin to chew and suck on meat their parents bring to the den at the age of just three weeks. Their coats turn sandy-brown, often the color of the soil around a typical den.

Young foxes venture out of the den and begin to explore the family territory around it. The young kits learn to catch and eat insects. Their behavior becomes more playful and social than it was when they remained inside the den. By now, the kits have determined a pecking order-called dominance-and the weaker pups most likely have died.

When a parent fox brings a killed rabbit or other food to the den, the kits rush to greet them, lower their bodies into a begging position and beat their tails wildly on the ground. The kits often whine and creep toward the adult-the dominant, stronger kit goes first. When it reaches the adult, it smells, licks and bites at the corners of the adult's mouth. The dominant kit often threatens a weaker brother or sister who is competing for the food. Soon, parents begin to take one or more of the kits with them on hunting excursions.

Red foxes are not finicky eaters. Adults catch small mammals, such as rabbits, mice, moles and squirrels, but also eat a variety of insects and plants. They catch and eat things "in season." For example, they eat nuts and berries when they're plentiful. Then they'll hunt birds, such as ducks, geese and grouse, which nest on the ground in spring. Because the birds spend more time on the ground at their nests, they are easier to catch. Foxes are scavengers, too, and sometimes eat animals killed on the road.

As kits grow older, they become more confident, observant and skilled at gathering their own food. Foxes don't hunt or travel in packs. Alone, they hunt small animals by stalking silently and pouncing. They are "crepuscular," which means they're active at night-especially at dawn and dusk. Their sense of hearing is well tuned to lower frequencies, such as digging and gnawing sounds made by rodents moving underground. Just by listening, a fox can pinpoint an animal's position underground, pounce, dig and catch it without having ever seen it above ground

Young foxes improve their hunting skills all summer. They nurse less and less and catch more of their own food. Eventually, the mother growls and snarls at them to keep them from nursing at all. At first, two or three kits may travel together, but in time, they split up. In late summer, a family group may return occasionally to the original family territory, but competition between the parents and grown-up kits is strong. The young ones leave the territory-males first, then females usually a few weeks later-in September and October.

A young fox's red hair begins to grow in June and July and soon, they have a thick, pumpkin-colored coat. It is difficult to tell males from females but, in general, the males are a bit larger. They all have graceful limbs and yellowish eyes and, when they run, their tails stream straight out behind them. They appear to float rather than lope along, and a grown fox can reach a speed of up to 30 mph.

Foxes hunt ground animals in much the same way cats do. They crouch, settle their feet and, at just the right moment, leap off all four feet at a 45 degree angle and pounce, pinning the prey to the ground with their front feet. They often kill the mouse or vole quickly with a swift, steady bite. But sometimes they will carry the live prey to a nearby open spot and play with it like a cat plays with a mouse. They also bury food they don't need and return later to dig it up and eat it.

Foxes also hunt birds and squirrels. They use a "slink-run," which starts out slowly at a stalking pace, speeds up to an even, smooth trot, and finally breaks into a gallop. In about six months, a fox grows from a puny, gray creature, to a flame-colored, accomplished predator. By fall, they are ready to establish their own territory and find a mate.

A patchwork of woodlots, open meadows, dense brushlands, pastures and small wetlands is ideal habitat for foxes. They hunt along the edges where two habitats meet. But they are adaptable and often live near cities and towns. Typically, a fox family will move through a range of two to three square miles, but this can vary. They live three to seven years. A female usually will return to the same den every year and may mate with the same partner. S

The Cat-like Canine?

Foxes belong to the same family as coyotes, wolves and dogs-the family canidae. But they share some behavioral and physical characteristics with cats.