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The main food source are rodents but the red fox also eats plants, berries, insects and carrions.
Facts about the Red Fox
- Species: Red Fox
- Scientific name: Vulpes vulpes
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Class: Mammalia
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Phylum: Chordata
- Family: Canidae
- Vixens come into heat once a year for one to six days. They give birth to four to seven
cubs in a den (also called an earth), after a gestation period of 51-53 days. The
cubs are weaned after seven to nine weeks, and become sexually mature after a year.
- Age: Up to 8 years
- Head and body length: 50-90cm, Tail length: 30-50cm, Standing height: 35-45cm
- Weight: 6-10kg
Description/behaviour
Red Foxes are awake the year-round. They are red brown with white underside with a very bushy tail with a white tip of
a tail, the paws and ears are black. Red Foxes lives in Canada, Alaska, Australian and almost all of the contiguous
United States, and almost all of Asia and Europe, but not in Island. Around the 17th century the Red Fox was set out in
Australia. The fox is often described as wise and cunning, maybe because it passes diffucult jams.
The den
Red Foxes lives in so-called dens. They dig dens among mounds of stones, in mountain hollows
under tree roots or in sandy slopes. Their dens can be up to 100 years old. When the Fox are
digging new dens, the shoveled sand spreads out in a fan shape. However, the fox more
often than not takes over dens from e.g. the badger. If it is sufficiently big, both
the fox and the badger can live together in the same den, but it is fairly unusual.
A Red Fox territory is between 5 - 20 km˛ wide. The den is situated in the centre.
Fox puppies
The fox gives birth to 4 - 9 puppies around januari - may. The puppies often plays outside the den where the vegetation can be stepped down. They leave much scraps of food around the den. It can be rests from birds, hares, roe deers, cats etc. The family keeps together until september.
The food
They are omnivores. The main food are rodents but they also eats plants, berries, insects and carrions. They hunt for example mices, hares, chickens and fishes, they also eat different birds eggs. Sometimes they take roe deer fawns and more rarely wild boar piglets. If it is crisis with food they as a matter of fact even eats frogs. When the fox is hunting for example mices or field-mouses, it in most cases stands with the glance focused on a hole, and then it jumps as quick as lightning at the prey when it comes out from the hole.
Hunting
Fox hunting is still a popular sport today. Hounds are used to chase the fox
while the hunters follow, usually on horseback or sometimes on foot. The object of the hunt
is often just to chase the fox, many times the fox is not actually taken. Besides being a
game animal, red foxes are also considered furbearers and are taken during regulated trapping
seasons. They are also raised on game farms for their pelts.
Fox fur,
like many other furs, fluctuates widely in popularity. When fox is out of style
the prices are correspondingly low. During the 1920s, when fox fur was fashionable,
silver fox pelts sold for up to $500 each.
In years past, foxes, like many
other predators, were viewed as undesirable animals and bounties were often paid to eliminate
them. We now understand better the role that foxes and other predators play in the ecology
of our forests.
Diseases
Scabies is a very common disease for the Red Fox, it can also be transferred to dogs,
wolves and lynxes. Scabies/Mange is one of the few natural threats to foxes.
It´s caused by tiny ´´sarcoptic mange´´ mites. Unlike during a molt, the fox will scratch
himself constantly, and the skin may appear red and scaly. The fox will feel weak,
as painful crusts of dried fluids develop on the ears, head, and other areas.
Mange creates a chronic inflammatory reaction that can eventually lead to exhaustion and death.
Althoguh widespread mange is difficult to control, foxes can be humanely captured in live
traps, and brought to a treatment center. There, they can be given medicine to fight the
parasites.
One of the largest, natural threats to foxes is that of rabies. It´s a disease found
around the world, spread by blood or saliva contact, usually through a bite. After contact,
it can take several months of incubation before symptoms develop.Because the disease
affects the brain, the first symptoms are subtle, such as weakness
and loss of appetite. Two or three days later, they progress to chewing at inedible objects,
trembling and erratic behavior. The animal might seem abnormally friendly to humans, or
extremely aggressive.
There is no treatment for rabies once symptoms appear. Three to seven days after they do,
rabies will result in paralysis, and death. Fortunately many countries have been vaccinating
foxes and other wildlife before they become infected. Either by capturing the animals in cages
where they are given a vaccin injection, or by spreading pieces of food containing the vaccin.
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