Habitat:
Description:
Physical Adaptations:
Behavioral Adaptations:
Diet:
Learned Behaviors:
Instincts:
- The red fox makes its homes in wooded forests.
Description:
- The red fox is a mammal.
- The red fox has orangish-red fur on its back, sides and head.
- It has white fur under its neck and on its chest.
- It has a long bushy tail tipped in white, pointed black ears and black legs and feet.
- Mature red foxes usually weigh between 8 and 12 pounds, with overall lengths of 48 to 57 inches. Females are usually a little smaller than the males.
- They are warm-blooded.
Physical Adaptations:
- The fox's thick tail aids its balance, but it has other uses as well. A fox uses its tail as a warm cover in cold weather and as a signal flag to communicate with other foxes.
- During the autumn and winter, the Red Fox will grow more fur. This so called ‘winter fur’ keeps the animal warm in colder environments.
- Foxes have strong legs which allow them to reach speeds of approximately 30 miles per hour, a great benefit to catching prey or escaping from predators.
- Sharp claws are used to dig dens and catch prey.
- Red foxes have excellent senses of vision, smell, and touch.
- Sharp teeth and claws help the fox to catch prey.
Behavioral Adaptations:
- Foxes also signal each other by making scent posts—urinating on trees or rocks to announce their presence.
- The female typically gives birth to a litter of 2 to 12 pups. Both parents care for their young.
- The red fox will continue to hunt even when it is full. It stores extra food under leaves, snow or dirt.
- Red foxes are solitary hunters.
- Baby foxes start playing outside the den when they are about a month old.
- The mother begins feeding her babies regurgitated food, but eventually she will bring them live prey to "play" with and eat. Playing with live prey helps the young kits develop the skills they will need for hunting.
- The baby foxes leave their mother when they are about seven months old.
- The red fox is mostly nocturnal.
- The fox stalks its prey, much like a cat. It gets as close as it can and then pounces and chases its prey.
- Red foxes are either solitary animals or live in pairs.
- One survival adaptation of red foxes involves feeding. When sustenance is plentiful, red foxes stash away additional food for later use. They do this by burying it into the ground, whether in soil or snow. They also frequently hide it under layers of things such as foliage and grass. In order to label it as their own, they often will spray urine over it.
Diet:
- The red fox eats a wide variety of foods. It is an omnivore and its diet includes fruits, berries and grasses. It also eats birds and small mammals like squirrels, rabbits and mice. A large part of the red fox's diet is made up invertebrates like crickets, caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles and crayfish.
Learned Behaviors:
- Baby foxes learn how to hunt through play and watching adult foxes.
Instincts:
- Baby foxes are born knowing how to drink their mother's milk.
- Mother foxes instinctively take care of their young.