Red Fox

Red fox. Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Common name: Red fox

Scientific name: Vulpes vulpes

Family: Canidae

Habitat: sparsely settled, rolling farm areas with wooded tracts, marshes and streams, parks, cemetries, rail yards

Range: throughout North America

Food: road-killed animals and winter kills, mice, rats, rabbits, woodchucks, opossums, porcupines, domestic cats, chickens, insects, squirrels, game birds, songbirds, bird eggs, fruits and grasses.

Shelter: seldom seeks shelter in holes or dens during winter, preferring to sleep in the open with their bushy, well-insulated tails curled over their noses to keep them warm.

Places to raise young: Young are born in dens. Enlarges a woodchuck burrow or may den in a hollow log.

Female: vixen; Male: dog fox Young: kits

Description: long, reddish-orange fur slightly darkened on the back, black ears, legs and feet, and a long, bushy, white-tipped tail. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is 22-25 inches in length, with an additional 14- to 16-inch tail, and weighs 8-12 pounds. Foxes look like they are heavier than these weights, an impression created by their full, thick fur.

Dramatic color variations may occur in individuals, although these are rare and show up more often in the species' northern range, especially in Canada. These color variations include: the "cross fox," with a dark stripe of hair extending from the head down the center of the back and transected by another dark stripe over the shoulders, thus forming a cross-like shape; the "black fox," a melanistic red fox; and the "silver fox," simply a black individual with white-tipped guard hairs giving a frosted appearance. The red fox always has a white tail tip, no matter the color phase or shade of red fur (which also varies slightly in individual animals).

Red fox tracks

Fore Print Hind Print 2-1/8” Long Slightly smaller

Drawings by: Kathy Dillon, U.S. Wildlife Service, Red Fox, Sandy Hook Plant and Wildlife Series.

Life history:

Red foxes are small, agile carnivores belonging to the same family (Canidae) as the dog, coyote and wolf. They are intelligent predators with extremely sharp senses of sight, smell and hearing (a fox can hear a mouse squeal at about 150 feet).

Foxes are swift runners and can swim if they have to and are mainly nocturnal.

Red foxes seem less bothered by people than gray foxes and often inhabit heavily populated areas, although they are rarely seen due to their nocturnal habits. There are countless stories of reds rearing young in suburban settings. Generally, if the area can provide food and shelter, foxes will consider it, especially since coyotes continue to push out, or displace, reds from their historic haunts.

Foxes are also scavengers, feeding on road-killed animals and winter kills. Diets of both reds and grays are essentially the same, but different food preferences, behavior patterns and preferred habitat often result in different types and amounts of food eaten. They cache uneaten food by burying it in loose earth.

Fox populations are affected by availability of food, habitat suitability, coyote predation and hunting and trapping pressure.

In late winter, foxes can be heard barking at night, making their presence known to members of the opposite sex. Breeding usually takes place in February.

Young are born following a 51-day gestation period for red foxes. Litters range from 4-10 young, with six the average. Young are born in dens. The red fox usually enlarges a woodchuck burrow or may den in a hollow log; the gray may also den beneath the ground or in crevices in rocky ledges. Underground dens for both species usually have several entrances.

Fox pups weigh about eight ounces at birth, and their eyes are closed for the first 8-10 days. They are nursed by the female in the den for around a month. When the pups emerge, both mother and father keep them supplied with solid food until they are completely weaned after two or three months.

Pups leave the den area in mid-July or August and may forage with their parents for another month until the family disbands. Foxes trapped in the fall are often young ones, on their own for the first time and establishing new territories. Both males and females are sexually mature at 10 months and may breed during their first winter.

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Resource: Wildlife Notes: Foxes By Chuck Fergus. Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency