Fox

If you’ve ever heard a scream in the night and wondered if someone was in trouble, you were probably listening to a fox.

Scientific name	Vulpes vulpes
Family	Canidae
Weight	About 5-7 kg (males are heavier)
Lifespan in the wild	Average of 2-3 years, because many die young; a few reach around 9 years
Diet	Omnivore: small mammals, birds, frogs, worms, berries and fruit
Habitats	Grassland, heathland and moorland, farmland, woodland, towns and gardens
Names	Male: dog. Female: vixen. Young: cubs. Family group: skulk

Meet the red fox

The red fox is one of the most successful mammals on Earth. Its natural range is the largest of any wild land mammal except humans: Europe, temperate Asia, North Africa and most of North America. It was also introduced to Australia. Red foxes live in forests, grasslands, mountains and deserts, and they have also moved into farms, suburbs and big cities.

In the UK the red fox is the only wild member of the dog family. Males are called dogs, females are vixens, and a family group is called a skulk. Foxes belong to the dog family, but they are not dogs, and they share a few features with cats (more on that below).

Red is the most common colour, but not every red fox is red. Coats can look orange, brown or grey, with white and black markings. Black and silver foxes are colour variants of the same species, not separate species. In red foxes, the usual markings are black ear tips, dark legs and a white-tipped tail.

How a fox senses the world

Foxes are superb hunters, yet there are surprisingly few direct studies of their senses. Much of what we know comes from field observation and a handful of experiments.

Hearing. This is probably the fox’s most important hunting sense. The ears can move independently, so a fox can pinpoint the direction of a rustle in the grass. In one study, three young foxes detected tones from about 51 Hz up to 48 kHz, with peak sensitivity near 4 kHz. In an older experiment, hearing mattered more for locating prey than vision or smell. A fox hunting mice in long grass listens, tracks the sound by twitching its ears, then leaps and pounces.

Vision. Foxes have vertical slit pupils, like cats. These let the pupil close very tightly, which helps control how much light enters the eye in both bright and dim conditions. Behind the retina sits a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum. It bounces light back through the eye, which improves night vision and creates the glowing “eyeshine” you see in torchlight or car headlights (its colour changes with the viewing angle). A fox’s retina is dominated by rod cells, which work well in low light. Foxes probably see some colour, but less than we do, and their vision seems to rely heavily on movement. This may be why a hunting fox can walk past a motionless beetle without noticing it.

Smell. Scent is vital for communication: foxes mark territory and trails with urine and other scent marks, and use smell to recognise each other. But as a hunting tool it is less impressive than people assume. In one experiment, captive foxes only found buried meat when they were within about half a metre of it.

Touch. Foxes have stiff whiskers (vibrissae) on the muzzle and also on the forelegs, near the “wrist”. These probably help them sense their body position and surroundings while hunting. Their paws are also furred between the pads, which may help them move over narrow fences and rough ground.

A possible magnetic sense. In a 2011 study in the Czech Republic, researchers watched 84 mouse-hunting pounces. When foxes could see their prey, the direction they faced made no difference. When the prey was hidden (under snow or in long grass), most successful pounces were towards the north-east. The authors suggest that foxes may use the Earth’s magnetic field as a kind of range-finder. This is an exciting hypothesis, not a settled fact.

Body and movement

A fox’s bushy tail, called the brush, works as a balancing aid, a warm wrap in cold weather and a signal to other foxes. Foxes are agile: they can run at up to about 50 km/h, dig well, and use their claws, which partly retract like a cat’s, to climb fences. Red foxes cannot climb trees like gray foxes can, but they can use trees with low branches or sloping trunks, and they sometimes rest in them.

They hunt small prey with the famous “mousing” pounce: a high leap followed by a dive onto the target.

What do foxes eat?

Foxes are opportunists. Their diet includes rodents, rabbits, birds, frogs, worms, insects and carrion, as well as berries, fruit, acorns and other plant food. In towns they also scavenge food waste and may eat pigeons or rats. They often bury surplus food to eat later.

Fox dens (earths)

In Britain a fox den is usually called an earth. It is a tunnel with a chamber at the end, usually one to three metres below ground, and often with more than one entrance. Foxes sometimes dig their own, but they commonly take over the burrows of other animals, such as rabbits or badgers. They also use spaces under sheds and other outbuildings: a Bristol study found that around 37% of earths were under sheds.

Fox or badger?

A fox earth has no bedding, and often has food remains, fur or feathers near the entrance. Badger setts usually have old bedding outside. Foxes and badgers sometimes share a sett peacefully, in separate chambers.

Do foxes sleep in dens?

Surprisingly, for most of the year they don’t. Radio-tracking studies show that foxes mainly rest above ground, in thick vegetation or in high places such as shed roofs and rocky slopes. The earth’s main job is raising cubs. In Bristol, males rarely used earths at all.

Family life and cubs

Foxes mate in winter (December to February in the UK). After a pregnancy of around seven to eight weeks, the vixen gives birth in a den, usually to around four or five cubs. Both parents care for the cubs, and other foxes in the group may help.

Age	What the cub is like
Birth	Born deaf and blind, weighing about 100 g, with fluffy grey-black fur. Fully dependent on its mother
2 weeks	Eyes open (blue at first), ears unfold, fur turns dark brown
4 weeks	Red adult coat starts to come through, eyes turn amber, starts eating solid food, first trips out of the den
6-8 weeks	Weaned, red coat, longer ears and nose, begins exploring
About 6 months	Fully grown by autumn and leaves to find its own territory
About 10 months	Sexually mature

Foxes and people

Life in the city. Fox territories are usually much smaller in cities, where food is plentiful, than in food-poor uplands. Urban foxes den under sheds and in gardens, and use whatever food they find.

Dangers. Road accidents are the main cause of fox injury and death, and risk rises in mating season and in late summer to autumn, when young foxes disperse. Foxes can also be hurt by garden netting. Fox hunting with dogs has been illegal in England and Wales since 2004.

Mange. Sarcoptic mange, caused by skin mites, is common in UK foxes. It spreads by direct contact. In Bristol, a mange outbreak in the mid-1990s caused a dramatic drop in the fox population, and foxes that survived changed where they rested. Mild cases often recover. Severe cases need a vet.

Rabies. In much of their range, red foxes are important carriers of rabies, which is why some countries run vaccination programmes aimed at wild foxes.

What to do if you find a sick or injured fox?

o not try to handle it. Foxes can bite and scratch when scared. Signs of trouble include visible wounds, wobbling or staggering, heavy panting, not reacting to noise and not running away when you approach. Keep a safe distance and contact a local wildlife rehabilitator or wildlife centre. A healthy fox that runs away is fine, even in daytime. A limp in an otherwise healthy fox is usually an old injury and best left alone.

Found a cub? A cub alone is not always orphaned. In spring, cubs often explore above ground in the daytime while their parents watch nearby. If the cub’s eyes are closed, or it is clearly injured, call a wildlife rehabilitator. If its eyes are open and it looks healthy, watch from a distance for a few hours first.

Foxes beyond the red fox

There are around a dozen “true foxes” in the genus Vulpes. The smallest is the fennec fox of the Sahara, at around 1 kg, with huge ears that help it lose heat. The Arctic fox lives in the far north, and one tracked individual travelled from Norway to Canada, about 3,500 km, in 76 days.

Closer to home for FurryDoon’s Persian readers, Blanford’s fox (Vulpes cana) lives in the mountain steppes and deserts of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Israel.

Not every animal called a fox is a true fox. The gray fox, bat-eared fox and South American foxes belong to other genera. The gray fox is famous for climbing trees.

What people get wrong about foxes

Myth
“Foxes are sly and cunning.”	Foxes are intelligent and curious, but also shy and reserved. They prefer to avoid people.
“Foxes are just small dogs.”	They are in the dog family, but they have cat-like traits: vertical pupils and partly retractable claws.
“Only vixens scream.”	Both sexes scream, to attract mates and warn off rivals. They make many other sounds too, up to roughly 28 described calls.
“Foxes sleep in dens.”	Mostly they rest above ground. Earths are mainly for raising cubs.
“Foxes have an amazing sense of smell.”	Smell matters for communication, but hearing seems more important for finding prey.
“Foxes see everything at night.”	They see well in low light, but their vision is not very detailed and relies on movement.
“A fox in daylight is sick.”	Foxes are mostly active at dusk and dawn, but healthy foxes are sometimes out in the day, and may sunbathe. Look for other signs: wounds, wobbling, not fleeing, hair loss.
“A thin or scruffy fox has mange.”	Foxes moult in summer and can look scruffy. Mange causes crusty skin, bare patches and constant scratching.
“A lone cub is abandoned.”	Often its parents are nearby. Observe from a distance first.
“Anything called a fox is a fox.”	Gray foxes, bat-eared foxes and others belong to different genera.
“Foxes make good pets.”	They are wild animals with needs that cannot be met at home.

References

https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/red-fox-senses

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/foxes/injured

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/red-fox