Fox

The fox is a scavenger carnivores animal, generally found in urban city areas in the Northern Hemisphere. As a nocturnal animal, foxes prefer going out at night to hunt for prey.

One Amazing Animal: 3 Fox Facts

• Adapted for snow: Foxes live in environments where the animals they hunt have adapted for snow, so the fox has its own winter adaptations! For example, a fox can jump 3 feet into the air to catch a mouse at a snow depth of more than 3 feet, even if the mouse is moving! Foxes know how to determine a mouse’s speed and trajectory so they land on exactly the right spot of snow.
• A long-distance animal: An Arctic fox fitted with a tracking device traveled 2,175 miles from Norway to Canada in just 76 days’ time!
• A creative solution for rabies: Rabies caused by red foxes was causing a huge problem in Europe into the 60s. How did scientists solve this problem? Well, they got animals to vaccinate themselves. Scientists air-dropped vaccinated chicken heads for wild foxes to eat and helped eliminate the scourge of rabies!

From Animal to Vulpes: The Classification of the Fox

Foxes belong to the kingdom Animalia (Animals!) and are mammals. As part of the family Canidae they’re closely related to wolves, racoons, and domesticated dogs!

The genus Vulpes contains 12 different species of fox. The most widespread is the red fox, which has the scientific name Vulpes Vulpes and is found across most of the Northern Hemisphere.

Fox Appearance and Lifespan

Wild foxes tend live for around 6-7 years, but some foxes have been known to be older than 13 in captivity. The wild fox hunts for the mouse and other small mammals and birds, but foxes appear to enjoy all species of insect.

A fox is generally smaller than other members of the dog family like wolves, jackals and domestic dogs. Foxes can be a pest in the cities as foxes are often seen tearing into rubbish.

Fox Species and Conservation Status

There are around 12 different species of fox found around the world, which include the urban fox or red fox, the beautifully white Arctic fox, the sand fox which is a light-coloured fox found in desert regions and the tiny yet big eared fennec fox.

Foxes in Europe have been the victims of fox hunting, an extremely controversial sport that involves humans on horses hunting out the fox, lead by a pack of hound dogs which would find the fox by following the scent of the fox. Fox hunting in this manner is now illegal, although it is still allowed if the sport only contains humans on horseback, without the use of their clever but somewhat vicious dogs.

The fox is also found in the more rural areas of the Northern hemisphere, although fox numbers in the countryside are outnumbered by fox numbers in cities as due to the foxes scavenging nature, food is more readily available in the urban streets.

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