Red fox - Vulpes vulpes

With its white tipped bushy tail, large ears and red fur, the native Red Fox is unmistakable.

Habitat

It can be found in all types of habitat where food is plentiful including urban areas, as it has become quite adept at surviving alongside man although their natural habitat is woodland and open country. Because it is easier to see Red Foxes in towns and cities it is often believed that there are more urban Red Foxes than rural, but over 80% of Britain’s Red Foxes live in rural areas, they are just harder to spot because they are more wary of man. 

Description

The Red Fox grows to the size of a small dog and typically has reddish brown to bright red fur above (the variation in colour has been known to give rise to black or silver colouring) and a white underside including the chest and spreads onto the top lip of a slender muzzle. The back of its ears and its lower limbs are black and it has a white tipped bushy tail which is often called a brush and gets thicker in winter. Their eyes are gold to yellow with vertical slit pupils like that of a cat. Males and females are very difficult to tell apart, the only difference is that males are slightly larger than females.

Biology

Although the Fox is mainly active at dusk and throughout the night as they forage, they can be seen during the day in quieter areas. They have a very broad diet including small mammals, birds, fruit, insects and carrion and will also scavenge from bird tables but very rarely scavenge from bins. Any spare food is buried for times of shortage; this is called a ‘cache’. Foxes forage alone across their territory, which may extend anywhere up to 2,000 hectares, depending on the type of habitat. Edges of territories are marked by urine and are occupied by a family group that often consist of a pair - dog fox and vixen - and their cubs. In areas where foxes are not persecuted along with lots of food, a family group may contain several adults.

As they are nocturnal the best time to spot a Red Fox is dawn or dusk, they can be seen year round as they do not hibernate, but summer is a better time to see them as the cubs are out playing. The mating season starts in December and this is when the eerie, but familiar, high-pitched scream of the vixen can be heard. The number of cubs and the time of year they are born depend on the availability of food in the territory, although they are normally born in the spring. Only one female has a litter which average 4-5 cubs in a den called an ‘earth’ and they become sexually mature after a year. The lifespan for a Red Fox in the wild is only a few years.

Threats

Road casualties cause most Red Fox deaths, but they are also victim to shooting, being snared and dug out with dogs. They are also victim to other methods of control, as they are perceived as a threat to some livestock. Foxes have also been hunted with hounds in the past; it was made illegal in England in February 2005.