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Vulpes vulpesred fox

By David L. Fox

Ge­o­graphic Range

Red foxes are found through­out much of the north­ern hemi­sphere from the Arc­tic cir­cle to Cen­tral Amer­ica, the steppes of cen­tral Asia, and north­ern Africa. This species has the widest dis­tri­b­u­tion of any canid. Red foxes have also been in­tro­duced to Aus­tralia and the Falk­land Is­lands. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

Habi­tat

Red foxes uti­lize a wide range of habi­tats in­clud­ing for­est, tun­dra, prairie, desert, moun­tains, farm­lands, and urban areas. They pre­fer mixed veg­e­ta­tion com­mu­ni­ties, such as edge habi­tats and mixed scrub and wood­land. They are found from sea level to 4500 me­ters el­e­va­tion. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

  • Range elevation
    0 to 4500 m
    0.00 to 14763.78 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Col­oration of red foxes ranges from pale yel­low­ish red to deep red­dish brown on the upper parts and white, ashy or slaty on the un­der­side. The lower part of the legs is usu­ally black and the tail usu­ally has a white or black tip. Two color vari­ants com­monly occur. Cross foxes have red­dish brown fur with a black stripe down the back and an­other across the shoul­ders. Sil­ver foxes range from strong sil­ver to nearly black and are the most prized by fur­ri­ers. These vari­ants are about 25% and 10% of red fox in­di­vid­u­als, re­spec­tively. Red foxes, like many other canid species, have tail glands. In Vulpes vulpes this gland is lo­cated 75 mm above the root of the tail on its upper sur­face and lies within the der­mis and sub­cu­ta­neous tis­sue. The eyes of ma­ture an­i­mals are yel­low. The nose is dark brown or black. The den­tal for­mula is 3/3 1/1 4/4 2/3. The tooth row is more than half the length of the skull. The pre­mo­lars are sim­ple and pointed, with the ex­cep­tion of upper fourth pre­mo­lars, the car­nas­sials. Molar struc­ture em­pha­sizes crush­ing. The manus has 5 claws and the pes 4 claws. The first digit, or dew claw, is rudi­men­tary but clawed and does not con­tact the ground. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

Red foxes are the largest of the Vulpes species. Head and body length ranges from 455 to 900 mm, tail length from 300 to 555 mm, and weight from 3 to 14 kg. Males are slightly larger than fe­males. Pop­u­la­tions in south­ern deserts and in North Amer­ica are smaller than Eu­ro­pean pop­u­la­tions. Body mass and length among pop­u­la­tions also varies with lat­i­tude (being larger in the north, ac­cord­ing to Bergmann's rule). (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • male larger
  • Range mass
    3 to 14 kg
    6.61 to 30.84 lb
  • Range length
    455 to 900 mm
    17.91 to 35.43 in
  • Average basal metabolic rate
    13.731 W
    AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Red fox mat­ing be­hav­ior varies sub­stan­tially. Often males and fe­males are monog­a­mous, but males with mul­ti­ple fe­male mates are also know, as are male/fe­male pairs that use non-breed­ing fe­male helpers in rais­ing their young. Fe­males mated to the same male fox may share a den. Red fox groups al­ways have only one breed­ing male, but that male may also seek mat­ing out­side of the group. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

The an­nual es­trous pe­riod of fe­male red foxes last from 1 to 6 days. Ovu­la­tion is spon­ta­neous and does not re­quire cop­u­la­tion to occur. The exact time of es­trous and breed­ing varies across the broad ge­o­graphic range of the species: De­cem­ber-Jan­u­ary in the south, Jan­u­ary-Feb­ru­ary in the cen­tral re­gions, and Feb­ru­ary-April in the north. Males will fight dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Males have a cycle of fe­cun­dity, with full sper­mato­ge­n­e­sis only oc­cur­ring from No­vem­ber to March. Fe­males may mate with a num­ber of males but will es­tab­lish a part­ner­ship with only one male. Cop­u­la­tion usu­ally lasts 15 or 20 min­utes and is often ac­com­pa­nied by a vocal clamor. Im­plan­ta­tion of the fer­til­ized egg oc­curs be­tween 10 and 14 days after a suc­cess­ful mat­ing. Just be­fore and for a time after giv­ing birth the fe­male re­mains in or around the den. The male part­ner will pro­vi­sion his mate with food but does not go into the ma­ter­nity den. Ges­ta­tion is typ­i­cally be­tween 51 and 53 days but can be as short as 49 days or as long as 56 days. Lit­ters vary in size from 1 to 13 pups with an av­er­age of 5. Birth weight is be­tween 50 and 150 g. The pups are born blind but open their eyes 9 to 14 days after birth. Pups leave the den 4 or 5 weeks after birth and are fully weaned by 8 to 10 weeks. Mother and pups re­main to­gether until the au­tumn after the birth. Sex­ual ma­tu­rity is reached by 10 months.

  • Breeding interval
    Red foxes breed once yearly.
  • Breeding season
    Breeding season varies from region to region but usually begins in December or January in the south, January to February in the central regions, and February to April in the north.
  • Range number of offspring
    1 to 9
  • Average number of offspring
    4.59
  • Average number of offspring
    5
    AnAge
  • Range gestation period
    49 to 55 days
  • Range weaning age
    56 to 70 days
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    10.0 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    304 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    10.0 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    304 days
    AnAge

Red fox males and fe­males, and some­times their older off­spring, co­op­er­ate to care for the pups. Young re­main in the den for 4 to 5 weeks, where they are cared for and nursed by their mother. They are nursed for 56 to 70 days and are pro­vided with solid food by their par­ents and older sib­lings. The young re­main with their par­ents at least until the fall of the year they were born in and will some­times re­main longer, es­pe­cially fe­males.

  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • post-independence association with parents
  • extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Red foxes have been known to live 10 to 12 years in cap­tiv­ity but live on av­er­age 3 years in the wild.

Be­hav­ior

Red foxes are soli­tary an­i­mals and do not form packs like wolves. Dur­ing some parts of the year ad­ja­cent ranges may over­lap some­what, but parts may be reg­u­larly de­fended. In other words, Vulpes vulpes is at least partly ter­ri­to­r­ial. Ranges are oc­cu­pied by an adult male and one or two adult fe­males with their as­so­ci­ated young. In­di­vid­u­als and fam­ily groups have main earthen dens and often other emer­gency bur­rows in the home range. Dens of other an­i­mals, such as rab­bits or mar­mots, are often taken over by foxes. Larger dens may be dug and used dur­ing the win­ter and dur­ing birth and rear­ing of the young. The same den is often used over a num­ber of gen­er­a­tions. Path­ways through­out the home range con­nect the main den with other rest­ing sites, fa­vored hunt­ing grounds and food stor­age areas. Red foxes are ter­res­trial and ei­ther noc­tur­nal or cre­pus­cu­lar. Top speed is about 48 km/h and ob­sta­cles as high as 2 m can be lept. In the au­tumn fol­low­ing birth, the pups of the lit­ter will dis­perse to their own ter­ri­to­ries. Dis­per­sal can be to areas as nearby as 10 km and as far away as al­most 400 km. An­i­mals re­main in the same home range for life.

  • Range territory size
    5 to 12 km^2

Home Range

In­di­vid­ual adults have home ranges that vary in size de­pend­ing on the qual­ity of the habi­tat. In good areas ranges may be be­tween 5 and 12 square kilo­me­ters; in poorer habi­tats ranges are larger, be­tween 20 and 50 square kilo­me­ters.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Red foxes use a va­ri­ety of vo­cal­iza­tions to com­mu­ni­cate among them­selves. They also use fa­cial ex­pres­sions and scent mark­ing ex­ten­sively. Scent mark­ing is through urine, feces, anal sac se­cre­tions, the supra­cau­dal gland, and glands around the lips, jaw, and the pads of the feet. There have been 28 dif­fer­ent kinds of vo­cal­iza­tions de­scribed in red foxes and in­di­vid­u­als have voices that can be dis­tin­guished. Vo­cal­iza­tions are used to com­mu­ni­cate with foxes that are both nearby and very fary away. Red foxes have ex­cel­lent senses of vi­sion, smell, and touch. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

Food Habits

Red foxes are es­sen­tially om­ni­vores. They mostly eat ro­dents, east­ern cot­ton­tail rab­bits, in­sects, and fruit. They will also eat car­rion. Red foxes also store food and are very good at re­lo­cat­ing these caches. Red foxes have a char­ac­ter­is­tic man­ner of hunt­ing mice. The fox stands mo­tion­less, lis­ten­ing and watch­ing in­tently for a mouse it has de­tected. It then leaps high and brings the fore­limbs straight down forcibly to pin the mouse to the ground. They eat be­tween 0.5 and 1 kg of food each day.

  • Animal Foods
  • birds
  • mammals
  • reptiles
  • carrion
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods
  • Plant Foods
  • fruit

Pre­da­tion

Most red foxes that are taken by nat­ural preda­tors are young pups. Pups are kept in and near a den and pro­tected by their fam­ily to avoid this. Adult red foxes may also be at­tacked by coy­otes, wolves, or other preda­tors, but this is rarely in order to eat them. The most sig­nif­i­cant preda­tors on red foxes are hu­mans, who hunt foxes for their fur and kill them in large num­bers as pests.

Ecosys­tem Roles

Red foxes help to con­trol pop­u­la­tions of their prey an­i­mals, such as ro­dents and rab­bits. They also may dis­perse seeds by eat­ing fruit.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Red foxes are im­por­tant fur bear­ers and more are raised on farms than any other wild fur bear­ing mam­mal. Red foxes also help to con­trol pop­u­la­tions of small ro­dents and rab­bits and may dis­perse seeds. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

  • Positive Impacts
  • body parts are source of valuable material
  • controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Red foxes are con­sid­ered by many to be threats to poul­try. In gen­eral, foxes hunt their nat­ural prey, but in­di­vid­ual foxes may learn to tar­get do­mes­tic birds if they are not ad­e­quately pro­tected. Foxes are known vec­tors for ra­bies and can trans­mit the dis­ease to hu­mans and other an­i­mals.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Three sub­species are listed in CITES ap­pen­dix III. Over­all, red fox pop­u­la­tions are sta­ble and they have ex­panded their range in re­sponse to human changes in habi­tats. (Mac­Don­ald and Reynolds, 2005)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

David L. Fox (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Australian

Living in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea and associated islands.

World Map

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

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Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carrion

flesh of dead animals.

causes or carries domestic animal disease

either directly causes, or indirectly transmits, a disease to a domestic animal

chaparral

Found in coastal areas between 30 and 40 degrees latitude, in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Vegetation is dominated by stands of dense, spiny shrubs with tough (hard or waxy) evergreen leaves. May be maintained by periodic fire. In South America it includes the scrub ecotone between forest and paramo.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cooperative breeder

helpers provide assistance in raising young that are not their own

crepuscular

active at dawn and dusk

desert or dunes

in deserts low (less than 30 cm per year) and unpredictable rainfall results in landscapes dominated by plants and animals adapted to aridity. Vegetation is typically sparse, though spectacular blooms may occur following rain. Deserts can be cold or warm and daily temperates typically fluctuate. In dune areas vegetation is also sparse and conditions are dry. This is because sand does not hold water well so little is available to plants. In dunes near seas and oceans this is compounded by the influence of salt in the air and soil. Salt limits the ability of plants to take up water through their roots.

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

holarctic

a distribution that more or less circles the Arctic, so occurring in both the Nearctic and Palearctic biogeographic regions.

World Map

Found in northern North America and northern Europe or Asia.

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

mountains

This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

polygynous

having more than one female as a mate at one time

riparian

Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).

scent marks

communicates by producing scents from special gland(s) and placing them on a surface whether others can smell or taste them

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

solitary

lives alone

stores or caches food

places a food item in a special place to be eaten later. Also called "hoarding"

suburban

living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

urban

living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.

visual

uses sight to communicate

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

Ref­er­ences

Lloyd, H. G. 1981. The Red Fox. B. T. Bats­ford, Ltd., Lon­don.

Nowak, R. M. 1991. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press, Bal­ti­more, MD.

Mac­Don­ald, D., J. Reynolds. 2005. "Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)" (On-line). IUCN Canid Spe­cial­ist Group. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 27, 2007 at http://​www.​canids.​org/​species/​Vulpes_​vulpes.​htm.

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Carnivora carnivores
  • Family Canidae coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, and wolves
  • Genus Vulpes foxes
  • Species Vulpes vulpes red fox