The Wild
 Side 

Hello everybody, and welcome to the very first edition of The Wild Side. I’m Stella, and I can’t wait to write for the Griffin Post this year! This fall, I couldn’t think of a more fitting animal to write about than red foxes. Red foxes are small-to-medium-sized, fluffy mammals with white, black, dark brown, and rusty-colored fur. They have bushy tails and slender snouts. In the wild, red foxes live around two to five years. A female fox is called a ‘vixen,’ and a male fox is called a ‘dog’ or ‘dog-fox.’ Baby foxes are called ‘kits,’ ‘pups,’ or ‘cubs.’

Red foxes belong to the Canidae family and the vulpes genus. A genus groups multiple closely related species with similar ancestry. A family groups related species that may have larger distinction in diet, size, and behavior. For example, foxes, coyotes, wolves, and dogs are all in the Canidae family and have similar ancestry, however they behave, look, and eat differently. During the fall or winter, red foxes grow thicker fur or ‘winter fur’ to help them stay warm in colder weather. In spring and summer, the foxes shed this fur to better cope with hot weather.

Red foxes are found in forests, grasslands, and sometimes urban areas located in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. Red foxes are omnivores or opportunistic hunters, meaning that the animals eat a wide range of food and hunt based on availability, not preference. They mostly feed on small rodents such as field mice, rats, or voles. Insects are also consumed by red foxes. These insects commonly include earthworms, grasshoppers, or beetles. The foxes also eat blackberries. To hunt, red foxes use their great hearing skills to locate prey, and then leap high into the air to pounce on their prey. In North America, wolves and coyotes are red foxes’ main predators. Cubs may be threatened by eagles and badgers, however they don’t pose as much threat as wolves and coyotes do.

To avoid interactions with humans or predators, foxes are primarily nocturnal, meaning they are most active during night or twilight. Red foxes can also be crepuscular (mostly venturing out at dawn or dusk). Unfortunately, red foxes were hunted for sport and their pelts were sold at a high price. This left lasting effects on the red foxes’ population, especially in the UK. Despite this, red foxes are labeled as least concerned by the IUCN. This means that red foxes have a stable population and are not endangered. Red foxes also have many subspecies. There are around 45-47 subspecies of red foxes, with the Sierra Nevada fox and cross fox being most recognized. One subspecies, called the domestic silver fox, was a result of selective breeding during a Russian Experiment to domesticate foxes. The foxes’ color changed from tones of red or brown to silver or black, and are more friendly and outgoing towards humans.

I hope you enjoyed the very first edition of The Wild Side, and I hope you learned a lot more about foxes!

Sources:

-Animal Corner

-Wildlife Online

-Wild & Misunderstood

-Animal Fact Central