The red fox is the subject of many stories, songs, fables, and parables, and it is truly responsible for much of its reputation.

    The red fox has reddish orange fur and is the size of a small dog. The average length is 67- 72 cm for males and 62- 67 cm for females. Their weight is 6-7 kg for males and 5-6 kg for females. Fully grown red foxes rarely weigh 15 lb. The females are called vixens, while the males are called dogs. The red fox has well developed senses of sight, smell, and hearing.

    The red fox lives throughout North America except the extreme north of Alaska. Its habitat is forests and open country.

    The red fox's diet in the wild is small mammals, fish, crayfish, wild fruits, grasses, and small birds. They particularly like blueberries. Red foxes are not picky eaters. They will eat what they can find or catch dead or alive. Sometimes they bury their food.

    Red foxes have 4-5 pups. The female fox gives birth once a year. They give birth in the spring. The pups are born blind and deaf. The pups are born in a den. The den is called an earth. The earth may be dug by the vixen or she might enlarge a rabbit burrow. The vixen stays in the earth with her pups for the first two weeks of their lives. When the pups are about four weeks old they will go into the open. The male doesn’t live with its family. He digs his own den or lives in a deserted groundhog burrow. The  burrow is about 40 feet deep.

   Red foxes are mostly active at night. They travel 5 miles each night.

    Red foxes are hunted for different reasons. Some are hunted for their fur. Others are hunted for sport. There is very little legal action taken against poaching. Red foxes generally do not live very long. Most survive 1or 2 years, although there are records of red foxes living  up to 9 years old in the wild.

    At the Brandywine Zoo there is one female and one male.

For more information visit:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/redfox.htm
http://www.redfox.org/
http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/animals/redfox.htm
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/explore/fox.html
http://www.state.ak.us/adfg/notebook/furbear/redfox.htm
http://www.floodlight-findings.com/2redfox/redfox.html
                                                                                  by Jonathan
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