Throughout history the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) has been the subject of folklore and fables, its name synonymous with cunning and wiliness. The fox is usually the culprit when farmers lose their chickens and, if not, it gets the blame anyway. As a nocturnal hunter, it is not often seen in the countryside but urban foxes are on the increase and becoming bolder, scavenging in gardens and exploring rubbish bins. Despite being hunted for its fur as well as by farmers, numbers continue to increase and it is now the most widespread and abundant wild carnivore in the world.
During the mating season in early spring, the vixen can sometimes be heard calling to her mate with a high-pitched yelp and the dog fox answering with a shrill bark sounding across the valley. A hollowed-out tree stump makes an ideal den or 'earth' where the vixen and her cubs spend the daylight hours before emerging at dusk to creep silently about the countryside.
Distribution (North America)[]
Red foxes are widespread throughout most of North America, but local in the sw. US and uncommon in the Southeast. Abundant in Interior Canada, where it's often seen on roadsides. Most common along forest edges, riparian corridors, and overgrown gullies. In some areas, such as in Central British Columbia, more than half the foxes are silver-black. One reliable place to see both red and black morphs is at the outskirts of Churchill, Manitoba. In the United States, the gorgeous silver-black form can sometimes be seen on winter nights around ski lodges on Mount Baker and Rainier in Washington State. Red morph is common, among other places, in the Hitchcock Nature Center in Iowa, the Laramie River Greenbelt Trail in Wyoming, the Linville Gorge Wilderness in North Carolina, The Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts, and Prince Edward Island National Park. The red fox lives in some cities; look for it at the Fairmount Cemetery in Denver Colorado, The Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey, and in all towns of north Quebec. In winter, when human access to the base of Niagara Falls is closed, you can sometimes watch foxes from the observation tower in Niagara Falls State Park in New York, as they search for stunned fish along the water edge just below the falls. The distinctive Sierra Nevada subspecies, which is usually blonde-colored in summer and gray in winter, is extinct everywhere except in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park and around Sonora Pass in California; as well as at Mount Hood and in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. The population in the Sacramento Valley in California has been recently shown to represent a previously undescribed native subspecies (the Sacramento Valley Red Fox); look for it in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Distinctive races exist also on Kodiak Island, Alaska and Newfoundland; both are common throughout their island ranges. The largest foxes occur in the n. Great Plains (particularly in North Dakota and w. Minnesota), as well as on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, and in Nova Scotia. Eastern red foxes have been introduced to coastal California, where they do a lot of damage to local wildlife, particularly around the San Francisco Bay. In general, while widespread, highest densities are found in the northern Great Plains, the Mid-Atlantic region, New England, and northern Alberta and Quebec.
Gallery[]
.jpeg "Family Of Red Foxes in Reynard the Fox (1989).jpeg (338 KB)")
.jpeg "Red Fox In Three Fox Fables (1983).jpeg (116 KB)")
.jpeg "Red Fox in DOG'S LIFE (2004).jpeg (377 KB)")
.jpeg "Sherlock The Red Fox in Doctor Dolittle (1970).jpeg (244 KB)")
.jpeg "Hungry Red Fox in Marcelino, pan y vino (TV Series 2001–2011).jpeg (368 KB)")
.jpeg "Red Fox in The Green Knight (film).jpeg (9 KB)")