Are you ready to learn some of the most interesting red fox facts for kids? The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the world’s largest fox. It occurs throughout the Northern Hemisphere ranging from Arctic Circle to North America. Let’s get to know all about red fox.
Red Fox Facts for Kids
Size and Weight: Adult foxes stand 35–50 cm high at the shoulder. The body length averages 45–90 cm. Red foxes have pretty long tails measuring 30–55.5 cm in length. They have 7.7–12.5 cm long ears. Adult foxes weigh 5 to 31 pounds. The heaviest red fox ever recorded at 38 pounds.
Female foxes are called vixens. Vixens are slightly smaller than males.
Distribution: Red foxes have probably the widest ranges of all the members of Carnivora. They are found in North Africa, North America, Arctic Circle, and Eurasia. It is the only fox which occupies the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Habitat: Red fox makes hom
e in a wide range of habitats such as forests, deserts, grasslands, sand dunes, and mountains. They will also live in suburban areas near human settlement.
Diet: The red fox eats voles, gerbils, ground squirrels, gophers, woodchucks, deer mice, leporids, opossums, flotsam, hamsters, pocket gophers, water fowls, galliformes, Passeriformes, muskrats, hares, gamebirds, rabbits, young ungulates, and echinoderms. Foxes also feed on plums, acorns, grapes, apple, berries, mulberries, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, persimmons, sedges, tubers, and grasses,
Speed: The red fox is able to achieve a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour. Foxes will take a stride of 25–35 cm.
They are extremely quick and active on the ground. Red foxes can jump up the fence measuring 6 feet 7 inches in height.
Red fox digs burrows in steep banks, mountain slopes, bluffs, depressions, rock clefts, and ditches. The depth of the burrows is around 1 to 8 feet. They will sleep 8 – 9 hours a day.
Red foxes utter a wide variety of calls such as wow ‘wow wow’ and ‘waaaah’,
Reproduction: The female gives birth to 4 to 6 kits after a gestation period of 49 – 58 days. The mating season occurs in December to February. The maximum litter size can reach up to 13 kits. The newborn foxes weigh 2.0–3.9 pounds.
Competitors: Red foxes are thought to dominate or even kill several small mammals such as weasels, stoats, polecats, pine martens, Eurasian badgers, stone martens, and kolonoks.
Predators: Predators of red fox are caracals, Eurasian lynx, leopards, cougars, bobcats, golden eagles, Canadian lynxes, and Eurasian eagle owls.
Lifespan: Red foxes have a lifespan of 5 years in the wild. In captivity however they can live as long as 15 years.
