Red foxes live around the world in diverse habitats including forests, grasslands, mountains and deserts. They also adapt well to human environments such as farms and urban areas.
Red foxes are solitary hunters who feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small game but their diet can be as flexible as their habitat. Foxes will eat vegetables, fruit, fish, frogs, and worms. If living among humans, foxes will feed on food waste and pet food.
The fox’s thick tail aids its balance and provides warmth in cold weather, it also uses it as a signal flag to communicate with other foxes. Foxes also signal each other by making scent posts which means they urinate on trees and rocks to announce their presence.
In winter, foxes meet to mate, the vixen (female) typically gives birth to a litter of 2 to 12 pups. At birth, red foxes are actually brown or grey and a new red coat usually grows in by the end of the first month, but some red foxes are golden, reddish-brown, silver, or even black. Both parents care for their young through the summer before they are able to strike out on their own in the autumn. Foxes are destructive pests and frequent carriers of rabies.
