Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
appear to be any biological reason for this behavior, other than pure enjoyment. Even if a fox mistook
a golf ball for an egg the first time it encountered one, it would quickly learn better and abandon the
practice. In this instance, the foxes continued to snatch golf balls throughout the summer. Regardless of
the foxes' motives, the golfers were inevitably too enchanted by the sight to mind the loss of a ball! I
was also recently told of a family of foxes that behaved in similar fashion at another golf course. This
trait may be analogous to similar behavior by crows and ravens, as noted in chapter 13.
Although red foxes are very catlike in the many ways already outlined, they have other characterist-
ics besides general appearance which tie them closely to their dog family relatives. This is especially
true in their mating habits and family life, where their canid characteristics are most prominently dis-
played.
About late January, red foxes begin to seek their mates. It's easy to tell when the mating season
has begun, at least in northern climes where there's snow on the ground. Simply follow a fox track
to a place where the fox has urinated; there, a very strong, almost skunklike odor—absent at other
times—proclaims that mating is in session. This smell is pungent enough to be detected at some dis-
tance if the wind is in the right direction, and, once experienced a time or two, is almost unmistakable.
Fox mating involves a substantial amount of foreplay, some of it quite spectacular. After consider-
able playful chasing in a sort of fox version of tag, the male (called a dog fox) and the female (known
as a vixen) stand erect on their hind legs and put their forepaws against each other, almost like dance
partners. Then they may again race after each other and repeat the performance. This courtship beha-
vior can continue for most of two weeks, until it finally culminates in the actual mating. Then the two
temporarily split up to again become solitary hunters for a time. The dog fox will then rejoin the vixen,
ready for parenting duties, before the young are born.
As the birth of the young approaches, the pair begins to prepare a natal den. Usually this is in soft,
well-drained soil where the digging is easy, and often it's an enlargement of a preexisting den dug by
a woodchuck, a skunk, or even another fox. It may be in a pasture, a meadow, an abandoned field, or
the edge of the woods, but it usually has some open space around it. The vixen commonly excavates
several entrances, as well as various tunnels and chambers. An older vixen may have several natal dens
within her territory, selecting one or another each year according to her mood.
The natal den, incidentally, is quite different from a much simpler type of den used for resting or
escape from danger. Foxes usually have a number of these dens, which consist of a few feet of tunnel
with a small chamber at the end. Here a fox can wait out a particularly bad spell of weather, such as a
blizzard, or escape a variety of predators.
After a gestation of about fifty-two days, the vixen gives birth to a litter of three to six young, al-
though larger litters sometimes occur. The little foxes are usually called kits, in another nod toward the
fox's catlike characteristics, though they're also sometimes called pups or cubs. The vixen remains in
the den for the first few days, nursing her kits. During this time her mate brings her food on a regular
basis; this behavior is typical of the dog family, but not of cats. As the kits continue to grow and are
gradually weaned, both parents hunt and bring them food.
