Red+Fox

__**Phyla:**__ Chordata

__**Class:**__ Mammalia

__**Common Name:**__ Red Fox

__**Scientific name:**__ //Vulpes vulpes// __**Location:**__ The Red Fox is found in much of North America, but hardly found in the far north of Canada and Alaska along with much of the western U.S. and Hawaii. They can also be found as far south as Central America. They are also indigenous to Eurasia (Europe and Asia), and introduced into Australia.

__**Size:**__ - Length: Head and Body, 18 to 33.75 in (46 to 86 cm); Tail, 12 to 21.75 in (30.5 to 55.5 cm) - Weight: 6.5 to 24 lbs (3 to 11 kg)


 * Habitat:** The Red Fox is a very adaptable canid, able to live in a variety of habitats such as forest, tundra, prairie, desert, mountains, farmlands, and urban areas.


 * Living Requirements:** Due to it being very versatile, the Red Fox can survive in many different habitats due to both its intelligence and the fact that it is an omnivore, meaning that it can eat both plant material and meat. Also, due to their adaptability, they can live in a variety of places, such as dens made in the dirt or in small caves. They can also be very curious, which can allow them to figure out how things work, such as a doggy door in a house.
 * Life Cycle:** The red fox mates from January through March. The female will make one or more dens right after mating. The extra dens are used if the original den is disturbed. A little less than two months after mating, the female gives birth to a litter of between one and ten kits. The male brings the female food while she is caring for the kits. The kits start playing outside the den when they are about a month old. The mother begins feeding her kits regurgitated food, but eventually she will bring them live prey to "play" with and eat. Playing with live prey helps the young kits develop the skills they will need for hunting. The kits leave their mother when they are about seven months old.


 * Differences between Males and Females:** The only difference between a Male Red Fox and a Female Red Fox is their size, with the male being slightly larger than the female.

- In many cultures, whether it be in the New World or the Old World, the Red Fox is seen as a Trickster Archetype character, due to it being both cunning and resourceful. - Unlike their cousins, the Gray Fox, Red Foxes are not known for really climbing trees, but if they do they have a very hard time since their claws are not designed to climb trees. - Due to an experiment started in 1960 in Novosibirsk, Russia, scientists there used the Red Fox in order to see how exactly domestication works. In order to do it, they bred the friendliest foxes of each generation to get foxes that were more friendly then the previous generation. During this, they noticed that some changes in both behavior and morphology of the foxes occured. For the behavorial changes were that the foxes started acting more like dogs. The morphological changes were that they started to gain a piebald pattern (black-and-white), their ears would stay floppy for a longer period of time, and their tails would curl up and be shorter than average. The interesting thing about these changes is that it only took 15 generations, or basically 15 years.
 * Interesting Facts:[[image:FOX_IN_TREE!.jpg width="357" height="179" align="right" caption="If you are a Red Fox, do not try this at home."]]**


 * Human Impact on Organism:** Although Red Foxes have been hunted for both sport and being considered pests, they find new ways to thrive in their environments. This means that we really haven't put a dent in the population of Red Foxes.

Zookeeper: Riley Stewart Content retrieved from: [] [] [] Images retrieved from: [] [] []