Melissa 2021

RED FOX

This research paper features the Red Fox within its natural environment. Its scientific name is Vulpes vulpes. It is found in North America, Europe, Asia, parts of North Africa and Australia. In Australia it is included on the list of the world’s 100 worst invasive species.

Red foxes have big ears, a bushy tail and are usually reddish brown with a whitish/grey chin chest and belly. They have moveable claws which remain sharp making them excellent climbers and burrowers. The males typically weigh 4 to 8 kilograms and females 4 to 6 kilograms.

In Australia, foxes are thought to have played a major part in the demise and extinction of many ground-dwelling native species in the last 130 years. They are most likely cause of 'at risk' native animal declines including 14 species of birds, 48 mammals, 12 reptiles and two amphibians.

The diet of the red fox is: rabbits, house mice, insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, grain, vegetable matter (including crops), and fruits such as grapes, apples and blackberries.

Foxes are primarily nocturnal (night-time) hunters and are solitary by nature. They may travel up to 10 to 15km per night resting in a hollow log or tree, an enlarged rabbit burrow or dense undergrowth. A mating pair consists of a dominant adult male (dog) and a dominant adult female (vixen), together with several subordinate vixens which are usually related. Usually, only the dominant female produces a litter of cubs and the subordinate females help rear the cubs of the breeding vixen.

I have chosen this animal because I wanted to know about the life style of this animal.