The Red Fox is a member of the canid family, and is related to wolves, coyotes, and dogs.   It's scientific name is vulpes vulpes.

There are many different species of fox found around the world, including the Gray Fox, Tibetan Fox, Corsac Fox, Fennec Fox, Arctic Fox and Bat-Eared Fox. 

This fox usually has reddish fur on its back and sides, and whitish fur underneath on its belly and chest.  The legs and feet are black, and the tip of the tail is white.  There are other color variations, including black (all black), cross (with a dark cross on the shoulders), and silver (which is really black with white-tipped guard hairs). 

The Red Fox is found all over North and Central America, Europe, northern Asia, and even parts of Australia.  This species was brought to North America from England and released by landowners who wanted to hunt them.   Red Foxes like to live in wooded areas and brushlands.  Adult foxes usually live alone except when they are raising kits.   

Foxes enjoy eating many foods.  Their diet includes mice and other small mammals, insects, fruits, and even grasses.  During summer, a fox will feed heavily on corn, berries, acorns, grapes, and a variety of insects. In winter the diet will be primarily birds and small mammals.

Red Foxes mate early in the year.   Sometime between March and May a litter of 1 to 10 kits will be born  in the maternity den.  The newborn foxes are naked and blind, but they already have a white tail tip.  When the kits are about one month old they will begin to explore outside of the den.  At this point they begin to sample the foods their parents bring to the den.  Eventually, they learn to hunt themselves, and when they are about seven months old they will leave the den and their parents. 

Dens are used only for rearing kits, not as shelter during winter.  An adult fox will curl into a ball, wrapping its bushy tail across its nose and foot pads, and at times may be completely covered with snow.

 Was THAT a Red Fox?

 Look for these signs: 

	The maternity den may be an enlarged woodchuck or badger den, or in a stream bank, rock pile, or hollow log.
	Cache mounds where food is buried.
	Tracks are similar to that of a dog, only smaller.  The foreprint is about 55 mm (2 inches) long, and the hindprint is slightly smaller and narrower.  In heavy snow the tail may brush out tracks.