Red Fox Research Paper

There are many animals in the world, but my favorite animal is the red fox. Red foxes have a small regular sized bushy tail with long fur, pointed ears, and narrow snouts (Lariviere, 2015). Red foxes are part of Kingdom Animalia, which means it is an animal that is multicellular, heterotrophic, eukaryotic, and mobile. In the Classification hierarchy of the red fox, Phylum Chordata comes after Kingdom Animalia. Chordata means that the organism has a backbone. After Phylum is Class Mammalia, then Order Carnivora, and then Family Canidae, which includes coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, and wolves. After Family, there is the Genus Vulpes, and lastly species vulpes. The species name shows the specific type of the animal. The Genus species name …show more content…
The red foxes color show as kind of yellowish red to dark red brown on the upper parts of its body, and white on the under side of its body. The leg parts are usually dark colored, and the tail usually has a white or blackish end. Red foxes, like many other canids, have tail glands. In Vulpse vulpse this gland is located 75mm above the tail on its upper side and lies within the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. The fox eyes are yellow. The nose is black. The red foxes are the largest in population of the vulpse species (Reynolds, …show more content…
The red fox mates from January to the end of March. After mating with the female fox will make one or more dens. These extra dens are used in case the main den is destroyed. The fox dens can be about 50 feet long. The fox build their dens around a place that is not too far away from water, such as near the stream, marsh, lake, or pond. About 2 month after mating the female fox gives birth to one to ten cubs. The male fox brings the female food while she is caring for the cubs. The cubs are able to go outside the den when they are one month old. At that time the cubs are able to eat somewhat hard food (Ross, no date). The mother fox starts feeding her cub with regurgitated food, but after that she will bring live prey for the cubs to play with and eat. Observing a live prey helps the young cubs to develop the skills they will need for hunting (Durham, 2015). The cubs leave their family when they are about 7 month old. Male cubs normally leave more early than the female cubs, but not every cub decide to leave their parents. Only the females are allowed to stay with the family. The males must leave and make it’s own family (Ross, no date). Red foxes usually live about 10 to 12 years. (Durham,