Lesson 135: Project 2

           I live in northern Colorado, and one of the mammals that live here is the red fox. The type of environment that I live in is prairie grassland. Even though we don’t see them often, I know they are still around here somewhere. Fox likes to be alone and away from people, unless there is food left out in the open. Red foxes are very interesting mammals, and I will tell you a little bit about them in this paper.

          Red foxes look a lot like dogs but are not really related to them. Red foxes are red with a white chest, and black legs. They are small, about 45 cm long, and 22 cm wide. When red foxes are fully grown they are between 8 and 15 pounds. They have black pointy ears with a peach color on the inside. They also have a long bushy black tail. Red foxes are unique because they are not like any other animals from the family, and they do not look like other dog-like animals from that group.

           Red foxes have many behaviors and habits. Red foxes are solitary (meaning they live alone) unless it is a mother with her babies. They are sly (that means they are smart, sneaky, and crafty). Foxes are usually active during the daytime, but they usually hunt during night. The sounds that red foxes make include barking, screaming, howling, and squealing. They are very interesting to watch and observe.

           Red foxes eat many animals. They are mainly carnivores, and they eat rabbits, rodents, birds, frogs, and earthworms. However, they are also omnivores, because they will eat fruits such as berries. Foxes will actually eat anything they can get, even garbage, insects, and dead animals. Red fox hunt by moving back and forth over an area, detecting prey scent and sound. They are very sneaky hunters, and are very good at surprising their prey.

            Red foxes mate in January and February. The males are called dogs, and the females are called vixens. Foxes breed once every year. The vixens are pregnant for about 53 days, and they have live babies, usually having a litter of four to five pups. Foxes do not live very long, because they can be hit by cars, trapped, and killed by predators. Sadly, red foxes do not get the chance to reproduce very often because of this.

           Red foxes depend on their environment. They depend on plants because they eat rabbits and rabbits eat plants, so if we did not have plants we would not have foxes. Foxes also depend on animals because If we did not have animals, they would not be alive. Foxes depend on humans because (foxes eat mice) people build houses that are where mice live so humans technically keep fox alive. This is the way foxes rely on its environment.

         Foxes are fascinating creatures. They are omnivores that scavenge for anything they can find. They are in the canidae family, but are different from wolves and dogs. They mate in January and February, and they have a litter of up to five pups. Foxes were fun, interesting and cute to watch and learn about.