Information about the fox

About the fox

Foxes belong to the canidae family, which falls under the order of carnivores, and to the class of mammals, which in turn falls under the chordate division, which belongs to the animal kingdom.^[XNUMX] In terms of appearance, foxes resemble bushy-tailed dogs of small to medium size. Foxes are omnivorous animals, meaning their diet is very diverse. They are also very social and flexible, so they are able to live in a wide range of habitats in North America, Europe, and Asia. And North Africa.^[XNUMX]^[XNUMX]

The genus Vulpes or true foxes (scientific name: Vulpes) is the most famous genus of foxes and includes 12 species of living foxes, in addition to six extinct species that have been identified only through fossils.^[XNUMX]It is worth noting that the male fox in the Arabic language is called “tha’laban” and “thalaban.”^[XNUMX] As for the female, she is known as Tha'al and Tha'ala.^[XNUMX]

Fox species

Foxes are divided into several genera and species, but the most famous of them is the genus Vulpes, which includes 12 species of true foxes, which are:^[XNUMX]

Arctic fox: (In English: Arctic Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes lagopus), the Arctic fox or snow fox lives in the Arctic region of the Northern Hemisphere, and its fur color is white in the winter, but in the summer it becomes gray-brown.^[XNUMX]
Red fox: (in English: Red Fox), known scientifically as (Vulpes vulpes), is the most widespread type of carnivore, and the largest member of the genus Vulpes, and is distinguished by its ability to quickly adapt to its environment. It can live in a wide range of habitats, including tundra, deserts, forests, and in city centers. It is also found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is worth noting that the fur of red foxes can be of different colors, not just red.^[XNUMX]^[XNUMX]
Bengal fox: (in English: Bengal Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes bengalensis), and it lives only in the Indian subcontinent, so it is also called the Indian fox. It spreads widely from the foothills of the Himalayas to southern India, where it prefers to live in open grasslands and forests. thorny or semi-dry shrubby,^[XNUMX] While the Bengal fox is distinguished by its fur, the color of which varies between orange and reddish-brown, and the color of the abdomen is slightly pale compared to the upper parts of the body, while the tip of the tail is black.^[XNUMX]
Rubel's fox: (in English: Rüppell's Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes rueppellii), and it can be found in sandy or rocky deserts, and in areas where low trees are abundant, in addition to the steppes that spread in parts of the Middle East, southwest Asia, and North Africa.^[XNUMX] The Rubel's fox can be distinguished from other foxes thanks to the gray markings on its face, and the color of the outer fur is often sandy orange.^[XNUMX]
Dwarf fox: (in English: Kit Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes macrotis), and lives in areas whose altitude ranges between 396 and 1890 m, which are found in the range extending from central and northern Mexico to the southwestern United States, although the kit fox prefers to live in areas Arid, but it can be found near populated areas and fields.^[XNUMX] As for shape, the color and texture of the kit fox’s fur changes depending on several factors, including the geographical region in which it lives. The most common colors are yellow-orange, tan, and yellowish grey. The color of the fur on the shoulders down to the chest area ranges from orange to the color of rust. The tip of the tail is black, and the ears are dark in color at the back.^[XNUMX]
Fast fox: (In English: Swift Fox), known scientifically as (Vulpes velox). The range of the swift fox previously extended from southern Canada to the Texas Pacific, and from northwestern Montana to western Minnesota, in addition to the prairies of North Dakota. However, at the present time there is no It indicates its presence in both Canada and North Dakota. The swift fox prefers to live in meadows where short to medium-tall grasses are widespread, and areas where prairie dog colonies are widespread. It can also be found in agricultural areas where it is grazed. Animals, which are often sparsely populated. As for the appearance, the swift fox's back is covered with tan-orange fur that extends downward to become a pale tan color in the abdominal area. As for the tail, its tip is black, and there are black spots on the snout.
Tibetan fox: (in English: Tibetan Sand Fox), known scientifically as (Vulpes ferrilata), lives in dug dens, or burrows under rocks, or in crevices between piles of rocks in the Tibetan Plateau in India, China, the Sutlej Valley in northwestern India, and parts of Nepal, specifically in the Mustang region, prefers to live in rocky or high wooded areas, and plains whose height does not exceed 5,300 meters. It can also be found on barren slopes and water courses. As for its shape, the color of its fur ranges from black to brown and then yellow. On the neck and back, a yellowish-brown stripe extends over the dorsal area, and a white stripe along the tail, snout, and abdomen.^[XNUMX]
Steppe fox: (In English: Corsac Fox), known scientifically as (Vulpes corsac), lives in the deserts and steppes of Central Asia, and there are also small groups in the northeastern regions of Mongolia and China, as it avoids living in mountainous areas, dense forests, real deserts, and snow fields. A medium-sized fox with yellowish to gray fur, and pale fur on the belly.^[XNUMX]
Silver-backed fox: (in English: Cape Fox), known scientifically as (Vulpes chama), is spread in the central and western regions of South Africa, and as a result of the changes that have occurred in its environment and the expansion of agricultural lands in recent decades, foxes have begun to expand their range of presence to the southwest, reaching the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Indian, and these foxes prefer to live in open areas such as grasslands and slightly wooded areas, as they go out at night to search for food in cultivated fields. The silver-backed fox is one of the smallest species of the Canidae family. The body of this type of fox, as its name indicates, is characterized by silvery-gray fur. The sides of the body and abdomen are yellow, and its tail ends with black fur.^[XNUMX]^[13]
Afghan fox: (in English: Blanford's Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes cana), and it generally lives in mountainous areas. The prevailing belief was that it lives only in southwest Asia until its presence was discovered in 1981 AD in Palestine, and after that in the arid mountainous areas of the semi-autonomous region. The Arabian Peninsula, and in Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates,^[14]^[XNUMX] The body of the Afghan fox is covered with black, brown, or gray fur, and the fur may sometimes be spotted, while a black stripe extends from the back downward. The sides of the body are a slightly lighter color than the color of the back, and the belly is yellow.^[XNUMX]
Pale fox: (in English: Pale Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes pallida), is spread in the semi-arid Sahel region of Africa, and usually inhabits desert and semi-desert sandy and rocky areas. Its presence extends southward to the humid Guinean savannah, and it can also be found near populated places. Inhabited and cultivated fields, where it can obtain food easily, and despite the wide range of its presence, the pale fox is a rare species, and there is not much information about its biological characteristics, its environment, or the dangers that threaten it, and the body of the pale fox is distinguished as indicated by Its name is pale, sandy fur, while the lower part of its body is white.^[XNUMX]^[18]
Fennec fox: (In English: Fennec Fox), scientifically known as (Vulpes pallida), it is the smallest species of canids. It lives in North Africa and Asia. Its range also extends from Morocco to Egypt, northern Niger, Palestine, and Kuwait. It usually lives in sand dune areas, but it It can also live in areas with compact soil, and the fennec fennec is distinguished by its huge ears, thick cream-colored coat, and black-tipped tail.^[19]

Places where the fox lives

Foxes usually live in family groups in their own areas, and prefer forests, but they also live in mountains, grasslands, and deserts. Foxes are active at night and during the dawn and dusk periods, where they spend most of their time in burrows or cold dens that they dig in the ground, which is There are tunnels containing multiple rooms that foxes use to sleep, store food, and raise puppies. Burrows usually contain many exits so that foxes can escape if the burrow is attacked by predators.^[XNUMX]^[20]

The importance of the fox

Foxes are of great importance in the ecosystems in which they live. They help protect farms from pests because they feed on insects and prevent their numbers from increasing too much. They also help spread the seeds of the plants they feed on in various places, in addition to humans benefiting from fox fur, which is... The best type of fur after American mink.^[XNUMX]

Characteristics of the fox

Body composition

Some physical characteristics of foxes vary from one type to another and from one place to another, but all types of foxes share distinctive characteristics. They resemble dogs in shape, have a muscular body, short legs, a slender body, a flat skull, and a pointed snout, in addition to strong jaws with sharp teeth for grip. With prey, pointed, straight ears, and blunt claws (broken edges) enable foxes to cling to the ground while chasing prey. The fox also has a thick, long tail whose length is approximately one-third of the body length, which helps balance the fox’s body. The tip of the tail is often black in color. .^[XNUMX]^[21]

Size

Foxes are considered small mammals, as their weight ranges between 680 grams and 11 kilograms. The body length of some types of foxes from head to flank may reach 86 cm, while the length of the tail ranges between 30-56 cm. However, the body length of the smallest living fox species, which is the fox The hippocampal fennec is only 23 cm and weighs between 1-1.5 kg.^[XNUMX]

senses

sight

The fox's eyes contain pupils with a vertical slit, so it is able to close the eye more tightly than eyes with a round pupil, which helps it precisely regulate the amount of light entering the eye, as it can see clearly even in the presence of bright lighting, and it also enables it to determine horizontal movement. To hunt prey accurately, which enables the fox to hunt efficiently. In addition to all of the above, foxes are distinguished by their binocular vision, which facilitates the pursuit of their prey.^[22]

The eye of carnivores, including the fox, contains a choroidal tapetum cellulosum, which improves vision during the night, and helps maintain the clarity and contrast of the image on the retina with some slight distortion. For the same reason, the eyes of foxes appear brighter when light is shone on them at night. It seems to glow, but the truth is that the fox's eye chorionic mat reflects light towards the viewer's eye without the eye actually glowing.^[22]

Sense of hearing

Foxes use their sense of hearing in many aspects, the most important of which is hunting and sensing the presence of potential danger. They also communicate with each other over short and long distances through sound, as foxes are able to move the pinna (in English: pinna) of each ear by 150 degrees independently of... The other: the right auricle rotates clockwise, and the left auricle rotates counterclockwise. This helps in capturing sounds from the sides and from the back, and the distance separating the ears is large, which means that the sound will be picked up from the ear closest to the sound source a very short period before the other ear. However, thanks to this simple difference, the fox is able to determine the source of the sound. .^[22]

The senses of smell and taste

There is not much information about the capabilities of foxes' sense of smell, but field observations indicate that foxes have an acute sense of smell, which enables them to detect the presence of a carcass buried deep under the surface of the ground or covered in deep snow. They are also able to distinguish the new scientists who have joined the team. Scientists study their behavior only by distinguishing their smell. They also use smells to communicate with each other, to distinguish individuals from each other, and to distinguish the boundaries of the territorial area of each group of foxes.^[22]

It is worth noting that foxes possess an important chemical perception organ that forms part of the olfactory system in amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, called Jacobson's organ or vomeronasal organ, which helps in capturing odors, especially the smell of pheromone.^[22]^[23]

The sense of taste in foxes is an extension of the sense of smell, and it is believed that their sense of taste is less developed than that of humans. Dr. Fred Tuckerman described the red tongue of the fox as having a texture similar to that of fine sandpaper, and its length is 12 cm and its width is 2 cm.^[22]

Sense of touch

Foxes are able to sense touch thanks to specialized hairs known as whiskers located on the snout and around the wrist joint of the front legs. The hair, which reaches a length of 11 cm, is connected to special nerve cells that are characterized by their extreme sensitivity to touch. The fur that covers the lining of the fox’s feet is sensitive to touch, which helps foxes move. It easily climbs onto thin fences, rocks, and tree branches, and both hair and fur help it capture air movement that may reveal the presence of potential prey nearby.^[22]

Fox behavior

The fox's adaptation to the environment

Foxes are generally characterized by a high ability to adapt to the environment in which they live, and to the nature of the food they eat. They have sharp, pointed teeth that enable them to eat meat. They can also hide and conceal themselves thanks to the mixing of the colors of their fur with the colors of the surrounding environment.^[24]

The arctic fox adapts to live in the harsh Arctic climate thanks to its thick, white fur similar to the color of its surrounding environment, which enables it to maintain a constant body temperature, in addition to its long, thick tail that it can wrap around its body at night for warmth, in addition to the fur that lines its feet, which protects it from Slipping on snow and ice, the fox's short legs keep it close to the ground and avoid strong winds, while the fox's round, plump body, and small eyes, ears and nose, reduce the surface area exposed to cold air and maintain warmth.^[25]^[26]

Foxes are able to adapt to areas with hot climates in several ways. They spend the hot hours of the day inside their deep, cold burrows, and are only active at night when the air temperature drops. They also resort to panting to get rid of excess heat when the temperature is very high. However, This method exposes them to losing water through evaporation, so they may resort to other mechanisms to cool their bodies, such as lowering the basal metabolic rate in their bodies, and seasonal changes in the density of fur and body fat. They are also able to maintain the water balance in their bodies for an indefinite period depending on The water it gets from its food only.^[27]

communication

Foxes communicate with each other in several ways, including:

body language: Foxes communicate by adopting a specific body posture and using many different facial expressions. For example, foxes greet each other by wagging their tails, and may display an aggressive body posture toward strange foxes that intrude into their territorial area. Fights often begin between foxes during the breeding season. During the transition season, foxes move to new places to settle.^[28]
Votes: Foxes are silent animals most of the time. However, they communicate with each other and with other animals using a group of different sounds such as barking, growling, whining, and howling. An example of this is the barking of puppies to call their mother, alarm calls, and the barking and screaming that a fox makes to call foxes. The other, or to call members of the opposite sex during the mating season. Although foxes make these sounds throughout the year, the small number of plants during the winter helps the sound reach long distances so that humans can hear it.^[21]^[28]
Smells: Foxes use scents to mark their own territorial territories. These scents include:^[28]
- The smell of urine and feces that foxes scatter in clear areas so they can find each other easily.
- The scents of the various glands found on the tail, face, paw pads, and anus; To highlight the smell, foxes rub their bodies with the objects surrounding them.
- The smell of saliva with which foxes mark things within their territorial area, such as plants.

Fox food

Foxes are omnivorous animals, meaning they feed on plants and meat. They are able to devour any type of food they can get. The diet of foxes during the spring, summer, and fall depends on fruits, berries, and nuts. In the winter, due to the small number of available plants, foxes begin to prey on other animals, including Mammals, small birds, and insects such as locusts, cockroaches, and beetles. When necessary, foxes can feed on carrion, or dig up garbage in search of anything that can be eaten, while foxes that live near the oceans feed on fish and crabs. In general, foxes can They eat large amounts of food daily for their size, and they bury what they need under leaves and snow to return to at a later time.^[XNUMX]^[29]

Foxes hunt alone by calmly chasing prey. The fox conducts continuous patrols in search of food within the boundaries of its territory, and uses urine to determine the area in which it has finished searching. This is because foxes hunt within large areas, as the area of one fox ranges between 1.6-8 km.²The fox also maintains many dens (in English: dens) and burrows (in English: burrows) spread here and there to use them as shelter, and to store the food that it needs.^[21]^[29]

Fox life cycle

The lifespan of foxes that live in the wild extends up to 8 years, but foxes that live on the outskirts of urban areas are more likely to die from being run over by cars, so their average lifespan does not exceed 18-24 months. Run-over accidents are the main cause of death for foxes. If a fox dies, another fox can move in and occupy its own territory.

Fox reproduction

The female fox usually gives birth in the month of March or April after a gestation period of approximately 52 days. She usually gives birth to four or five pups in one abdomen, and the number may reach six pups.^[30] The prevailing belief was that all foxes are monogamous, meaning that they spend their lives with one partner. This is because the male and female are seen together during the mating season, and the male also provides the female and the pups with the food they need during the period following the birth of the pups. However, there are other studies that show Female and male foxes can mate with more than one partner, and with the progress of science and scientists being able to examine the DNA of a group of puppies and adult foxes from several groups living in the English city of Bristol, it has become clear that the mating behavior of foxes is somewhat complex, as the dominant males are able to The group is unable to mate with females from its group and from outside its group, while lower-ranking males mate with females of other groups and cannot mate with the dominant female within the group to which they belong. Therefore, we can only be certain that Bristol foxes, at least, are not monogamous, and this does not mean that they are not monogamous. The presence of monogamous foxes.^[31]

Baby fox

It is a baby fox or haggis, as it is known in Arabic^[32] At birth, he is blind and deaf. He has a short nose and small, floppy ears. He needs to stay near the mother during the first 2-3 weeks of his life to derive warmth from her. Therefore, the father provides the mother with food during this period, while the puppies remain inside the burrow during the first month of their life. Then they begin to emerge, and at this age their fur acquires a dark brown color with a tinge of red on the face, the length of the snout increases, and the ears become erect and increase in length, and after another four to six weeks have passed, the puppies acquire the features of adult foxes and the color of their fur.^[30]

The mother breastfeeds the puppies for four weeks, then begins the gradual weaning phase until the puppies reach their sixth or seventh week of age, although some puppies may need a longer period. During the gradual weaning period, the puppies begin to eat worms, insects, and prey meat brought by their parents, such as rabbits and birds. In addition to breast milk.^[30]

20% of fox pups die during the first weeks of their lives, and the causes of death are due to the poor health of the puppies, or as a result of their inability to reach the mother and get enough milk as a result of the intense competition between the puppies, in addition to the death of some puppies as a result of the wounds they sustain during the fight with them. The strongest puppies, as the bodies of the dead puppies become food for the remaining puppies that managed to survive and grow.^[30]

The effect of the presence of the fox in urban areas

The presence of foxes in urban areas leads to many inconveniences to humans, as they attack domestic animals such as livestock, rabbits, guinea pigs, poultry, and birds, in addition to local wild animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles, especially possums, and birds that are accustomed to eating Their food is taken from the hands of humans, as they become less cautious, making them an easy target for foxes. To make matters worse, foxes tend to kill more animals than they need for their food, which may lead to the extinction of some animal species, which negatively affects biodiversity.

It is rare for foxes to attack humans. However, they may resort to biting humans, cats, or dogs if they feel trapped. In this case, they can transmit diseases such as mange to dogs. They may also transmit tapeworms to humans, so the effects that result should not be underestimated. Regarding the presence of foxes in urban areas, it is worth noting that feeding them should be avoided because this will encourage them to associate humans with food.

The dangers that the fox faces

Foxes are exposed to many dangers. They are vulnerable to predation from many predators that vary depending on where they live. These predators include wolves, bears, badgers, eagles, and owls. Foxes are also vulnerable to hunting by humans to reduce their attacks on livestock. Or as a kind of sport, which led to a decrease in the number of foxes in different regions of the world, the most important of which is Western Europe.^[33]

Many fox puppies die during the first four weeks of their lives as a result of the stronger puppies controlling them, killing them, and preying on them, as mentioned previously.^[33] Other main reasons for the death of puppies include their exposure to predation by domestic dogs and badgers, or as a result of the death of the mother at an early stage of the puppies’ life, and low body temperature. Another reason that leads to the death of foxes is secondary poisoning, that is, foxes being exposed to poisoning when they eat a poisoned animal.^[34]