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Red Fox
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Taken
at Dalzell
Estate
on 24th December 2020 using Nikon D500 with Sigma
600 mm zoom lens.
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| Red Fox. |
| Species: Order: Family: A.K.A. |
Vulpes vulpes. Carnivora. Canidae. Fox. |
| Habitat: Nest: Size: Food: Folklore: |
Red foxes either
establish stable home ranges within particular areas or are itinerant
with no fixed abode. Outside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open. In densely vegetated areas though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather. Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades. 35–50 cm high at the shoulder and 45 to 90 cm in body length with tails measuring 30 to 55.5 cm. Red foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet.They primarily feed on rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters and gerbils. Secondary prey species include birds, (with passeriformes, galliformes and waterfowl predominating), reptiles, insects, other invertebrates and flotsam, (marine mammals, fish and echinoderms). They readily eat plant material and in some areas, fruit can amount to 100% of their diet in autumn. Commonly consumed fruits include berries, cherries, persimmons, apples, plums, grapes and acorns. Other plant material includes grasses, sedges and tubers. In Celtic mythology, the Red fox is a symbolic animal. In the Cotswolds, witches were thought to take the shape of foxes in order to steal butter from their neighbours. The Red fox is seen as cunning and deceitful in European, Chinese, Japanese, Arab, Inuit and North American folklore. There is a lot more to the Red Fox than meets the eye! Wikipedia |