Kit Fox
Vulpes macrotis
Summary 3
The kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) is a fox species of North America. Its range is primarily in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the swift fox, V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct.
Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis) 4
Kit foxes look like small dogs with large ears, They have a foxy like appearance and can even be confused for a grey fox except for it's smaller size and its big ears compared to its size. A unique feature to the anatomy of the kit fox is the fur on the soles of their feet. Kit foxes live the open desert, on creosote brush grass and among sand dunes. Kit foxes are primarily carnivorous and seldom need to drink water because they get all their water from the food the eat using super efficient digestive tact. Kit foxes are nocturnal so most of the animals they eat are nocturnal rodents, rabbits, birds, reptiles, and insects. The kit fox is seldom forages during the day to avoid heat stress and during the day they will remain inactive in underground dens, will rarely travel far from their dens to forage. A kit fox may have several dens within its home range often times having more then one entrance to a den.
Kit fox's are generally silent except barks to straying pups, or when a den with pups is being approached. They will growl when approached b strange foxes and can let off a high pitch yelp to indicate their location for family members. Kit fox's will search of birthing dens between the months of September to October, After a six to seven week pregnancy she will give birth to a litter of four or five pups in February or March. The father does all the hunting for the pups while the mother rarely leaves the den.
Source URL: http://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/kitfox.htm
Original rights holder: Joshua Tree National Park
Sources and Credits
- (c) marlin harms, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/28867468@N08/4382483944
- (c) Joshua Day, all rights reserved, uploaded by Joshua Day
- Adapted by Joshua Day from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulpes_macrotis
- (c) Joshua Day, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
