Kit Fox (Mammals of the Kaibab National Forest)

Kit Fox

Vulpes macrotis

Summary ⁶

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.

Description ⁷

The kit fox has been thought by some to be a subspecies of the swift fox. This fox currently inhabits desert and semi-arid regions between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains and on down into Baja California and the North Central states of Mexico; it is also found in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Several features distinguish the kit fox from the swift fox. Kit fox ears are larger and set closer together than the swift fox. The head of the kit fox is slightly broader between the eyes and the snout is narrower. The kit fox has a longer tail, relative to the body, than the swift fox.

Their diet consists of the most readily available small mammals in the region, especially rodents and rabbits. The relationship of kit fox populations to populations of banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis) in the San Joaquin Valley and to black-tailed jack rabbits (Lepus californicus) in Utah have been well documented.

Links:
Mammal Species of the World (see Vulpes velox)