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Kit fox. These are Endangered; written by Charles Cadieux and illustrated by Bob Hines. 1981.

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#mammals #canines #foxes #kit foxes #Bob Hines

Vulpes Macrotis

There are four true fox species in North America including the red fox, arctic fox, swift fox, and kit fox. Kit foxes are the smallest of these four, weighing about 5 pounds (lighter than the average house cat).

Kit foxes live in southwestern North America, preferring dry climates like the Mojave and Sonoran desert. These regions can get quite hot and kit foxes are poorly adapted to the heat. Because of this, kit foxes shelter in a burrow during the day. They can dig these burrows but they more commonly enlarge abandoned burrows made by animals like badgers or prairie dogs, often adding extra entrances. In more mountainous regions they use rock outcroppings as dens. They come out of these burrows at night to hunt for animals like kangaroo rats, cottontail rabbits, prairie dogs, lizards, and ground-dwelling birds. They’ll also eat vegetation like cactus fruits and tomatoes.

The population of the kit fox is classified as least concern, meaning they aren’t at risk for extinction, but their population is decreasing due to habitat loss and poisons used to kill rodents and insects. The San Joaquin kit fox subspecies is endangered for these reasons.

Like all other fox species, kit foxes generally hunt alone. They are quite social, though, and live in pairs or small family groups. They aren’t very territorial either, so the territory of different groups of kit foxes often overlap.

I rate the kit fox 15/10. Definitely would pet

Photo credits:

(1) Jason Sims (2) Joel Sartore (3) Utahcamera on Wikipedia (4) Jason Sims

#biology #zoology #animals #science #nature #foxes #wildlife #kit fox #kit foxes #vulpes #fox #animal #vulpes macrotis #wild animals

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ICYMI: Week of Wildlife Steller Book

Last week, we celebrated our #WeekofWildlife with some trivia, stories, and more about wildlife on #yourpubliclands! To wrap things up, take a look at our new “Wildlife on public lands” Steller book, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more.