Fox

Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

TECHNICAL
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES

The fox is the most abundant carnivorous mammal planetay is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, so that inhabits Eurasia from the Iberian Peninsula and northern Morocco to Japan, the North has the edge in the ice , where he replaced the arctic fox and the South, in Africa, the desert fox. In North America extends from northern Mexico to the Arctic.
Although also lives in Australia, these are copies from an introduction that took place at the end of S. Century to try to combat the plague of rabbits that underwent the continent, which in turn had been the subject of a reintroduction.There are numerous subspecies and local races.
In different countries and geographical areas also varies coat color.
The gray shades of Spain offers, ocher and red, while the center of Europe is in coloration reddish brown layer and in countries such as Morocco is a brighter red, but the legs and the outside of the ears Pitch black are always more or less intense and tail usually has a spot on the tip of white or black.The fox is almost a meter in length, highlighting the figure's tail about 35 cms. long. The head is broad, pointed snout and ears are large and pointed.The fox is a curious animal, intelligent yet suspicious by nature and shy, he avoids the danger.
It is a solitary animal, although they can live life partners or in groups of two or three male and female, usually related to each other and with an established hierarchy between them.
After the mating season, which relies heavily on the places in which they live, though usually placed at the beginning of winter, the fox lives matched until the pups begin to leave the den until remaining moments with the female bringing food for both the mother and the puppies.The fox is a good runner, anything with ease and can climb trees with relative ease.
The smell is so well developed, considering the best of their senses, which worsens at night. The ear is also very developed and he can locate prey that emit low-frequency sounds.
The view is well adapted to the night vision, but also see perfectly during the day. When runs can reach a top speed of 55 km / hour, with the usual 6-10 kms / h. (Castells and May, 1993).
They emit a range of sounds, which used to communicate with other congeners, the most characteristic and known a kind of Wau ... Wau.This canine does not hibernate, although in the winter refuge in caves, burrows that enlarges generally for use, while in summer the bushes prefer encamarse.
The maximum activity is reached at dusk and at night, can make hunting trips in search of up to 40 kms. Kms males and 15 females.The fox is very territorialist, for which it uses both urine marking their anal glands, plantar and flow:-Anal glands.
The most important odorous discharge, what gives the characteristic smell of fox perceives man comes from the anal glands, also called subvolumes, which are at number two on the tail, on either side of the anus.-Plantar glands.
They are located between the pads of all four limbs and permeate one specific honor their tracks.-Caudal glands.
Are located at the top of the queue, just a few cms. loin. Also glands are called Violet, born of a characteristic tuft of dark hair, different from the rest of the animal.
Its mission is not well studied and can have a marked specific identification of individuals within the family.The fox is an animal that has universal fame of cunning, quiet and discreet, conditions reveals all acts of his life yque have allowed them to survive the ongoing attacks and relentless persecution that has been targeted, particularly for damages inflicted in small game and his habit of entering the pens, where it causes havoc, even just takes a copy of the many who kills every time, this is not due to pure usual ferocity, but his inclination to hunt when presented a favorable opportunity (William G. Foster, 1972).
The fox does not chew their food but swallow it whole.
In the wild, when they kill more animals than they can consume at the time, extra food buried in secret.
These caches makes the fox digging with the front legs, placing the food inside that pushes the nose to the bottom, then cover it with soil. Foxes, besides carnivores consuming fruits, playing an important role in plant seed dispersal.Foxes occupy a wide range of habitats including forest, tundra, prairie and farmland, although the preferred habitat is the one with a variety of vegetation, close to suburban areas.Very criticized has been the impact on species of fox hunting, which for some specialists is under review.
So in July 1998 was presented at the Euro-American Congress held in Santiago de Compostela (Pere Ortin, 1999) Portuguese with a paper entitled "Impact of the fox in the small game species. True or just a story? ". The paper analyzed 24 areas of study concluding that "the impact of the fox is relatively high only in areas which have a significantly large population of such small game species (rabbits and partridges) if it is considered that the foxes are not important predators of small game species, so its removal does not improve the population of small game species.
Considering instead a mistake from the ecological point of view the elimination of foxes.
" He pointed to himself, with the proliferation of landfills, as responsible for the increase in the fox population in recent years.

 

 Details of speciesLongevity: Between 5 and 7 years in the wild and 10 to 12 years in captivity. Exceptionally can reach 17 years in captivity and 12 years in the wild.

Zeal: The fox can be monogamous or polygamous. The zeal, which takes place from December to February (comes forward at lower latitudes), is marked by a period of receptivity of the females that lasts between 1 and 6 days, but can reach up to 3 weeks. Mating takes place receptive these days takes about 30 minutes.Gestation: Gestation lasts 52 to 53 days.Time of delivery: By March or April, when the female gives birth inside a burrow to the litter.Childbirth: A single litter per year, which are born of 1-8 cubs, usually 4 to 6. The presence of more than eight pups in a litter is usually due to the coincidence within more than one litter of different females.
 Duration of breastfeeding: The zorreznos birth weigh about 100 grams and are erased completely covered. Do not open your eyes to 8-12 days, and at 4 to 5 weeks out of the den. With 8 weeks and weighing over a kilo and have a pale cream color. Weaning takes place at the ninth week when zorreznos weigh 2 to 2.5 kgs. At 7 to 10 weeks leave completely madriguera.El puppies care is provided mainly by the mother, but occasionally the male or another female may be involved in your care. The dispersal of young foxes takes place in late summer or early fall. Males disperse in all cases, while females sometimes remain in the territory where they were born (philopatry).Sexual maturity: With five months weighing more than 3 kg and reach sexual maturity at 9 or 10 months and may breed in the breeding season following their birth.Power: The ability of the fox to include any type of food in your diet as to fit a wide variety of habitats. Although their diet also suffers geographical variations are so dense that foxes near dumpsters and suburban residential areas are also important seasonal variations. For example, during the time of myxomatosis fox feeds largely on rabbits, and autumn-winter usually eat a lot of fruit. Considering the fox as an omnivorous animal that feeds on insects, bird eggs, chickens, calves of various mammals, hares, birds up to the size of a goose, human waste, but especially in natural populations of mice fed and other mammals (especially in northern peninsular), rabbits (in the south), berries and fruits, which are your favorite grapes. Fox food requirements are estimated at about 400 g. daily (Castells and May, 1993).Habitats: The fox is present over the entire surface of the Iberian Peninsula, but does not live in the Balearic and Canary Islands. Their habitat is mostly forested areas, but also abounds in open areas, and even in the vicinity of human settlements and peri-urban landfills, of which it feeds.Footprints: The fox tracks are smaller, longer oval than the wolf and the dog. The front claws are very sharp and close together and are marked very well, even when worn can occur in animals as a result of digging in the earth, so are not marked in this case. Characteristically fox tracks in the separation between pads front and rear, so that if we draw a line immediately behind the front, will not touch the rear side. Another identifying feature fox footprint very clear is that it leaves a kind of X marked in the interdigital space of contact of the fingers and the pad of the plant.

 

 

Droppings: Their droppings are highly variable in size (5-20 cm. In length and 1.5-2.5 cm. Thick) and are usually divided into several bodies.
The color varies with the type of food eaten, and their smell. In autumn, when fruit is fed frequently, droppings off a very characteristic fruity odor.
The usually deposited in prominent places, on rocks, in small clumps or anywhere excel and are easily sniffed and viewed by their peers, as they play a mission communicative.

Other signs: As do carnivores such as lynx or bobcat the pen of the young birds within walking distance of his birth with a clean bite caused by the butcher grind.

Sexual dimorphism: The male is slightly larger than the female: 15-20%.

Natural enemies: In Spain its main enemies are the golden eagle, the wolf and the lynx, in fact it has been found that where there is very low lynx population of foxes (M. Delibes, 1999).

Main problem: Since mid S. XIX Central Europe is living a major epidemic of sylvatic rabies, which is considered the most important transmitter fox.
Fortunately this epidemic has not crossed the Pyrenees and does not affect the Iberian Peninsula.