Fox Trivia | 40 interesting facts about the animals

One of the most beautiful animals, that are also considered very clever are without any doubt the foxes.

Let’s find out more about the foxes!

1. Foxes are small to medium-sized mammals.
2. They are omnivorous, which means they eat both herbs and other animals.
3. Foxes belong to several genera of the family Canidae.
4. Foxes have a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or brush).
5. Twelve species belong to the monophyletic “true foxes” group of genus Vulpes.
6. Approximately another 25 current or extinct species are always or sometimes called foxes.
7. These foxes are either part of the paraphyletic group of the South American foxes, or of the outlying group, which consists of the bat-eared fox, gray fox, and island fox.
8. Foxes live on every continent except Antarctica.
9. By far the most common and widespread species of fox is the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with about 47 recognized subspecies.
10. The global distribution of foxes, together with their widespread reputation for cunning, has contributed to their prominence in popular culture and folklore in many societies around the world.
11. The hunting of foxes with packs of hounds, long an established pursuit in Europe.
12. It is specially spread in the British Isles since it was exported by European settlers to various parts of the New World.
13. The word fox comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.
14. This in turn derives from Proto-Indo-European *puḱ-, meaning ’thick-haired; tail’.
15. Male foxes are known as dogs, tods or reynards, females as vixens, and young as cubs, pups, or kits, though the latter name is not to be confused with a distinct species called kit foxes.
16. Vixen is one of very few words in modern English that retains the Middle English southern dialect “v” pronunciation instead of “f” (i.e. northern English “fox” versus southern English “vox”).^]
17. A group of foxes is referred to as a skulk, leash, or earth.
18. In general thought they are solitary. They hunt and sleep alone.
19. Foxes are nocturnal.
20. Due to their vertically slanted pupils, they have increased visibility in dim light.
21. Foxes also climb trees, use their whiskers to navigate and even stalk their prey like cats.
22. Grey foxes can retract their claws, too – just like cats.
23. They have a sickly, musty scent that comes from the glands at the base of their tails. If you start smelling this around your home or in your crawl space, it may be an indicator that foxes are near.
24. As it turns out, foxes can produce a variety of sounds — up to 40 to be exact.
25. The most noticeable is their scream-like howl, which is sure to send a shiver up your spine.
26. The red fox is the most common of them all.
27. ike a guided missile, the fox harnesses the earth’s magnetic field to hunt.
28. Other animals, like birds, sharks, and turtles, have this “magnetic sense,” but the fox is the first one we’ve discovered that uses it to catch prey.
29. Foxes reproduce once a year.
30. Litters range from one to 11 pups (the average is six).
31. The pupd are born blind and don’t open their eyes until nine days after birth.
32. Roughly the size of a kitten, the fennec fox has elongated ears and a creamy coat. It lives in the Sahara Desert, where it sleeps during the day to protect it from the searing heat.
33. Its ears not only allow it to hear prey, they also radiate body heat, which keeps the fox cool. Its paws are covered with fur so that the fox can walk on hot sand, like it’s wearing snowshoes.
34. In the 1960s, a Soviet geneticist named Dmitry Belyaev bred thousands of foxes before achieving a domesticated fox.
35. Unlike a tame fox, which has learned to tolerate humans, a domesticated fox is docile toward people from birth. Today, you can buy a pet fox for $9000, according to Fast Company. They’re reportedly curious and sweet-tempered, though they are inclined to dig in the garden.
36. The arctic fox, which lives in the northernmost areas of the hemisphere, can handle cold better than most animals on earth. It doesn’t even get cold until –70°C (-94°F).
37. Its white coat also camouflages it against predators. As the seasons change, its coat changes too, turning brown or gray so the fox can blend in with the rocks and dirt of the tundra.
38. The bat-eared fox is aptly named, not just because of its 5-inch ears, but because of what it uses those ears for- like the bat, it listens for insects.
39. During his voyage on the Beagle, Charles Darwin collected a fox that today is unimaginatively called Darwin’s Fox.
40. This small gray fox is critically endangered and lives in just two spots in the world: One population is on Island of Chiloé in Chile, and the second is in a Chilean national park. The fox’s greatest threats are unleashed domestic dogs that carry diseases like rabies.