Page 23 - World of Animals - Issue #39
P. 23
50 fox facts
16. Foxes
change fur
with the
seasons 17. They have super
To help them blend into their hearing like a bat
environment, many species’
fur colour changes with Foxes can’t quite use echolocation but they do have
the season. Arctic foxes are amazing hearing. A red fox can reportedly hear a
white in the winter and grey watch ticking 37 metres (40 yards) away.
in the summer, for example.
It helps the fox camouflage 18. Foxes skulk
to stay hidden and lowers When a group of foxes get together, the collective
the risk of predation. noun is a skulk, leash or earth. Skulk probably
comes from the idea that foxes are vermin and is
used to describe other similar animals.
BELOW
White fur
helps the
Arctic fox stay
hidden in the
white snow
19. They team up
with brown bears
Tibetan sand foxes sometimes work with
bears to catch prey, particularly when
hunting pikas. The bears dig out their dens,
while the foxes make a grab for the pikas as
they run from the bears.
20. Although they are 21. Blandford’s foxes love 22. Blind baby foxes rely
carnivores, they will seedless grapes on their mothers to see
eat jam sandwiches Most foxes are opportunistic hunters, eating whatever they Female foxes are able to reproduce once a year and can
can get their paws on and scavenging for food if necessary,
give birth to a litter as large as 11 pups, also known as kits.
Foxes will eat almost anything, despite being but the Blanford’s fox is the most frugivorous of the fox It gets very busy in a fox den as the young are born blind
considered primarily as carnivores. From small species. It may seem fancy for a fox but they actually and are constantly clambering over one another. At this
mammals and insects, to birds and jam sandwiches, prefer to eat a diet of seedless grapes which they steal stage of life, they are heavily dependent on their mother to © Thinkstock
they are the ultimate opportunistic eater. from vineyards, ripe melons, and chives. keep them safe.
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