Page 25 - World of Animals - Issue #39

50 fox facts

32. Kit foxes 34. They have
many names
A number of fox species have
don’t drink water nicknames. An Arctic fox can also
be known as a white fox, polar
fox, or snow fox. The Bengal fox
Like many desert animals, the kit fox is able to survive can also be called the Indian fox,
without drinking water and acquires what it needs and the Cape fox goes by the
from prey alone. They are mostly carnivorous but if name of the cama fox and the
food is scarce, kit foxes have been known to nibble on silver-backed fox.
the local produce, eating tomatoes and cactus fruits.
35. Kits eat like
BELOW
Kit foxes hunt birds
for small
rodents in the At one month old, kit fox pups
day and at
night time are ready to start eating and
are weaned from their mother’s
milk. At this stage they aren’t
quite ready for solid food, so
the mother will pre-chew and
regurgitate food for her young.
They won’t be able to search
for their own food until they are
around seven months old.

36. Many foxes
are not true
foxes

There are 37 species with the
name fox, and all of these
animals look and behave like
foxes, such as the bat-eared fox
and Darwin’s fox. However, there
are only 12 creature belonging
to the group Vulpes such as the
red fox. These are considered the
true foxes.
37. Arctic foxes
love the snow,
so long as it’s
not too cold

These snowy foxes are
33. They have perfectly adapted to their cold
fancy homes environment but they are not
completely immune to the cold.
Foxes live in underground dens When the temperature drops
but they are far more fancy than below -70 degrees Celsius (-97
a hole just dug in the ground, Fahrenheit), it can be quite
some are centuries old and uncomfortable for them and they
used by many generations. begin to shiver.
The dens of some species can
cover 2,589 square kilometres 38. Foxes
(1,000 square miles), have up to
150 entrances with numerous weigh 30 per
tunnels, back entrances and cent less than
escape routes built in.
they should
Relative to dogs of other species,
foxes weigh 30 per cent less
per unit area of bone than you
would expect. Their bones are
extremely lightweight, making © Thinkstock; NaturePL; Alamy
foxes weigh less overall than
other dogs of the same size.

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