Beast of the Month - FOX

July's Beast of the Month is the FOX. These animals are one of the UK's most familiar mammals and the only member of the dog family still to be found in the wild here. They have a reputation for being sly, perhaps because these clever creatures have found ways to live beside people so successfully.

Fantastic facts:

*Favourite foods: rabbits, rodents, people's left-overs     *Enemies: people, roads

*Where found: common across the UK and Europe and increasing in urban areas 

*Latin name: Vulpes vulpes. Females = vixens. Males = dogs. Young = cubs or kits.     

*Super power: pounce attack. They listen carefully for the tiny movements of rodents before leaping up and driving their snout through snow or long grass.

But what are these predators and what can they do? Foxes are:

Adaptable

There's not much a fox won't eat. They are famous for rummaging in dustbins for scraps and accepting handouts from people. Some have even been known to raid bird feeders! This ability to take advantage of whatever food is on offer has allowed foxes to survive in many different habitats and spread into urban areas. 

Before living alongside people, foxes would also have been able to switch their diet in times of need. Even now, it's not uncommon for foxes to feed on berries or other plants. They will also happily take carrion or the unfortunate casualties of the roads.

Canines

Foxes are the smallest members of the dog family, and the only one still living wild in the UK since the extinction of the grey wolf. This makes them 'top dog' and means they have very few natural predators left in the UK.

Adults can measure 75cm in length from their nose to the tip of their tail and live up to 10 years in the wild. In the spring, vixens give birth to around five cubs in a den. They are often feed by both parents until late summer when the cubs begin fending for themselves.

Mythical

Lots of folklore surrounds the fox and its adaptable behaviour. It usually symbolises cunning and trickery and appears as a main character in many famous stories, such as Chicken Little, The Little Red Hen and the tales of Brer Rabbit by Enid Blyton.  

Foxes may also be responsible for stirring beliefs in the supernatural. During their mating season over the winter months, vixens can be heard calling to their mates - a noise that has been described by some as 'blood-curdling'!

Have a listen to the video below- perhaps you've heard this sound at night and wondered what it was.

Credits: Fox cub in garden (c) Joan Burkmar / Fox at den (c) Wildstock