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The Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis) is a relatively common North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n fox
Fox

A fox is an animal belonging to any one of about 27 species of small to medium-sized Canidae, characterized by possessing a long, narrow snout, and a bushy tail, or brush....
. Its range extends into northern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the Swift Fox
Swift Fox

The Swift Fox is a small orange-tan fox around the size of a domestic cat found in the western grasslands of North America, such as Colorado, New Mexico and Texas....
 V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct. It has a generally gray coat, with rusty tones, and a black tip to its tail. Unlike the Gray Fox
Gray Fox

The Gray Fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to northern Venezuela and Colombia....
 it has no stripe along the length of its tail.

Kit Fox is mostly a nocturnal animal
Nocturnal animal

As an animal behavior, nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal animal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar....
 but sometimes ventures out of its den during the day.






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The Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis) is a relatively common North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n fox
Fox

A fox is an animal belonging to any one of about 27 species of small to medium-sized Canidae, characterized by possessing a long, narrow snout, and a bushy tail, or brush....
. Its range extends into northern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the Swift Fox
Swift Fox

The Swift Fox is a small orange-tan fox around the size of a domestic cat found in the western grasslands of North America, such as Colorado, New Mexico and Texas....
 V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct. It has a generally gray coat, with rusty tones, and a black tip to its tail. Unlike the Gray Fox
Gray Fox

The Gray Fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to northern Venezuela and Colombia....
 it has no stripe along the length of its tail.

Hunting and eating habits

The Kit Fox is mostly a nocturnal animal
Nocturnal animal

As an animal behavior, nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal animal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar....
 but sometimes ventures out of its den during the day. The Kit Fox usually goes out to hunt shortly after sunset, mostly eating small animals like kangaroo rats, cotton tails, field mice, jackrabbits, insects, fish, and small birds. Different Kit Fox families can occupy the same hunting grounds, but do not generally go hunting at the same time.

Mating

Male and female Kit Foxes establish pairs during October and November. Pairs can change year to year. They mate from December to February, when they use larger family dens. Litters are born throughout March and April, usually containing 3 to 14 cubs (McGrew 1979).

Subspecies

The Kit Fox has no recognized subspecies, although some populations have been proposed as subspecies.

The San Joaquin Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) was formerly common in the San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley refers to the area of the California Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento River Delta in Stockton, California....
 of California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. Its 1990 population was estimated to be 7,000, and it is now considered endangered. On September 26, 2007, Wildlands, Inc. announced the designation of the Deadman Creek Conservation Bank, which is intended specifically to protect habitat of the San Joaquin Kit Fox.

The Desert Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis arsipus) lives in the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....
.

The Southern California Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis macrotis) was a population of kit foxes native to desert regions of Southern California
Southern California

Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, San Bernardino, California, and Riverside, California....
 which became extinct in 1903.

External links


  • ARKive -