Kit Fox

The Kit fox is a small animal that lives in the New World, from Northern Mexico into the United States.

The Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) is often confused with the Swift fox. Many scientists used to classify the kit fox as being of the same species as the Swift fox(Vulpes Velox); this was proved wrong after recent scientific analysis of the foxes and their molecular studies revealed that the two species are distinct enough to be classed as separate fox species.

The colour of the kit fox varies from gray tones to golden browns, with rusty spots and tones on its fur. Its tail has a black tip to it, but no stripe, unlike the grey fox. As with most foxes, the kit fox is mostly nocturnal but will venture out of its den in the daytime quite often. Its usual hunting time tends to be shortly after sunset, when it will catch kangaroo rats, rabbits and other rodents that are around such as meadow voles. Kit foxes will also eat fish, insects and smaller birds if they can catch them.

Many different kit fox families are likely to share the same territory but generally do not go hunting at the same time as this avoids any arguments or fights.

In October and November Kit foxes will get together and form mating pairs, they then will mate from December to February (though sometimes until early March). These mating pairs can change from year to year. A litter of 3-14, around 6 is quite common, will be born around March, April and early May. When the foxes are breeding they will live in larger dens.

The IUCN count the Kit fox, as ‘least concern’, although some populations in countries are endangered. There are no recognized subspecies of the Kit fox, but as different kit fox populations vary quite dramatically, people say these should be classified as separate sub-species to the kit fox.