Fox (Red) - Daily Life

Territory They live as an extended family or small community consisting of a dog (male) and vixen (female) and their cubs; group members also include between one and four other foxes, males and females, perhaps from the litter born the previous year. Although foxes live in a family group, they spend much of their time alone. A fox's range varies according to its habitat; the home range of an urban fox covers between 60 and 120 acres whereas a country fox may wander over 5 acres.

Foxes are mostly active at night, their eyes being specially adapted to night-time vision. The fox's hearing is also excellent, helping it to locate prey easily. Throughout the hours of the night a fox will roam its territory, foraging for whatever food is available. A country fox will eat carcasses or kill small mammals, especially voles and rabbits; in summer it will eat beetles and fruits in the autumn.

A town fox visits households that regularly put out food for them and generally scavenge for anything edible. Town foxes are sometimes accused of killing and eating cats but they rarely interfere with each other's activities - and an adult cat is more than a match for a fox who is likely to be the first to back down in a confrontation!

A fox may, however, take a pet rabbit or guinea-pig if it is not caged securely. Earthworms are an important part of the diet of all foxes. Any spare food is often buried for later, although another member of the family group may find it first. 

Although foxes forage alone, members of the group do meet up briefly, perhaps to play or groom each other. During the daytime, foxes usually rest somewhere, perhaps under bushes, in the lower branches of a tree, in a sunny spot on a low roof or under a garden shed.