- Every Tuesday, Mongabay brings you a new episode of Candid Animal Cam, our show featuring animals caught on camera traps around the world and hosted by Romi Castagnino, our writer and conservation scientist.
Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting the red fox!
Red foxes live across the entire Northern Hemisphere: North America, Europe, Asia, and some parts of Northern Africa. Due to their wide range, they have forty-five recognized subspecies of red foxes, and despite their name, red foxes can have babies with other colors, including white and black. Red foxes have excellent hearing. They can even hear an animal underground! Due to their ability to hear low-frequency sounds they can prey on rodents digging in the dirt or snow. The species primarily feeds on small rodents, though it may also go for rabbits, birds, reptiles, young deer and even fruit and vegetable matter. Watch the video to learn more about this species!
Special thanks to Sian Green for sharing this footage with us. Sian Green is a PhD candidate at Durham University working with the citizen science project MammalWeb which uses camera traps for mammal monitoring and public engagement in the UK.
Review questions for educators
These questions can help provide a framework for exploring the topics presented in this story.
- When is a species classified as a “true fox”?
- Name two adaptations that red foxes have to help them hunt.
- How many pups do red foxes typically have?
Banner image: Screenshot of Sian Green’s camera trap footage.
Romi Castagnino is Mongabay’s bilingual writer. Find her on Twitter and Instagram: @romi_castagnino