The fox is a very versatile creature, especially when it comes to eating for survival. Of course, a fox's diet greatly depends on where it lives (see below). Mainly, though, a fox's diet consists of:

The fox hunts almost exactly like a cat, by stalking and pouncing. This is why a lot of people think of foxes as "Half-cats, half-dogs." In reality, though, the fox is a full member of the dog family (Canidae). To hunt, a fox will usually go to a large meadow or grassland to find mice and voles. There, a fox will use it's keen sense of smell and hearing to find the mice underground. With a lot of patience and silence, the fox will wait for the mouse to pop above ground to get a bite to eat and then, just like a cat, it will very quickly pounce on top of the poor mouse. The fox will quickly bite, and break the mouse's neck with it's jaws.

Once the kill is made, a fox will cache any food it doesn't need to eat immediately. This remarkable memory helps the fox bury every morsel of food underground and lets it find the food again when it is hungry.

A fox can easily sustain itself on small berries and fruits, especially during the cold winter months, when all the birds have gone south, and the mice are hibernating underground. A small portion of a fox's diet is human food. Very often, people will leave food out for dogs and cats, or other animals, especially in the city. Sometimes, people will even leave food out for a fox they know lives nearby. The fox, being the clever creature it is, will take this food, under the cats' and dogs' noses if need be. The fox does have a reputation of being a scavenger and tipping over trash cans and making a general racket. Unfortunately, these thoughts are greatly over exaggerated. Raccoons are, by far, more likely to be responsible for the metal trash can falling over in the night. Foxes do scavenge for food, but usually only when they have nothing else to eat.

The remarkable flexibility in a fox's diet, even varying in the city and the countryside, have let it flourish throughout the world and survive in one of the toughest areas of all, human cities.

Foxes are one of the most widespread species, covering 6 of the 7 continents and many different countries and climate zones:

Foxes are thoroughly spread across most of the northern hemisphere, ranging from Colorado and Tennessee, USA, to Alaska and the Northern Territories, and from Saudi Arabia to Siberia. Australia is just about the only place in the southern hemisphere where foxes flourish today. Foxes did live in North America before the European Discovery in 1492, however, it was the importation (primarily by the British) of foxes (mainly for hunting and fur trapping) that led to the overwhelming population of foxes in North America and Australia. Foxes prefer temperate, warm, moderate climates. Desert and Arctic regions are generally too harsh for any fox except the Kit foxes, Gray foxes and Arctic foxes. Foxes also seem to tend to build homes next to water (rivers, lakes), meadows and forest.

Fox young are born anywhere from late-Feburary to as late as mid-May, the average being somewhere in April. The vixen usually gives birth to 3-5 fox young. Fox young themselves are called many names, kits, cubs, and pups.

ox kits, like most mammals, are hairless when born, but soon grow coal black coat. They are also born with they're eyes closed, and they open in about 3-5 days. A couple of weeks later, they're coal black coat turns into a soft, sandy/white coat. The sandy color is not quite the scarlet red fur that most adult foxes have, but it helps to blend the young fox into the brush or sandy terrain. Later, after they have grown and matured, the fox's fur turns anywhere from sienna-brown to a deep scarlet color.

he vixen, like all mammals, takes care of the young and nurses them. The father fox will hunt food exclusively for the first few weeks, while the vixen protects and cares for the cubs. After these few weeks, when the cubs are no longer so vulnerable, the vixen will hunt for the cubs as well.

The cubs, meanwhile, start fighting between themselves. At first, this isn't play fighting, this is fighting for dominance and respect. These fights rarely end in death, except for very weak cubs. They do, however establish how a certain fox will be treated the rest of his or her life. The male foxes don't have to worry as much as vixens, but they do still fight for their position in the family. After position is established, the cubs start to fight for play and experience. These "puppy-fights" teach the young foxes how to track and pounce, etc...

After a while, the foxes start expeditions to the outside world. At first, in pairs or threes, they hunt together, learning the ropes. This, of course, is a dangerous time for the young foxes, especially near human habitation. Cars, harvesting equipment, vengeful farmers, all have no mercy on the young foxes. Very few fox cubs even survive past the first year. The number that survive seem to depend on the death rate of the parents. Even though many foxes are killed while still young adults, the number that survive are enough for the species to thrive.

Soon, the young foxes begin to drift away. The "lower" females wander off to find territory and a mate of their own (sometimes, however, they stay with their family). The dominant vixens frequently stay to "inherit" the territory from their parents. The male foxes wander off as well. Thus, this cycle of life begins anew.