Brian Scott Hucks, age 8, of High Point, N.C., for his question:
DOES A FOX BARK?
While the young foxes are growing up, the parents will live with them in a family group. At other times, a fox may live alone or in pairs. They do not form packs the way wolves do. A male and a female will mate in the early winter, and then hunt and stay together. The babies, from four to nine pups at a time, are born in late winter or early spring.
A fox is a bushy tailed, sharp snouted member of the dog family. He can be found throughout the world except in Antarctica, some of the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia. He lives in farmlands, forests, deserts and even in wooded areas of some cities and suburbs.
A fox is a skilled hunter. He can easily catch a rabbit and often creeps silently forward toward a bird. With a final, swift leap, the fox usually makes the capture.
Most of the time a fox is a silent animal. As he dashes across a field, he doesn't make a single sound. But foxes do communicate with one another. When with mates or babies they can be heard to growl, yelp and give short, yapping barks.
Foxes also communicate by making scent stations. Like dogs, they urinate at various spots. The scent stations tell other foxes in the area that another fox is present.
Keen hearing and an excellent sense of smell are included in a fox's make up. He depends greatly on these two senses when he is trying to locate prey. A red fox, for example, can hear a mouse squeak over 100 feet away. He can easily see moving objects but sometimes he misses those that are motionless.
Most faxes are about the same size. They grow from 23 to 27 inches long, with the tail an additional 14 to 16 inches in length. Most weigh from eight to 11 pounds. The gray foxes and the red foxes are the commonest kinds in Canada and the United States.
Man traps foxes for their fine furs and also raises the animals on fur farms.
Fox hunting in some parts of the world is great sport. Many of the hunters seek only the excitement of the chase and do not kill the fox. The hunters often use hounds to follow the scent of the fox. But the fox is very smart: often he will double back on his own trail or run into water, making the scent difficult to follow.
When the fox walks or trots, his hind paws step into the tracks of his front paws. When running, most foxes carry their tails straight backward. The tail droops when the animal walks. When he sleeps, the tail covers his nose and his front paws.
Many foxes have a scent gland on the tail. The scent from this gland gives a fox his own distinctive odor.