The Foxes of the United States

By Barry Spruce on May 5, 2020

Hundreds of years ago both the Red and Gray Foxes of North America dominated the landscape. Gray Fox still thrive West of the Mississippi, especially the Rocky Mountains, but loss of habitat in the East has isolated them to the more remote areas of deep woods such as the Smoky Mountains. The Gray Fox still prefers to be away from the sprawl of society and have little to no contact with humans. Gray Fox are the dominant fox in the West, and Red Fox are the dominant fox in the East. Both species have called North America home for millions of years.

The Red Fox have adapted better in the Eastern US by staying closer to cities and towns. They can dig a den in a neglected yard of a subdivision or in a small tree line between properties. They will also roam towns and cities at night raiding trash cans and parking lots for food that humans leave around. Gray Fox are still the timid fox species and prefer to den in a tree, stump or sometimes the base of a turned over tree.

The two fox species are actually distant cousins and are very different in many regards. I will go deeper into their differences in future posts. The images here are of a kit from each species and labelled for comparison.

References: Wikipedia contributors. (2020, May 1). Gray fox. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:02, May 5, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gray_fox&oldid=954284101