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I have been voted Animal of the Year 2025, so I would like to get in touch with you right at the beginning of the year to wish you good luck and good health for the new year. You probably know me well, but have you ever seen me live? I'm usually better known to those who live on the outskirts of big cities. Otherwise, I'm a very shy fellow, but I'm also known for being very clever. To escape the hustle and bustle of the day and to be able to move around safely and undisturbed, I have shifted my activities to the night.
Do you already know who I am? I am the red fox.
If you want to find out more about me, just read on!
Header image: © Joanne Redwood, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Image credit: © Joanne Redwood, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The red fox is widespread and can be found in many parts of Europe, Asia and North America. It was introduced to Australia in the middle of the 19th century to control the previously introduced rabbit population, but also for hunting purposes. In the meantime, it has become a major problem there, as it prefers the marsupials native to Australia as food because they are slower and do not recognize it as an enemy.
Image credit: © Joanne Redwood, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Red foxes get their name from their reddish-brown fur, although lighter and darker color variations can occur. The coat color can also change when changing from summer to winter coat or vice versa. The winter coat is dense, water-repellent and well insulating, which is why foxes were heavily hunted. The fur was and still is used for clothing. The neck, chest and tip of the tail appear white. The particularly long and bushy tail, which reaches down to the ground and is called a fuse in hunting parlance, is especially striking.
On average, foxes grow to around half a meter high, 70 cm long and weigh around 6 kg. However, body lengths of 1 meter and body weights of up to 10 kg are also possible. Males are usually larger and heavier than females, but cannot really be distinguished from the outside.
The size also varies between northern and southern occurrences as an adaptation to the different temperatures. Foxes found in the north are slightly larger than their southern relatives.
Foxes are predominantly crepuscular and nocturnal solitary animals. The animals only come together for mating and rearing cubs. The fox spends part of the year in the famous fox den, which consists of a main den and a side den and, if the den is large enough, can sometimes lead to shared living quarters with rabbits or badgers.
As a human, you can quickly tell whether a fox den is actually inhabited by the strong smell outside the exits of the den.
Their diet consists of small mammals, eggs, birds, invertebrates and carrion. Even tree fruits, compost waste or human waste serve as food for the fox. An excellent sense of smell, particularly fine hearing and good eyesight help the fox in its search for food. A specialty of the red fox is the mouse leap with which it cleverly captures small rodents. This hunting technique even works when the snow cover is thick, allowing the fox to locate the mouse under the snow with its fine hearing and catch it with a single leap through the snow cover!
Despite its fine senses, as a successful predator it still has to be careful! It serves as food for wolves and lynxes. Young foxes are also occasionally preyed upon by eagle owls.
The mating season, the so-called Ranz, is between December and March. It is also the loudest time of the year for foxes. It is important that the foxes can find each other in dense forests through their vocalizations. When females (female foxes) are ready to conceive, they emit haunting cries, which are short, bright and loud and serve to attract male foxes (males). These are then answered by the male by barking. If several males arrive, a fight ensues and the males emit a barking sound called a yelp.
After mating, the female gives birth to three to six cubs in the fox den in March or April. The male does not always but often helps to raise the cubs. The cubs are born blind and open their eyes after the first two weeks. At four weeks old, they make their first trips outside the den and are independent after four months. The animals become sexually mature at 10 months.
Foxes were hunted intensively due to the viral disease rabies, which can be transmitted to humans. However, it has been de facto eradicated in Austria thanks to vaccination campaigns. Austria was even declared rabies-free in 2008
Due to its secretive way of life and its twilight and night-time activity, the fox is easy to spot. It is a special kind of luck to spot a fox on a safari at Seewinkel . The chance of encountering a fox at night is also very low, as it senses the presence of humans early on and moves away early. Especially in rural areas, hunting means that foxes generally avoid humans.
In urban areas, it is often easier to come across foxes at night or dawn, as they allow humans to get closer to them or even simply ignore them due to the lack of hunting. However, its footprints, scat and burrows indirectly reveal its presence and can occasionally be spotted on safaris.
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