The Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is a native canine that is genetically distinct from other foxes (Vulpes) like the Red Fox. It was the first canid to diverge from the canid family and has many traits that other canids don't have - such as highly recurved and retractable claws, short legs, and the ability to rotate their forearms in order to better climb trees. Gray foxes are extremely arboreal for a mammal. They are omnivorous and vary their diet based on the season. These characteristics allow them to thrive in vast areas of North America from forests, woodlands, and brushlands.
Gray Foxes are active around twilight and daybreak as well as at night. Common prey items include cottontails, voles, mice, wood rats, various birds, and squirrels. However, these foxes are the most omnivorous of all wild canines and consume many types of fruits, nuts, and invertebrates. Gray foxes are a key seed dispersal agent wherever it is found. In different habitats it will eat persimmons, black cherries, wild plums, prickly pears, acorns, soft-shelled Hickory nuts, blackberries, blueberries, currants, mesquite beans, juniper berries, and grapes. Many of these vegetive food items are available seasonally, typically in the late summer and fall. Gray foxes shift to a more carnivorous diet in the winter, hunting small mammals and birds and sometimes scavenging carrion. The arrival of spring brings new food sources such as salamanders, frogs and snakes. As the summer progresses, the Gray fox joins many creatures in feasts of insects as their populations peak as the weather warms. Beetles, Grasshoppers, and crickets constitute a large part of their summer diet.
Gray Foxes, unlike most canids, have retractable claws that allow them to remain sharp. This gives them the ability to easily climb trees. Early European settlers were disappointed that Gray Foxes quickly took to a tree or burrow, differing from their Red Fox who gave "chase".
Gray foxes have excellent vision and an acute sense of smell, but they often rely on their precise hearing to locate prey items such as small mammals and insects.
Gray Foxes range throughout the Americas and have 16 distinct subspecies. Although they have been eradicated from large parts of the Eastern US due to agriculture and development, they are capable of living nearly anywhere that there is enough food and trees or shrubs for cover. Their inclusive omnivorous diet allows them to adapt to many types of ecosystems. |
