Red fox

It is mostly nocturnal and crepuscular, with normal daylight activity at times. It uses habitats including open fields, farm country, brushy edges, woodland margins and suburbs. It feeds on mice, voles, rabbits, insects, fruit, birds and carrion.

Foxes hunt with hearing and scent, often pausing to listen before pouncing on prey hidden in grass or leaf litter. They also eat fruit and insects, so their diet shifts with season.

Red foxes use exceptionally sensitive hearing to locate small mammals moving under grass or leaf litter.

Foxes suppress populations of mice, voles and other small mammals while also dispersing seeds from fruit. They are flexible mid-sized predators in both rural and suburban food webs.

A fox's large ears are not decoration: precise sound localisation helps it detect prey it cannot see.

Mating — mainly winter, often December through February, later in the north.
Gestation — about 51–53 days.
Pups — commonly 3–6 are born in a den in late winter or spring.
Dependency — pups begin emerging after roughly 4–5 weeks and remain with the family through summer.
Dispersal — young usually leave the natal area in autumn.

• Keep small pets supervised, especially around dawn, dusk and night.
• Secure pet food, rubbish and fallen fruit so foxes do not learn to forage beside homes.
• Give dens with pups quiet space; parents may move young if repeatedly disturbed.
• Drive carefully on rural and suburban roads at night.

• A fox seen in daylight is probably rabid. Healthy foxes may be active by day, especially when feeding growing pups; concern should focus on neurological signs rather than the clock.
• Foxes are looking for people to attack. They normally avoid close contact and focus on small prey and available food.
• Feeding a fox helps it survive. Regular handouts can reduce normal distance from people and increase conflict risk.

• Gray fox
• Coyote