Baby foxes, with their playful antics and endearing appearance, represent a crucial stage in the life cycle of a species known for its adaptability. Understanding their early development offers insight into how foxes raise their offspring.
Identifying Baby Foxes
Baby foxes are most commonly referred to as kits, though pups or cubs are also used. Newborn kits are small, typically weighing between 50 and 150 grams. Their fur is often a fine, woolly grey or dark brown, differing significantly from the reddish coat of many adult foxes.
Kits are born with their eyes and ears closed. Their noses are pink at birth, turning black within the first week. They also have short muzzles and floppy ears, which gradually elongate and become erect as they mature.
Life in the Den
Fox kits are born in dens. These provide a secure and sheltered environment for the vulnerable newborns. A vixen, or female fox, may prepare multiple potential den sites, often repurposing abandoned burrows created by other animals like badgers or woodchucks.
A typical litter size ranges from three to six, though it can be up to thirteen. For the first one to three weeks after birth, the mother remains almost constantly with her kits inside the den, providing warmth and nursing.
Stages of Growth and Learning
Fox kits undergo rapid development during their first few months. Their eyes and ears typically open between 10 and 14 days old, and their initial blue eye color changes to amber by four to five weeks of age. By three weeks old, cubs start to move around unsteadily, and their milk teeth begin to emerge. Social hierarchies may also start to form among siblings through playful fighting.
Kits usually begin to emerge from the den at around four to five weeks of age, remaining close to the entrance initially. At this stage, their fur starts transitioning to a more reddish hue, and their muzzles begin to lengthen. Weaning from mother’s milk to solid food typically begins around four weeks of age, with parents bringing partially digested food or small prey to the den.
By six to eight weeks, kits are fully weaned and their coats resemble that of an adult, though still appearing woolly. They continue to hone survival skills, such as foraging and pouncing, through play. By around three months, they can catch small prey like insects.
Family Structure and Parental Roles
Foxes exhibit parental care, with both the vixen (female) and dog fox (male) contributing to raising the young. The vixen plays the primary role in the immediate care of the newborns, remaining in the den to nurse and keep the kits warm during their initial weeks. During this period, the dog fox brings food to the vixen.
As the kits grow, responsibilities expand. Both parents actively hunt and bring food back to the den, and the father may also guard the den site from potential threats. They gradually introduce the young to solid food and teach them foraging behaviors and hunting techniques.
This learning often occurs through observation and play, with parents sometimes bringing live prey for the kits to practice on. The family unit remains together until the kits disperse, typically in the late summer or early fall, to establish their own territories.