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16
03
2009
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Gray Fox |
Although the gray fox is a common animal in some parts of the United States, most people are apt to think of the red species when the word fox is mentioned – possibly because the fur of the red fox is widely used commercially while that of the gray fox is not.
The gray fox ranges from the Great Lakes eastward to the Atlantic, South into Texas, and along the Pacific coast as far as Washington and inland to Wyoming. Generally speaking, it prefers warmer regions than the red fox, and is found even in the deserts of the Southwest. It inhabits a forest in regions of the East and parts of the West; elsewhere it has adapted itself to open plains and actual desert.
The red fox has managed to survive the encroachments of civilization by its extreme slyness and cunning. The gray fox is by no means as cunning and will allow itself to be taken into traps that would never deceive a red fox. When chased, it simply dives into an underground burrow, or climbs a tree. This latter habit is the source of one of its names: it is sometimes called the tree fox.
The great fox makes its home in caves, deep cracks in rock ledges, or in hollow trees. The young, 3 to 5 in number, are born in the stands in the early spring. It eats practically anything, from mushrooms and acorns to fish, snakes and small mammals. An adult gray fox is about 40 inches long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it weighs 8 pounds on average.
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