The Kit Fox Essay

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One of the most endangered animals of California is the tiny San Joaquin Kit Fox. The Kit fox is roughly about the size of a common housecat, with features ranging from big ears and a long bushy tail and toes that are very furry, that help keep the Kit Fox cool in the dry environment that they place themselves into. From a distance these Foxes are hard to spot due to their particular size ranging as high as twelve inches in height and reaching as far as twenty inches in length. The average weight of each of the individual Foxes varies for each Fox, but on average is roughly around five pounds. The Kit Fox’s scientific name is Vulpes macrotis mutica, but its common name is desert fox. According to Defenders.org the San Joaquin Kit Fox was originally …show more content…

But in recent years the Kit Fox is now recently found on the edges of the San Joaquin Valley from southern Kern Country up to Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin countries on the west and up all the way until the Stanislaus Country on the east. Only small percentage of populations still are up to this day within the Valley floor.
According to eol.org Kit Foxes are mainly monogamous, which means that they usually mate for life. The specific mating patterns that occur within the Kit Foxes usually occurs from mid December to January, with litters being able to hold up to one to seven pups at a time. New born’s are weaned and nurtured up until about four weeks and usually become independent at around five to six months. It is not uncommon for young females to delay and completely skip their independence part of their lives to stay back in their homes in order to help raise the next litter of pups that are going to come. Individual Kit Foxes have been known to live up to seven years in the wild on their own. Kit Foxes are the types of animals that are most active in the night, but have a tendency to have crepuscular behavior. Upon finding a mate it is not uncommon for them to share the same dens throughout their year of life together. Each pair of foxes …show more content…

For the Kit foxes being so small in size they have some rather large characteristics and features about themselves counting from their large, but rather close ears, which helps them out with the heat in the specific environment that they put themselves into. The Kit fox has a slender body which includes a busy tail that is straight and tipped back in the end and irregularly large legs. One interesting feature of the Fox is that its color varies with the season, which ranges from tan to buff gray in the summer, and then to silver gray in the winter. For traction on the sandy soil of their natural habitat the Kit Foxes use the dense hair that is found in-between their footpads. But the dense hair that is found in between their footpads is not only used for traction it also helps them out from the heat from that the sand has to offer. When the female fox gets pregnant their pregnancy can last as long as 48 to 52 days. Upon pregnancy the female foxes can have as many as 3 o 5 pups born at a time. The Kit foxes are able to make several dens to house their pups within their dens. Once the female foxes have given birth it is up to the male foxes to go out and provide for the both of them, due to the female fox staying back and nursing the pups. It is shortly after one month that the pups are weaned are on their own leaving the den and go start their own new life

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