Foxes are typically reddish-brown above with a whitish chin, throat, chest and belly. They have a narrow skull and a collapsible rib-cage that enables the body to go pretty much anywhere the head can fit. Their claws are retractable, like those of cats, though they are more closely related to dogs. They have been known to chew through chicken wire and are great diggers.
Foxes set up many dens, using areas away from humans, but really only use dens when breeding. Both sexes become mature in their first year, few adult vixens are barren and the average litter size exceeds four. Cubs are born late in September and become active and visible from about the first week of December, leaving to forage on their own from February/March. Family groups have a territory of 2-5 sq km, marking it by scent with faeces and urine. Adults are mainly solitary, with a range of 8-10 sq km in urban areas, and are active for about 20 hours in every 24, but usually lie up during the day, except in winter, when food is more scarce.
While mainly carnivorous, foxes have an extremely varied diet, taking fruit, berries, small insects, carrion, eggs, birds and small animals up to 2.5kg (including guinea pigs, cats and small dogs, but not usually reptiles), they will also eat pet food and even human faeces. They can climb sloping trees, jump up about 2.5m, much higher up a mesh fence, can eat things hanging up to a metre above ground and have such good hearing that they can detect curl grubs (beetle larvae) underground. They also have a very acute sense of smell.
Fox population densities are higher in Australian urban areas than in rural ones and this may be due to a greater availability of food sources around humans. Bushy creek frontages may also be favoured, as they have a high biomass suitable as fox food.
Foxes are regularly seen in our area, particularly around the Bardwell Valley Golf Course (where sight lines are extensive), with many probable den sites being found in the Wolli Valley. They range far up into the ridge tops, possibly using the stormwater drainage system as highways to bypass our roads.
The Cooks River Foreshores Working Group has taken up the issue of fox control and is gathering information on possible control approaches. Meanwhile our Society would like to gather additional information on recent sightings of foxes in the Wolli catchment.