It's the fox episode of Hello From the Van Our question today centers around the fox. No, the question is not what does the fox say? The question is simply, is a fox technically a cat or a dog? A feline or a canine? Let's go over the evidence. Tail, floofy, ears, naturally pointed, nose, hairless and adorable, coat, changes with the season, but only in some parts of the world. Cast your votes. Is the fox a part of the cat or dog families? Feline or canine? Cat or dog? Are we locked in? The answer is a dog. Yup. The fox is part of the canine family, not a feline or cat, it's a dog. Let's go over what that means. The canidae or canine are the canine family. That's their taxonomy, meaning their group of animals. And it includes domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, raccoon dogs, not raccoons, raccoon dogs, foxes, jackals, and other species. The features of this adorable family are typically long muzzles, upright pointed ears, teeth adapted for cracking bones and slicing flesh, long legs and bushy tails. Wild canids are native to all continents except Australasia and Antarctica. They occur as human introduced in New Guinea and Australia. We'll get to that later in the podcast. But they naturally inhabit most of the world. They also inhabit just about every habitat, from deserts to mountains, forests, grasslands, snowy hills, and barren deserts. They vary in their size quite a lot, this family can weigh anywhere from as small as half a kilogram or 1.3 pounds to something as big as the gray wolf. And while they might be dogs, there are two species of this family that are regularly found in trees. This is the gray fox and the raccoon dog. The other thing to know about this taxonomy and family is that the tip of their nose is always naked, meaning there's no hair on it, and they tend to walk on their toes. So that's our overview of the canine family, but let's talk specifically about the fox. I know, I know, somewhere someone is shouting, but what does the fox say? Parents, I am so sorry for what I'm about to do. For those of you wondering, this is what a fox sounds like. In essence, this is what the fox says. Yeah, it's um it's a unique sound. So why do foxes make that sound? Well, because they have to communicate over long distances. You see, foxes may technically be dogs, but they fill the place of cats in most ecosystems. So rather than running in packs like most canines that we think of, like wolves, the fox is a solitary animal. And when you're living the single life, sometimes you have to make long distance calls, which comes in the form of screaming, barking, and yipping. Let me play some other fox sounds for you right now. Interesting, right? Who knew such a small and adorable animal could make such crazy screams? To me, the fox's cries remind me a lot of our puma episode where we learned about the sounds that cat makes. It's very reminiscent, isn't it? But one's a cat and one's a dog. Another feline characteristic of these small canines is that they are nocturnal, which means they do most of their activity at night and sleep during the day. This is why you will sometimes hear fox screams at nighttime. They're just making long distance calls to chat with their friends at night. So they might be dogs, but they definitely have some feline characteristics. And now it's time for a speed round of what does the fox eat? I'm not going to tell you what kind of an eater a fox is. Instead, I'm going to give you foods and you simply shout out, eats it, or nope, if you don't think the fox eats that item. Are we ready? I'm going to give you five foods. Remember, you shout out eats it or nope if you think the fox eats that food. Are we ready? Here we go. Food number one, rabbits. Eats it. You are correct. Food number two, insects. Eats it. If you said nope, sorry, hate to tell you this, but uh yeah, the fox regularly eats insects. Okay, number three, this one's tricky. Fruits. Fruits, nuts, berries, fruits. Eats it. Okay, next one, vegetables. Eats it. And finally, earthworms. Do you think the fox eats earthworms? Yep, it eats it. You're right, this is too easy. The fox eats everything we mentioned. Foxes are technically omnivores, which means they live on a varied diet of plants, animals, seeds, nuts, everything. While foxes are amazing hunters, foxes around cities are known to sometimes scavenge for garbage if given the opportunity. They're basically adorable trash compactors. One of the awesome things about the fox is that due to its propensity to eat small rodents like field mice and rabbits, they inadvertently help control the tick population. Basically, the chain of events goes: fox hunts rodents. Rodents try to hide from foxes and not get eaten. Less available rodents means fewer ticks. Fewer ticks means a slower spread of tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease to humans. Basically, by hiding from the fox, the rodent gets the added perk of not being eaten by ticks. Go ecosystems! And to round out this week's episode, I'm going to speedrun some amazing fox facts for you all. Are we ready? Here we go. A group of foxes is called a skulk, not a pack. A skulk. Try saying that word with me. It's amazing. Skulk. Great, right? A baby fox is called a kit or a cub, depending on where you live. A female fox is called a vixen. What a great name. Which means if you were a fox baby, you would be a kit who called your mom the vixen of your skulk. I mean, come on, these sound like pirate names. Amazing. 10 out of 10. Foxes are the most widespread land carnivores in the world. They are highly adaptable and are naturally found just about everywhere. And that leads us to Australia. We need to talk about Australia and their fox problem. In Australia, feral breeds of red fox were brought in around the 1840s. They were brought in to be hunted. The problem is, due to the breeding cycle and reproduction cycle of the fox, they went on to have a bunch of kits and take over Australia. So while the fox was introduced for hunting and entertainment, they have turned around and gone on to decimate natural wildlife and plant populations on the continent. It is estimated that foxes and other human-introduced predators are responsible for the extinction of at least 10 native species of animal on the Australian continent. Due to their invasive nature, hunting foxes is allowed in all states of Australia. It's a big problem. One that the Australian government works regularly to eradicate. One of the things that makes eradicating the red fox in Australia difficult, they're nocturnal. It's hard to find them because they're only awake for about nine hours and they're only active at night. So what will happen is farmers will go out at night and do what's called spotlighting. They will shine a light and try to find the foxes that way. Humans today are trying to take care of a problem that humans over 200 years ago created. Next, we're going to talk about gray fox tracks do not have claw marks, something that they have in common with the puma. Gray foxes walk and run with their claws retracted so as not to leave full markings in the dirt. It's a very feline attribute for this fascinating canine. Next, foxes will eat just about anything. They are like bears in that a fed fox is a dead fox. If you see a wild fox, please try not to feed it human food. A fox that is regularly fed by humans will lose its ability to hunt, and that means losing its ability to survive. They're adorable and fluffy and friend-shaped, but please don't feed the foxes. And finally, to all you kits and vixens out there, I hope your skulk has a great week, and I'll catch you in the next one. I'm Mimi Fox, and this has been another episode of Hello from the Van.