Gray Fox

Description:

It is grayish on the back and sides and reddish on the nape, shoulders, chest and legs. It has a large bushy tail with a black stripe along the top and a black tip. Note that a gray fox has a lot of reddish coloration which has caused some folks to misidentify it— the black tail tip may be the best identifying mark. Gray foxes are about 2 feet long, not counting the tail, about a foot high at the shoulder and weigh on average about 10 pounds. Sometimes when people only get a glimpse of an animal, they have difficulty telling the difference between a gray fox and a coyote, the latter of which is roughly twice the size of the fox.

Habitat:

I spotted it late in the afternoon just sitting in front of a neighbor's house. It stayed there long enough for me to get my camera and take some photos. My husband came to look at it, and I guess it decided that was too much attention, because it walked down between the two houses and proceeded to very easily vanish overtop an eight foot fence.

Notes:

A canid (family Canidae) akin to coyotes, jackals and wolves, the fox is genetically separate and distinct. A dozen million years ago the fox formed a separate genetic group and, possessing a different number of chromosomes, cannot cross-breed with dogs or other canids. The common gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is native to Texas and is our most common resident. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is found throughout the southeastern United States; however, it is originally from England. It was brought over for sport hunting purposes sometime between 1650 and 1750. It was introduced to Texas around 1895. Red foxes actually occur on many continents and were even native to North America, but they were historically confined to our northern boreal forests. A most unusual trait of gray foxes is that they can climb trees! Unlike almost all other canines, they can rotate their forearms in a way that allows them to grasp the sides of a tree trunk and have been seen as high as 20 feet off the ground.