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Year of the Fox
It will usually be on a nice warm day in April when the cubs venture for the first time above ground. After a great play they will often slump down in a pile and go to sleep out in the open. Play is an important role in any youngster’s upbringing and it’s during this play that mini pecking orders will start already to be established. The vixen will still be kennelled down with them but now she will hunt for herself. The dog fox will usually lie close to the earth protecting the cubs from any unwanted attention from cats. In March and April telephone calls from concerned householders peak, thinking that foxes are looking to kill cats to feed to the cubs. What however, is actually happening, is the cats which are attracted to the earth because of the noises of the cubs, are seen off by either the dog fox or vixen, in some cases both. Left to their own devices, when cubs are very young cats will kill them as they would a bird.
To wean the cubs off her milk the vixen will lay away from them during the day, bringing small items of food back for them often. It is this behaviour that leads many to believe that cubs out on their own during the day, with no adult apparently around, must have been abandoned. To ensure this is not the case a good idea is to put down an egg about five feet from the earth. Cubs at this age will not be able to pick it up and move it, and the fox is really the only animal apart from badgers that will actually take the egg away. In short if the egg’s gone it means there's a fair chance an adult has visited the cubs.
June is possibly the best month of the year to observe fox cubs at play, and it’s usually in this month that the vixen will leave them in an area whilst she goes out hunting. This area, known as the play area, will also be where the vixen now starts bringing food to the cubs. It may also be to wean them from the earth, because later in the month this will be abandoned and the cubs, like the adults will lie above ground. Although still playing during the day, the cubs start to become more lethargic. Now completely weaned off their mother’s milk, it will be the food she supplies that the cubs are reliant upon.
The cubs are becoming more self sufficient, which may be due to the fact that the adults will bring back less food. Both dog fox and vixen will take the cubs out to known feeding sites, usually the cubs will be split e.g. 3 with the dog fox 2 with the vixen. How they learn anything one wonders, when still all of their time is taken up playing!
Looking more like adults now, the cubs will start their activities around the same time as the adults, most active between dusk and dawn. The latter half of the month gives a clue as to what they are all eating, adults included, as their droppings will be almost purple with the amount of blackberries picked. Fruit plays an important part in the fox’s natural diet. Cubs hunting for voles, mice etc. can be observed early in the morning perfecting the ‘mouse pounce’. Cubs, after an initial play in the play area, will usually depart in two's for a night’s foraging. At any point if the vixen or dog fox detects danger they will give out a sharp bark, which will send the cubs scurrying for cover. When in close proximity to the cubs the warning bark is more of a ruffled cough. So, for anyone who has sat watching cubs, only to see them all disappear when you have tried to muffle a cough will now know it was you who gave them the warning!
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The Year Of The Fox
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