The family life of a red fox is a joy to observe. The kits are very much like puppies, jumping on and chasing each other almost the entire day. Of particular interest is how the Vixens teach the kits to eventually become self sufficient around their food supply. There are two vixen in this family unit, the mother and grandmother, and I can not tell them apart. The kits you see here are still suckling from their mother. But by this time in their young lives she is well on the way introducing them to game. In the beginning she will stash the game, encouraging the kits to forage for it. The next step in the process you can see here, where she brings game directly to the kits.
Here she is dropping a rabbit for them. At this stage in the teaching she has killed the rabbit. The next stage will be for her to bring them live game.
The little black one grabs the rabbit and makes a run for it getting away from his siblings.
At a safe distance he releases the rabbit and examines it. Big mistake! About a quarter of a mile away there is a large rock that the eagles sit on watching everything.
In came the eagle and snatched the rabbit away from the kit fox. It may be good that the fox dropped the rabbit as it may have saved his life. Eagles have been known (and photographed) grabbing a kit fox and flying off. That happened in this area some years ago. The kit fox returned to the group and began playin and a bit later was seen snuggling with one of the vixen. All back to normal.
That’s an awesome experience to watch in person.
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