Where does the kit fox live?
The kit fox lives in the arid and semi-arid regions of the south-western United States and northern and central Mexico. The northernmost part of its range is the arid interior of Oregon, and its eastern limit is south-western Colorado. It can be found south through Nevada, Utah, south-eastern California, Arizona, New Mexico and into western Texas. It inhabits desert scrub, chaparral and grasslands, and favours areas with sparse ground cover.
What does the kit fox eat?
It mainly eats Merriam's kangaroo rat, but also lagomorphs, rodents and insects, birds, reptiles, carrion and fish, and rarely plant material. It digs its own dens, but can also use the burrows of badgers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and kangaroo rats. An individual fox usually uses more than 11 dens in a given year. It is mostly nocturnal.
Is the kit fox endangered?
No: the IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Its main threats are heavy habitat loss and competition from red foxes. It is the smallest of the four Vulpes species in North America, and has been called a North American counterpart of the fennec fox, due to its large ears.
