Little Fox on the prairie

[EvolutionSFox]

I picked up the cutest little story about a family of foxes, just couldn't hold back. Hope ya like it, peoples. It's also sort of a timeline for a fox.

By Skony, Wendy J., Chambers, Glenn D.

A male swift fox, peers into his under- ground den on a cool spring evening. His mate, Sandy, and their young pups are safe inside the den ... and he's hungry. It's time for him to go on his nightly hunt.

In the moonlight, Rusty first looks for enemies. The wide-open prairie where he lives is a perfect place for Rusty. He can see so far across the short grass, it's hard for coyotes and other enemies to sneak up on him.

Rusty is used to hunting at night, and he isn't choosy about dinner. He looks for mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, birds, lizards, and even grasshoppers to nab and eat.

Soon Rusty spies a nice fat jack rabbit -- and takes off after it. Faster and faster he runs until he looks like a blur of brown fur. (He's a swift fox, after all.)

Finally he pounces on the rabbit and kills it with one bite. Then he hauls it back to his den -- some trick for a fox that's only about the size of a house cat!

COYOTE CLOSE CALL

While Rusty trots home, he sees a coyote crouched in the short grass. That's one enemy he always tries to avoid!

He runs to a small side-entrance of his den and hurries inside with the rabbit. He crawls in and drops the rabbit at his mate's feet.

Sandy is hungry. She hasn't been able to hunt in a while. Two weeks ago, Sandy gave birth to four pups -- Ben, Kip, Meg, and Poke. By now their eyes have opened and their brown coats have grown fluffy.

While her pups are young, Sandy rarely leaves the den. She depends on Rusty for all her food, such as this rabbit.

Ben, Kip, and Meg walk over to the rabbit. Poke follows. He's smaller than the others and slower. The pups sniff the rabbit, but their mother's milk is still the only food they want.

Rusty waits while Sandy eats the jack rabbit. When she's had her fill, he nibbles on the rabbit leftovers. Still hungry, he goes out again, looking around for a moonlit meal.

HERE COMES THE PLOW!

When they're five weeks old, the pups are big enough to be left alone. Now Sandy and Rusty both hunt, bringing treats to their hungry pups.

The swift fox family usually stays in the den during the day. But early one morning, before Sandy comes back from hunting, Rusty takes the pups outside. He lies in the sun. The pups run from entrance to entrance, chasing and catching each other.

Rusty begins romping with them. Then he stops. Something is wrong. His sharp ears pick up a strange, rumbling noise nearby.

The sound comes closer, and Rusty glimpses a tractor pulling a plow. Rusty doesn't understand that the grassland is being turned into a wheat field. He doesn't know that tall crops will soon be growing where the short grass is now. And he doesn't realize that he will no longer be able to run lickety-split after his prey across the prairie -- or spot a red fox or coyote coming to get him. All he knows is that he'd better get away from the machine.

Rusty dives down deep into their den. Ben, Kip, and Meg scurry after him. But Poke lags behind. Rusty crawls back up and nabs the pup. Then they all huddle inside at the deepest part while the plow swipes through the top of the den. Several of the entrances are plowed under.

Finally, when the loud grumbles of the machine have died away, Rusty starts digging out a dirt-filled entrance. When Sandy gets back from her hunting trip, she digs too. The pups stay inside, shaking soil out of their fur.

It takes a long time, but finally Rusty and Sandy finish remaking the den. By then, the adults are both tuckered out. They crawl into the den for a long nap.

HUNTING LESSONS

Now that the pups are getting older, Sandy and Rusty start teaching them to hunt. At first the pups can capture only grasshoppers and other small prey. They practice stalking and pouncing on mice and birds that their parents catch and kill.

But the tall crops make it hard to hunt. And even going for dead animals can be dangerous. One evening, Kip sees a field mouse get killed on a road. The pup scoots out onto the asphalt to get this meal -- and almost turns into roadkill himself. Screeeeeech! The wheels of a truck grind to a stop just in front of Kip. The pup quickly runs away -- with-out the field mouse meal.

GROWING UP, MOVING ON

Little Ben has better luck than Kip. Next day, he finds a dead ground squirrel (left). He eats his fill, and Poke gets the leftovers.

The pups keep learning their hunting lessons all through the summer. One afternoon, Rusty, Sandy, and their growing pups crawl out of the den (above). The adults soak up the sun while their pups scamper around. Then they all go hunting together.

After many such trips, the pups are finally able to hunt on their own. By fall, they are almost as big as their parents and no longer need to be taken care of. Each pup leaves to look for a place of its own -- in a wide-open prairie where it can run and run and run.

[ArwingMaster]

*is filled with warm fuzziness*....except the part with the plow. Good find ESF

[EvolutionSFox]

That part did ruin it a bit... ack...