Foxes are some of the wide-ranging species dwelling on earth today. They cover as much as 70 million km2 (27 million sq mi) extending as far north as the Arctic Circle. Red fox is thought to occur all throughout Europe, Sahara Desert, Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America. However, red foxes aren’t found in Greenland. Similarly, the native fox of the Arctic region is arctic fox or polar fox. Polar fix is the only species which is found in Greenland.
Red Fox Distribution and Range
In 2012, Australia had an estimated 7.2 million red foxes. Settlers in the British colonies of Van Diemen’s Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845) began introducing the fox-hunting sport to Australia.
According to legend, foxes were driven out of Tasmania due to a massive population explosion of the Tasmanian devil. Although the fox is less frequent in locations where the dingo is widespread, the burrowing behavior that it has adopted has given it a distinctive niche between both the feral dog and the feral cat.
Red foxes are found in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, Mexico, Southwestern United States, but not in greenland.
Red Fox Habitat
Red foxes flourish in virtually all environments due to their lifestyle being largely unspecialized. As a consequence, foxes have been discovered at almost every height on Earth, from sea level to nearly 3000m (almost 10,000 ft); their range and abundance are determined by the availability of food and appropriate nesting locations. Red foxes are a mixed-landscape species that thrives in brush, forest, and farming.
Red foxes may be found in environments such as thick forest, plantations, coastal dunes, and mountain ranges, but due to the fact that they often lack access to adequate food supplies, they are much less common in these areas. The clearing of forest is said to have provided extremely favourable circumstances for Red foxes, and in combination with the introduction of game animals (e.g. brown hare, rabbits, pheasant, domestic fowl, etc.) this facilitated the colonisation of Eurasia and North America by this species.
In 1980, M.A.F.F. biologist Huw Gwyn Lloyd wrote of the habitat of the fox:
“Areas least suitable for foxes, whether harassed or not, would have some or all of the following characteristics; flat, open country; few woodlands or very open deciduous woodland; neat or simple field boundaries (fences or ditches, e.g.); no scrub or uncultivatable land; large field, mainly arable and a high water table.”
While in plantations, red foxes will fancy making habitats in mosaic of close-canopy conifers as they provide reasonable shelter as well as food. However, as the canopy is closed it would then serve merely as a resting or denning site. Foxes living in Tuscany, Italy are thought to make homes in scrubwood habitats including pine forests and meadows especially in the winter days.
Habitats in urban areas
Urban foxes are really widely distributed throughout Europe, as well as North America, Australia, Canada, and Japan (Hokkaido and Sapporo). Despite being referred to as “urban foxes,” these creatures do not exclusively occupy cities. A study at Bristol University found that urban foxes roam about freely both eating and finding mates; rural-based animals were monitored coming into the city at night to feed. In the same article, the Oxford University zoologists David Macdonald and Malcolm Newdick observed that dispersing foxes travelled back and forth between town and country, and they concluded:
“A categorical division between rural and urban foxes was found to be without foundation. The proportion of urban and rural habitats embraced within the home-ranges of foxes varied from one to the next, and foxes moved readily between them.”
Arctic Fox Range and Habitat
The Arctic fox may be found in tundra environments all across northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. It is distributed across the whole North Atlantic, northern Russia, Alaska, Canada, and as far south as Hudson Bay.
The arctic fox usually makes habitats on pack ice as well as tundra in the boreal forests of Canada including Northern Quebec, Northern Ontario, and Northern Manitoba. Polar foxes will make homes at a height of 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level.
Iceland’s sole native land animal is the Arctic fox. It walked over the icy sea to reach the lonely North Atlantic island during the conclusion of the last ice age. In Savk, the Arctic Fox Center has an exhibition on the Arctic fox and performs research on the impact of tourism on the local community. Its range was considerably larger during the previous ice age than it is today, and Arctic fox fossils have been discovered across most of northern Europe and Siberia.
