Reports
Sunnylea Junior School
The Swift Fox
| This report is about the swift fox. The swift fox is
an ordinary mammal. The swift fox has a scientific name. It is the vulpes velox. It came
from the North American dog family. The swift fox's status is extirpated. In my report you
can read about the appearance, food, habitat, threats and interesting facts of the swift
fox. You should read this report to learn about the animal. The swift fox is a beautiful animal. The swift fox has thick rough fur, and is about the size of a house cat. It weights about 2 kg when it is full grown. It has grayish yellow sides and a black tip on it's tail. It's forehead is grayish in colour and it's back and tail are also grayish. It is 844 mm long and it's tail is about 280 mm long. The swift fox can only be found in certain places. The swift fox is found extensively in Saskatchewan. The swift fox lives in a den near permanent water bodies. It builds it's den on well drained slopes and hill tops. The habitat area has short grass plains, short mixed plains, or a grass prairie. The swift fox eats many different kinds of foods. It eats whatever is available. Their main foods are cotton tail rabbits, mice, birds and other small mammals. They also eat reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. They eat a great amount of grass hoppers. The swift fox may also eat carrion and any dead or decaying animals. The swift fox has many enemies. It is easily trapped, hunted or poisoned. Hunters usually put traps outside their den. Hunters also put dead bait with poison in it or they will put dead bait with no poison and when the fox goes to eat the food the hunter will shoot it. The swift fox is not protected in Canada. The swift fox was extirpated in the year 1978. The animals that eat the fox after they kill it are the wolf, eagles, and hawks. The animals that kill it for fun are the wolverines and the coyotes. The swift fox is a very interesting animal. It can run up to 60 miles an hour. It is part of the North American dog family. The swift fox lives in pairs. When it gives birth it stays with it's mother for one month to be protected and trained for hunting and then leaves. They never won pelts because their skin was to small. The swift fox gets it's name because of it's speed. If it ran slower it would not be named the swift fox. The swift fox is mainly nocturnal. That means they sleep in the day and are up at night. The swift fox is observed sunning themselves near their dens. By Manny
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Copyright 1997, 2000 - Joan Goble and René de Vries
