Vulpes velox (swift fox, kit fox)
| Diet | Carnivorous, omnivorous. Small mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, carrion, berries and grasses. |
| Habitat | Southwest US, a few scattered populations in Great Plains, western Canada. Shortgrass prairies and deserts. |
| Description | We are including V. velox macrotis, the kit fox, as a subspecies of V. velox. Smallest of the wild dogs in North America. About the size of a domestic cat. Black tipped tail, white throat and chest, legs light in color. |
| Skull Characteristics | Temporal ridges weakly developed (<1 mm wide) and form a V. Similar to red fox, but smaller with more inflated auditory bullae. All foxes: Postorbital process concave. |
| Notes | Subspecies found in Oregon is kit fox, V. velox macrotis. Some taxonomies split the swift fox (V. velox) and kit fox (V. macrotis) into separate species. The swift fox subspecies range is in the central plains east of the Rocky Mountains, while the kit fox range is in the southwest US and Mexico, north to southern Idaho and Oregon. For discussion see: Land Mammals Of Oregon, by Verts and Carraway, 1998, University of Califoria Press.
Links to more species information: Smithsonian Animal Diversity Web |