Watch a Mama Fox Hunt for Food to Feed Two Extra-Hungry Kits
Foxes thrive with the companionship of their family, which is also called a pack. It consists of adult foxes, their kits, and some older siblings that have responsibilities in the family. Like human mothers, the adult female fox works hard to attend to their children’s needs. Mama foxes take extra care of their babies and protect them from any threat. Kits stay in a den until they open their eyes and are provided with milk for a few weeks. As they continue to develop, the mother fox hunts for them until the kits are capable on their own. Hunting becomes a full-time job for the adult female, especially when the kits’ appetite increases.
BBC Earth has shared the hunting routine of a Tibetan fox mom and her two lovely four-month-old kits. The mother and sons reside in China’s largest national park Sanjiangyuan. Summer has arrived, a great time for animals to nurture their young. Fox kits are already out of the den and have reached four months old. They are freely running around the grassy fields — building a bond between the two siblings. As they become more active, it’s expected that the kits will be hungrier than before. The mother fox was doubling her efforts to ensure her babies have full stomachs.
Apart from hunting for food, mommy fox also gets to be part of the young one’s playtime. When they are not looking for lunch or dinner, they’d disturb the quiet mom and cling to her. Funnily enough, the female Tibetan fox was not in the mood to play with the young one — hilariously ignoring the playful kit. Perhaps she’s so tired from her full-time job and she just wants some alone time. The mother might also be concentrating in case a Pika appears. Foxes prefer the rodent as their prey, which is also hunted by other predators. Pikas live on the grassland, and a family was neighbors with the Tibetan foxes.
Although they live nearby, pikas are challenging to catch because they stay close to their burrows. They are almost always hidden, and it takes a keen observer to catch one. Foxes have the advantage of being mysterious and stealthy — stalking quietly until they find the right time to pounce on their victim. The female Tibetan fox was already ensuring a target, but her kits disturbed the hunt. Since they aren’t yet knowledgeable about catching prey, one of the kits pounced at the wrong moment. The pup ran towards the Pika and scared it away — they were close to dinner, but it returned to the burrow.
The mother fox was so disappointed that she scolded her kids and sent them back home. Netizens commented that it’s similar to human parents commanding their kids to go to their room whenever they cause problems. Families, no matter what the species, really do have shared experiences that make life on Earth more interesting. Despite the young one’s behavior, the mother fox continued the hunt even if she had to move further away from the den. She’s determined to secure her kits’ survival, and summer is the perfect season for that. Watch a glimpse of their day on BBC Earth’s video below — it’s informative, relatable, and absolutely adorable.
