Urocyon cinereoargenteus
Appearance: The gray fox is small, weighing between seven and 13 pounds. It has a salt and pepper coat, usually with a dark stripe down its back. While gray foxes may have red in the coats, an easy way to distinguish a gray fox from a red fox is that gray foxes have black-tipped tails, while the red fox has a white-tipped tail.
Range: Gray foxes are well distributed throughout the United States and prefer woody, brushy habitats. Climbing trees is a unique ability that allows them to escape from predators, forage for food, and gain access to dens. Their semi-retractable claws allow them to leap like cats from tree to tree, and their dens are often found up to 30 feet above the ground! Besides humans, predators include eagles, coyotes, and bobcats.
Diet: Their omnivorous diet consists rodents, small mammals, birds, eggs, insects, plant material, and fruits. Gray foxes are primarily nocturnal but may occasionally be seen foraging during the day.
Remi & Hunter
Remi (left) and Hunter (right) are brothers who were born in the Texas Zoo in April 2011. They were donated to the Nature Center in July of 2015. Hunter has darker fur on his front legs than Remi, and Remi is the shyest grey fox of the group. These brothers have lived under human care their whole lives and never learned the skills necessary to survive in the wild.
Like any brothers, Remi and Hunter are very playful together and yet also very competitive. They love to play in their pool in the summer, especially when it has floating ice pops.