Red fox
Amazing fact
A red fox’s pupils become round in darkness and narrow vertically in bright light.
井の頭自然文化園
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A red fox’s pupils become round in darkness and narrow vertically in bright light.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Red fox
- Scientific name
- Vulpes vulpes
- Japanese name
- アカギツネ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Canidae
- Genus
- Vulpes
This page introduces the red fox species; foxes of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu belong to the subspecies Vulpes vulpes japonica (hondo-gitsune).
It is a fox found across much of the Northern Hemisphere; in Japan, too, it lives alone in forests and grasslands.
Its back is pale yellowish red to deep reddish brown, its lower legs are usually black, and the tip of its tail is usually white or black.
When it finds a mouse, it stands still and listens, then leaps high and pins the mouse to the ground with its front paws.
How the Red fox lives
It is active mainly at night and spends the day in an underground den. It stores food and finds its caches again later. In spring, the female gives birth in a den.
井の頭自然文化園University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Head and body length: 60–75 cm井の頭自然文化園
- Weight
- 4–7 kg井の頭自然文化園
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Mice, rabbits, insects, fruit, and other foods井の頭自然文化園
- Range
- Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, Japan井の頭自然文化園
Where the Red fox has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- アカギツネ
- 简体中文
- 赤狐
- 繁體中文
- 赤狐
- 한국어
- 붉은여우
- Español
- Zorro rojo
- Français
- Renard roux
- Deutsch
- Rotfuchs
- Português (Brasil)
- Raposa-vermelha
- Italiano
- Volpe rossa
- العربية
- ثعلب أحمر
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Rubah merah
- Tiếng Việt
- Cáo đỏ
- Русский
- Обыкновенная лисица
- Türkçe
- Kızıl tilki
- বাংলা
- লাল শিয়াল
- اردو
- لال لومڑ
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 井の頭自然文化園 — アカギツネ（ホンドギツネ）Checked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Vulpes vulpesChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeWhen you meet the Red fox, look for this
- Look for its large ears, which gather sounds.
Animals do different things from day to day, so you may not always see this.
井の頭自然文化園EXHIBIT INFORMATION
Places that keep or show the Red fox
Zoos, aquariums and other places whose official websites say they keep or show this animal.
Kanto
Displays can change with the animals’ health and the seasons. Check each facility’s official website before you go.
RELATIVES
Others in Canidae
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