This incredible sighting was filmed by Judy Lehmberg of Epic Nature.
Watch The Sighting:
Fox kits wrestle for mom’s milk
The young foxes wanted to suckle at the same time, which presented a challenge for the mother. As with all red foxes, she had just eight teats. This meant there weren’t enough teats for all of the little ones.
For this reason, the babies wriggled for a place of prominence underneath her. In the tussle for the teats, the mother fox was lifted from the ground and was literally rotated as her cubs pushed in towards their source of sustenance.
The mother didn’t seem too overwhelmed though. She maintained an air of composure, and the small foxes seemed to take turns coming up to her, and pushing their noses against her snout, as a sign of affection.
It’s a good thing that all members of the litter weren’t there at that moment. The mother fox actually had 13 kits. Two of them weren’t around for the feed on this specific occasion.
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However, even though having a full litter of cubs, the mother had no doubt fed the full litter before and had possibly learned to multi-task as many moms are forced to.
Hats off to a multi-tasking mom
A litter of 13 kits definitely sounds like a handful! Red foxes usually have litters of around four to six kits. However, in rare instances, as in this instance, litters can be as large as 13 kits.
Vixens, or female foxes, are usually assisted in raising their kits by either a female kit from a former litter, or a non-breeding sister. These female helpers gain experience rearing kits through helping with the kits, and this experience later assists them to rear their own litter successfully.
Red foxes usually mate between December to February, and usually form monogamous pairs each winter.
The kits are born after a gestation period of between 51 to 53 days.
They are born blind and weigh as little as 150g.
Their eyes open at around two weeks of age, and they will start to take their first tentative steps out of the den at around 5 weeks of age.
These kits were more than likely less than 10 weeks as it is around this time that baby foxes are weaned from Mom. These little ones definitely still needed their mother for sustenance.
Mother fox maintains composure as wriggly pups press in
Red foxes are known to be quite verbal animals and will communicate using murmurs, whines, growls and barks.
These ones no doubt knew how to communicate with Mom, and she seemed to enjoy the attention… even though at one point her legs seemed to be taking strain and it appeared they might buckle.
The exuberant and healthy kits were no doubt her pride and joy.
The kits eventually seemed to settle somewhat. Their tummies were possibly fuller and their hunger satisfied.
However, the sighting didn’t conclude without a poignant nose-to-nose kiss for Mom. Feeding her kits was not a thankless job and the little ones let her know that they appreciated her.