I am one of the few swift foxes of Alberta. Once we numbered in the thousands, but now we are bones and dirt.

Only a few years ago, all my kind were wiped out from the prairies by traps and poisons that were left out for the gophers.

My mother was caught, drugged and shipped here from the United States where our kind weren't wiped out.

I'm about the size of a house cat and weigh 2 to 3 kilograms. In the summertime I'm mainly reddish gray.

My size and colour, make it easy for me to blend in with the yellow grasses of the prairies where I live.

I was born in a den in the side of a hill. My mother built the den out of an old badger hole which was abandoned. Though we swift foxes often build dens out of old dens, we are also able to make their own.

My mother taught me and my four brothers and one sister about all the enemies we have and what to eat.

Now, when I hunt from dusk till dawn, I watch out for my main enemies, coyotes, eagles, red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks.

I just caught a frog and ate it. You probably think that that is sick but I am a carnivore, so I eat anything from a rabbits to bugs. I also eat berries and grasses.

Maybe you're surprised to learn that I eat rabbits because they're so fast and most animals can't catch them. But we swift foxes live up to our name, for we are very fast runners. We can run up to 50 kilometers per hour.

I avoid predators by making quick changes of direction and by seeking safety in any animal's burrow.

I'm a female. Right now my den only consists of one small room and an entrance. I use this den for protection mostly and I live in it all year around.

Sometime in January to March, which is breeding season, I will mate. 50 days later, I'll have my kits. Kit is the name you humans use for baby fox.

So, I'm beginning to turn my simple den into a more complex den which will be like a maze of interconnecting tunnels with many entrances.

I will use this new den, called a whelping den, for raising my kits. I'm expecting anywhere between 1 to 8 kits, so that's why I need a big space.

The birth chamber where my kits will be born is about 1 metre below the surface and has several side tunnels going in and out.

My kits' eyes and ears will open within 10 to 15 days of their birth. But they won't leave the den except for short periods of time in the first two months.

My mate will hunt and bring food to the den during this time.

If I die, he will take care of the kits and raise them himself. And, if he dies, it is the same for me.

I will wean my kits in 1-5 weeks, which means that they can live without me. Then, I will teach them how to hunt.

I will stay with my mate for companionship and friendship and maybe we'll mate again next year. You see, we swift foxes usually live in pairs though we may not mate for life. He is a bit bigger than me.

In just two months, my kits will be my size. They will leave my den sometime in the Autumn. Then they will make their own dens and prepare for having their own families.

The wind just started to blow and like all swift foxes I have a low tolerance for wind. I started at a fast trot toward my den. Across the field I saw a kit fox witch looks very much like us swift foxes. In fact the only real difference is that we swift foxes smaller ears and broader skulls.

I was almost at my den when something distracted me. We swift foxes get distracted lots for we are very curious animals and are not even afraid of humans.

You, being who you are, probably think that curiosity does us no harm but you are wrong.

I said that I had four brothers and one sister. Now I have one less. One of my brothers wandered to close to a human and was mistaken for a coyote and shot. This is another way swift foxes get killed.

I pulled my eyes away from the distracting object and ran into my den just as it started to rain. After my brother died, I had promised myself that I would try and live between 4-10 years which is the amount that we usually live.

I curled up in the grass on the floor of my den and drifted into a cozy sleep.

• Back to the Swift Fox Page.
• Terra's Story and Photos of a Hike in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
• Terra's Journey through the Maze in the Fiery Furnace of Arches National Park, Utah.
• Terra's Animal Page.
• Terra's Homepage.