Author: BarrySpruce

Smoky Mountain Black Bears males average around 250 pounds while females are just over 100 pounds. This is an extreme difference and can sometimes be used to tell the sex of a mature bear. Some other physical appearance differences are the shape and size of the head and its parts. Adult females tend to show a more elongated face (more dog like) and longer taller ears. An adult male’s head and face has more round like features, and their ears have a more squatty appearance. Both males and females can run up to 25-30mph if they have to. They are extremely strong and able to lift 300 lbs. with a single lift of a front forearm. What is more amazing is the dexterity they have along with that strength. They are able to use their paws and claws to do the smallest and most difficult precise movements when foraging and feeding. They hear and see better than humans, but their most amazing sense is smell. They can smell 7x better than a domestic dog. Females can breed as early as 3 years old, and American Black Bears live on average to be 18 years old in the wild.

Today’s post is on the Red Fox. Hopefully between description and photos when you are done reading my blog you will have a better understanding of the differences between the Red Fox and Gray Fox. The two foxes are distant cousins to each other. Both are common to the US with the Gray Fox being the dominant fox West of the Mississippi and the Red Fox the dominant fox East of the Mississippi.

The Red Fox is only slightly larger than the Gray Fox. Its overall color is an orange brown and the tip of its tail is white. Different to other foxes it has black legs called stockings.

It is also different than the Gray Fox because of where it lives. The Red Fox has only a small presence in the actual territory of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Fearful of another canine, the Coyote, it chooses to rather live in outlying areas buffering the heavily wooded national park. It can be found in towns and even cities which have greenbelt areas and county parks. It also enjoys living around golf courses and country clubs. Those locations are surrounded by wooded areas in which they hunt and the grassy fairways are like their highways to get from one hunting ground to another.

Because they do live in close proximity to humans, Red Foxes may be seen when they are moving from one area to another. They are seen even more in late winter and early Spring when males are searching for females. Females and kits are seen frequently in late spring. One of the reasons for this is that female Red Fox have to hunt and provide for their kits. They also have a tendency to move their kits from one den site to another. Sometimes the first spot is very small or very close to human activity. As the kits grow more space and privacy may be required, so she moves them during the night time hours. If this occurs she will move one kit at a time until the whole family is secure in the new location. Red Fox usually have 1-7 kits sometimes called cubs. It is common for a female to have a litter of 4 or 5.