The kit fox is a small canid native to desert regions of the western United States and parts of northern Mexico. In Oregon, it is at the northernmost part of its range and found in Harney and Malheur counties.
Kit foxes have the largest ears relative to body size of any canid in North America. Their tails are long (about 40% of body length) and bushy with a prominent black tip but no black stripe on the top of the tail. Pelage color is grizzled gray above becoming buffy to orange on the neck, sides, and legs and finally blending to white ventrally. Ears are tan or gray on the back with a thick border of white hairs on the inner edge. Kit foxes are generally nocturnal and use dens year-round, rarely leaving dens during the daytime
Kit foxes inhabit desert and semiarid regions. They are closely associated with salt desert scrub.
Limiting factors
Limiting factors include small population size and habitat loss and degradation. Kit fox are threatened by vehicle collisions, impacts from poison, rodenticides, and other pesticides, and energy development and resource extraction efforts.
Data gaps
• Identify a cost-effective method to assess population densities, distribution, and trends.
• Investigate habitat selection preferences.
• Determine diet composition of kit foxes in Oregon.
Conservation actions
• Use GPS tracking or noninvasive and genetic sampling to evaluate distribution, occurrence, and cause-specific mortality.
• Engage in habitat restoration efforts to remove invasive annual grasses and restore native shrub-steppe habitat.
Key reference or plan
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2014. Kit Fox Research 2013-15: Interim Performance Report to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Grant Number F13AF00838. Unpublished; available from ODFW;
Conservation Assessment of the Kit Fox in Southeast Oregon (2015). Read here
