Little fox on the prairie: how will this swift fox save his family?
Rusty, a male swift fox, peers into his underground den on a cool spring evening. His mate, Sandy, and their young pups are safe inside the den . . . and he’s hungry. It’s time for him to go on his nightly hunt. In the moonlight, Rusty first looks for enemies. The wide-open prairie where he lives is a perfect place for Rusty. He can see so far across the short grass, it’s hard for coyotes and other enemies to sneak up on him. Rusty is used to hunting at night, and he isn’t choosy about dinner. He looks for mice, rabbits , ground squirrels, birds, lizards, and even grasshoppers to nab and eat. Soon Rusty spies a nice fat jack rabbit–and takes off after it. Faster and faster he runs until he looks like a blur of brown fur. (He’s a swift fox, after all.) Finally he pounces on the rabbit and kills it with one bite. Then he hauls it back to his den–some trick for a fox that’s only about the size of a house cat! COYOTE CLOSE CALL While Rusty trots home, he sees a coyote crouched in the sho
