The gray fox lives in the southern half of North America, from the southmost edge of Canada down to Colombia and Venezuela, avoiding parts of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. They prefer foresty areas, mostly, or brushy desert areas. They love to eat cottontails, mice, voles, shrews, and birds, but they also eat a good deal of fruit and vegetables.

A really special thing about gray foxes is that they are one of the only canid species (the other is the raccoon dog) that can climb trees well, thanks to their curved claws that let them get a good grip on the tree bark. Margaret has a couple climbing her apple trees and eating her windfalls, and so this apple-sniffer is for her. (She might find this website’s extensive guide to gray fox tracks and scat useful, too!)