Cat and Mouse Game

With a light frame and thin legs, foxes maintain excellent balance. Just like their feline counterparts, they gracefully stalk and pounce their prey, using agile paws to pin it. Hours are spent happily chasing things through the grass, and it's a lucky mouse that escapes the accuracy of a fox.

Once prey has been caught, it's not always eaten right away. Sometimes a fox will hold it down until it stops moving, then stop to rest. That's when the mouse scurries away to continue the chase.

Built-in Swiss Army Knives

Like felines and other canines, foxes have four toes on their hindfeet, and five toes on their forefeet. The first toe on the front paws is small, separate, and diminished. It's referred to as a "dew claw" and may not be visible on all foxes.

If you've ever looked at the feet of a house cat, you might have noticed the fur which grows between each pad. The bottom of a fox paw is also well insulated by fur, making every step silent, and keeping toes warm in winter.

At the business end of each foot, four curved claws are kept ready for action. Unlike other canids, they can be slightly extended for digging and pinning prey, or retracted to keep them sharp. Of course they also come in handy for the occasional shoulder scratch.

Sight by Contrast

One of the most striking similarities is that foxes and cats both have vertically oriented pupils. It's rare trait in itself which eases work in any light condition.

During the midnight hours, foxes rely on their "tapetum lucidum" for superior night vision. The tapetum is a reflective coating on the back of their eyes, delivering twice as much light to their retina. It's the same tissue which gives an eerie glow to the eyes of a cat.

Like in many canines and felines however, foxes have poor visual acuity. They can't see very far, or focus on things as well as other animals such as humans or birds of prey. This is one reason foxes have such a sharp sense of smell and hearing.

Foxes do best at sensing movement and contrast. Like cats, they've sacrificed the "cones" in their eyes, which distinguish color, for more "rods", which detect light. It's likely they separate colors such as blue and red, but not red and green.

Good Dental Work

The teeth of a fox also have some special characteristics. For example, the canines are much thinner, and more curved, than other canids. They're best at clamping down around prey, and holding it still, instead of shaking it around.

Being an opportunistic omnivore, it's also important that fox teeth be able to process vegetable material such as wild fruits. Foxes are somewhat unique this way, as cats and other Canidae members follow a more strict carnivore diet, but cats do enjoy the occasional grass chew.

The long, slender tongue is covered with a raspy texture, which is useful for lapping up water, and grooming stray hairs. Cleanliness is important to foxes, but they don't cough up fur-balls because the hair passes through them.

Sensitive Vibrissae

Even the whiskers, called vibrissae, are longer and finer on a fox. Like cats, they too have soft whiskers on their wrists, which may help aim for a pounce. Using such whiskers, a fox can sense tiny movements in the surrounding grass.

It's believed that all of these traits evolved because both foxes and small cat species hunt the same kind of prey. They likely shared a common ancestor at one point in time, and the fox we know now is perfectly fit to life as a catlike canine.