Fox Noises: Decoding The Stupefying Screams Foxes Make In The Night

Did you know that in the last couple of years, fox sounds have become highly searched for after the song 'The Fox' by Ylvis came out?

The red fox, also known as Vulpes vulpes, is a carnivorous mammal that is found in various parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Foxes have become widespread predators that depend primarily on endangered native small to medium-sized mammals.

Due to their similar appearance, the red fox is sometimes thought to be a gray fox. They can be differentiated from each other by their tails. A gray fox has a tail with a black spot, whereas a red fox's tail is white.

Red foxes are found in North America too. In comparison to other mammals, foxes are not too picky about their food. Foxes can eat food even from trash cans, gardens, etc.

Due to their ability to forage in a variety of places, they are well known for being intelligent and cunning. The family of foxes expands as they mate.

They are wild animals, but they are not as dangerous as it seems, even when they are considered wild. The foxes use howls and noises to attract their partners. The males make different sounds than the females, and these animals make a variety of noises to attract and communicate with each other.

After you have read about the noises and vocalizations of foxes, also check out our fox anatomy facts, and find out what it means when you see a fox.

Do foxes bark?

Talking about the song video by the comedy duo ‘Ylvis’ from Norway, the song describes the various sounds animals like cats, dogs, and cows make. In the chorus of the song, when these animals sing, a few suggestions are given about which fox noises are common. Sounds such as 'gering-ding-ding-dingeringgeding' or 'wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow' are suggested to be common.

Let's find out if foxes do bark. There are two types of foxes in Norway, namely the Arctic fox known as Vulpes lagopus and the red fox, commonly known as Vulpes vulpes.

As with dogs and cats, many fox species do produce a broad array of different sounds. When it comes to dogs, it's easy to refer to a dog's sound as a 'bark', but every dog is known for using yelping, whining, howling, and growling as a type of communication.

You might wonder if foxes are a type of dog. Well, foxes are related to dogs, but their sounds are not related, but rather different from each other. Bark, as a sound, is commonly associated with a dog.

In the next part of the article, we will discuss the different sounds foxes make. Keep reading to find out about different fox sounds!

Foxes, similar to dogs and wolves, are carnivorous predators, although they are not entirely related to either wolves or dogs. These wild animals hunt more like cats, with a low stalking position. Foxes have sharp, thin-pointed teeth that bite hard to kill prey, while dogs and wolves have blander, wider teeth, and kill using the "grip and shake' method.

The red fox is among the most famous species of fox. It is most definitely talked about in Ylvis' song. The red fox is known as a very loud creature. A fox is not really like a dog when it comes to sounds. So, to conclude, foxes do bark, but their sounds are mixed with loud howling and screaming.

What kind of noise does a fox really make?

We have been taught that dogs make woof sounds and cats make meow sounds, but does a fox really go 'wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow'? According to various studies, red foxes are known to have more than 20 types of sounds.

The scream, along with the bark, is one of the two most widely heard calls. These animals are so loud that they can be heard from a long distance.

The 'wow wow wow' contact call is also a typical call. Let us read about a different sound that foxes use.

According to Günter Tembrock, an ethologist, a fox makes more than 25 types of sounds! Then, Nick Newton Fisher ascertained that eight of these were used by baby foxes. Researchers further determined that foxes can make three types of sounds for communication that can be distinguished as contact calls, alert calls, and conversational calls.

Contact calls and communication between foxes depend on the species of fox and the distance between them. The fox's most common contact call is a brief 'wow-wow-wow' sound that sounds like a dog bark.

These wild animals from the Canidae family usually make high-pitched sounds like a howl to communicate with each other. Every animal has its own kind of howl.

A fox's bark is a higher-pitched scream than a dog's bark, mainly because of its smaller size. A fox call is often mixed up with an owl hoot.

It is frequently made by two foxes approaching each other. Foxes tend to produce a sort of call that sounds like chickens clucking once a fox is close enough to make physical contact with each other.

When welcoming another fox of higher status, timid red foxes may make a high-pitched whine. Conversational calls differ depending on the social rank and hostility among the foxes. The sound of foxes rustling or talking is known as gekkering. This sound is created by adults during hostile interactions with other foxes and by young foxes during play.

Fox parents use alarm sounds to alert young foxes of possible danger and for the young fox to seek shelter. At a distance, the fox call sounds like a long, piercing 'wah,' but up close, it sounds like a sneeze.

In the mating season, to attract male foxes for the sake of mating, female foxes can make similar screaming sounds and noises. Due to the wide variety of sounds a fox makes to call for mating, it is not clearly known what foxes sound like normally.

Where will you be likely to hear foxes screaming?

Usually, in horror movies, foxes are shown to give the movie a scary vibe. It's mostly in rural or suburban setups, deep in the woods or along with the countryside settings in movies where foxes are shown screaming or howling in a magnificent moon-lit background.

But are the countryside or rural places the only places where we can hear the howling sounds of foxes?

We have determined that female foxes scream to attract male foxes to mate, or foxes scream when they are afraid of predators or to mark their territory. Foxes can be found living in a wide range of wild habitats, including grasslands, marshy ecosystems, and woodlands. They can also be found near human habitats in villages and cities.

Generally, foxes are shy, and they tend to stay away from cities and humans. Unfortunately, rapid urbanization has destroyed foxes' natural habitat. As a result, foxes and other wild animals have been forced to leave the forests in search of food near human habitats, increasing the number of fox sightings in human neighborhoods.

As the populations of foxes are distributed across a wide range of habitats, it becomes difficult to ascertain the exact conservation status of all the species. Other than Darwin's fox, island fox, and hoary fox, all the other fox species aren't facing any concerns regarding their conservation.

Why don't foxes scream during the day?

Foxes usually venture out late at night or early in the morning to hunt and eat. There is also the possibility of seeing foxes during the day when they are desperately trying to feed the young foxes.

A lot of people wonder if foxes can be harmful during the daytime. Though foxes can hunt at any time of the day, they are nocturnal and are most active at sundown. Nocturnal animals, as the term suggests, are more active during the night.

Foxes tend to hunt alone, not in groups. This is why they get scared easily if they see a human. Foxes are naturally scared of humans.

If you suddenly come out in the garden, foxes will run away quickly as soon as they become aware of your presence. As foxes are essentially nocturnal animals, they sleep preferably during the day.

If you see a fox during the day, do not be alarmed, as some foxes tend to roam around during the day in search of food. Another reason foxes are being spotted during the day is the loss of habitat due to rapid urbanization.

As a result, in some regions, foxes are forced to be active during the day to forage for food.

Why do foxes scream during the night?

Red foxes, or Vulpes vulpes, are nocturnal mammals. If you ever hear a crying, screaming sound at night, it is probably a red fox. A red fox is known for its loud screaming sound that sounds like a wailing human woman or a scream from a woman.

During the night, foxes hunt, while during the day, they sleep. Some foxes even emerge at dusk and in the twilight hours, while other foxes emerge at sunset hours.

Foxes will, nevertheless, come out during daylight hours too. In fact, they may emerge at any hour of the day, if they are hungry. When foxes have young foxes and need to feed these younglings, they come out frequently to hunt.

Foxes tend to scream with breaks of approximately 3–10 seconds. If you hear a fox scream at night, it could be because the fox is scared of predators like wolves. Another reason for foxes' screaming noises at night is mating. Red foxes tend to make scream-like sounds and noises while mating.

They also make a variety of other noises while mating. Male and female foxes make screaming sounds during January and February, which is the peak time of the mating season. Barking is common in canines.

It is to attract the attention of male foxes and to mark their territory too. Screaming is usually a way to communicate between foxes. Foxes also scream at night to protect their territory from other foxes who might be trying to encroach on it.

Why do foxes make horrible noises?

Foxes use screams and barks to communicate with one another. It's more frequent around mating season, which starts in January and ends in February. Foxes may howl at one another as a territorial reminder during this time. Female foxes will produce loud sounds and noises for mating, while male foxes will bark back to show their presence.

All year long, red foxes are known to yell and screech. Foxes create a loud, screeching 'wow wow wow' sound that they use to communicate with other foxes or to identify their location and position.

Screaming is another technique for foxes to communicate.

Although a shrieking fox's noise may appear to indicate that it is in pain, danger, or is being attacked, it is usually nothing to be concerned about and is most likely just a fox attempting to claim its territory from another fox.

What does a fox scream sound like?

Foxes have more than twenty different sounds and noises that are used by them to communicate with one another. As the pitch of a fox's scream is substantially higher than that of a dog's, it is audible across huge regions.

While declaring their territory, a male fox may emit a wow-wow-wow sound. Foxes also have a strong 'a-woo' scream that sounds like it is coming from a wailing dog.

A growl from a fox is produced upon winning a female fox or territory. If a submissive fox wants to surrender, the fox makes a whining sound, which is almost like a whimpering sound.

As young foxes cannot speak, seek, or fend for food by themselves, they also make a whimper-like sound to ask for food from their fox parents.

The scream, which is very common to hear, is made by red foxes as it is the most commonly seen fox species and it is easier to observe their vocalizations.

Although it is common for foxes to scream, and people who hear them often know that there are foxes around making screaming noises, it can still be a scary moment, as if in a horror movie.

It is not easy to get used to hearing screaming throughout the night.

People have described fox sounds as being like a loud scream, almost maddening and scary.

People also describe the fox sounds as being very similar to those of a woman crying loudly and needing help. It is almost unsettling to hear such loud screams at night.

Fox howls are, in simple words, high-pitched screams. Foxes howl in groups, pausing for almost five seconds before starting again.

During the winter, these noises are common in urban areas. It is because of the absence of flora, due to which the fox sounds echo far and wide in and around cities nowadays. There have been numerous instances where people have contacted the authorities for help after hearing a fox scream.

Conserving Foxes

It is safe to say that foxes live both in cities and rural areas. Foxes prefer to live in marshy ecosystems and tend to eat anything readily available.

Even if they can live in both urban and rural areas, it is important to note that various environmental and human activities can be harmful to foxes. Let us look at some points that should be kept in mind to conserve foxes.

Pollution in the environment has increased the risks for all animals alike. Because of the rapid growth in global warming, the seasonal changes are not really the same as they were before. This affects the foxes' ability to fend for themselves and survive.

Red foxes have commonly been hunted because of their fur. Hunting of foxes by humans to obtain fur is illegal in most regions, but even today, many people still hunt foxes for the purpose of creating merchandise. Laws should be enforced more strictly to punish those who deviate from the law.

Due to ongoing urbanization and decreasing forest land, foxes have been forced to leave their natural habitat more frequently and have been pushed to even move closer to human neighborhoods. The reasons are numerous, such as a lack of prey animals, less area to forage for food, and the easy availability of food near human settlements.

Fox populations in different regions face challenges due to instances of various diseases. These diseases in foxes can spread fast and wide. Studying these diseases can help prevent their spread. It can be a difficult step to achieve but can help greatly in ensuring a steady population of foxes.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for fox noises then why not take a look at what to call a group of foxes, or fox facts.