Swift Fox (Vulpes velox)

Swift Foxes (Vulpes velox) is little, light orange-tan foxes that are about the size of domestic cats and are only found in the western grasslands of North America, including Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. It also lives in southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in Canada, where it was previously extirpated. Because of its strong resemblance to the kit fox, V. macrotis, some mammalogists consider it as conspecific with that mammal. But according to molecular systematics, the two species are separate. There is some interbreeding between the two species where their ranges intersect (eastern New Mexico and western Texas), but it is a very small-scale process.

Primarily found in deserts and short-grass grasslands, swift foxes reside there. Because of stable numbers elsewhere, the IUCN currently rates the species' conservation as Least Concern. The swift fox, like the majority of canids, is an omnivore; in addition to grasses and fruits, its diet also consists of small mammals, carrion, and insects. Its lifespan in the wild ranges from three to six years, and depending on the area, it breeds just once a year, from late December to early March. Puppies are weaned at six to seven weeks old and can be born at any time between March and mid-May.