Fox Sounds: Are you Friend or Foe?

Foxes also commonly bark, which is generally used as a type of contact call to find out whether other foxes are friends or rivals. This type of bark sounds similar to a dog, but it’s slightly higher-pitched. These calls are used for “maintenance of territory and contacts with neighbours,” Dr. Gogoleva explained to Decoded Science. Animals can recognize their neighbors’ calls and if the intruder turns out to be an enemy, barks can soon turn to more aggressive vocalisations like snort, cough and growls. Play Time for Foxes

There’s also time for “caring and playing with the cubs with cackles, pants, whines and squeals,” says Dr. Gogoleva, which may turn into gentle snorts for ‘naughty cubs.’ “When playing leads to a fight or during competition for something like a toy or food, the cubs may whine and growl,” Dr. Gogoleva adds, but in the face of real danger, the best way to communicate with mummy is with a shriek.


Foxes Communicating With Humans

Generally, foxes are fearful of humans and tend to use more aggressive calls, such as “snort, growl, moo and cough,” says Dr. Gogoleva. However, it’s not uncommon for some animals to adopt a tamer approach and use cackles and pants to show a more submissive behaviour.


Fox Calls Reflect Emotional Condition

Foxes express some of the most varied and complex calls in the canine kingdom. To further complicate the matter, “different animals use different calls in response to the same situation,” says Dr. Volodin, which reflects the animal’s emotional condition and aggressive nature. But despite having a large variety of calls, foxes communicate more with scents – they don’t make noises that often. So, what sounds do foxes make? Not very many.
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