The Steppe Families series

If the marmots are the respectable and peaceful citizens of the Kazakh steppe, then our heroes today are its acknowledged adventurers, spies, and masters of disguise. When the topic of foxes comes up, city dwellers immediately imagine the cunning Patrikeevna from fairy tales: bright red, with a bushy tail, creeping through the forest, from bush to bush, dreaming of breaking into the village chicken coop. But in our vast steppes, things are quite different. Here, the common fox shares territory with its amazing, miniature, and incredibly charismatic relative, the corsac fox. What is the difference between these two predators, and what family secrets do they hide? The red fox: a cunning steppe giant among its relatives. The red fox in our region is larger and more resilient than its forest relatives. To survive in the open steppe, where there's nowhere to hide, she had to become an excellent runner and strategist. Her red fur coat becomes incredibly thick and warm by winter, and her bushy tail serves not only as a decoration but also as a rudder on sharp turns while chasing hares. Her massive body allows her to easily extract rodents from beneath the thick snow crust. Upon hearing a mouse under the snow, she makes a high leap ("candle") and crashes with all her weight onto the crust, literally breaking it with her muzzle and forepaws. The small corsac fox weighs too little; she simply walks on the crust, hearing rodents but unable to dig them down. This difference in size gives the common fox a colossal survival advantage. A larger body loses heat more slowly. Where the corsac fox is forced to hide from snowstorms in marmot and badger burrows and starve, the large fox continues to patrol its domain. Corsac Fox: The "Little Prince" of the Steppe. The corsac fox is a truly unique feature of our steppes. If you encounter one on a tour with Aleboo, you're sure to fall in love. It's almost half the size of a common fox (weighing only 2-3 kg) and resembles a graceful little fox cub. It has short, grayish-ocher fur (perfect camouflage, matching the dry steppe grass), a light throat, and huge, sensitive locator ears. Wow fact: The corsac fox is a brilliant listener. With its large ears, it can detect the rustle of a steppe mouse's paws underground or deep under the snow from tens of meters away. Unlike the common fox, which is not averse to feasting on berries or bird eggs, the corsac fox is a medic, a professional predator. Its diet consists of small rodents, large insects, and the carcasses of dead animals. The corsac fox's family values are lifelong devotion. In terms of their personal lives, corsac foxes can give many wild animals a run for their money. While common foxes only form families for one season to raise their offspring, corsac foxes often form monogamous pairs for life. They are incredibly affectionate parents. In the spring, when the small, blind cubs hatch in the den, the male takes full responsibility for the family. He hunts around the clock and brings back prey to the young mother, who rarely leaves the den during this period. And when the cubs grow up, the parents together organize a "survival school" for them: they teach them how to camouflage themselves in the grass and how to silently sneak up on prey. Housing: Eternal Rivalry. Living in the open steppe without a secure shelter is impossible—golden eagles and sea eagles loom overhead, and winter brings icy storms. But here's the paradox: corsac foxes themselves dislike digging burrows and are very reluctant to do so. Therefore, the corsac fox is the steppe's leading "apartment raider." It expertly occupies abandoned (and sometimes inhabited) burrows of marmots or badgers. The common fox does the same, sparking a constant battle between them for the best underground square footage. The fox is stronger, but the corsac fox is smaller, more cunning, and can squeeze through narrow passages that a larger fox simply couldn't fit its head into. Although the common fox is stronger and more resilient in winter, the corsac fox has its own advantages: The corsac fox can go for months without water, obtaining it only from food. The common fox needs to drink more frequently or eat large quantities of snow. Corsac foxes often live in small groups and can keep each other warm in the most severe frosts, while the common fox is a strict solitary creature. Encounter with an underground heavyweight. But while the fox and the corsac fox can share empty marmot burrows, there is one animal in the Korgalzhyn thicket whose apartment they avoid in the outermost circle. He wears a striped "suit," has the character of a stern Siberian peasant, and builds veritable multi-story bunkers underground. And next door, in the reed thickets near the lakes, a veritable living tank blazes its trails, completely oblivious to any rules. In the next episode: The Underground Cleaner and the Reed Tank. How does a badger build its secret labyrinths and why is the Korgalzhyn wild boar the most fearless creature in the reeds? Stay alert, Aleboo's steppe chronicles are getting hotter!