Only two animals in the canid family can climb trees, and the gray fox is one of them. Using its short claws and strong muscles, the gray fox can climb a tree or other steep surface quickly. Gray foxes are extremely agile animals and use this ability to climb faster than predators to escape danger, or to catch prey animals before they can escape.
When confronted, a gray fox must choose between fighting or fleeing the situation. If the fox is not cornered, it will often choose to flee and find shelter in a den or up a tree. However, when forced to fight, the fox uses its hooklike claws and sharp teeth to kill its enemy. When threatened, a gray fox may growl in a similar way to a dog. When startled, they also issue a high-pitched barking noise.
Gray foxes are omnivores and exist on a diet of meat, berries, and vegetable matter. Small mammals such as rabbits and mice may try to escape from the gray fox underground, but the fox can dig after them. Birds and animals living in trees are not safe from the gray fox; it climbs easily after them. The gray fox hunts at dawn and dusk and avoids people, unless it finds a campground or trash can.
Gray foxes live in dens that they dig or in rock piles or dead logs. They use the den for shelter, safety and to give birth to their young. Both the male and female gray fox remain to care for their young when they are born, both hunting to provide for them. Baby gray foxes stay in their den until they are weaned at 6 months old. At 10 months they're sexually mature.