
This is the incredible moment a bushy-tailed fox jumped three feet into the air and nosedived into the snow, only to emerge moments later with a vole in its mouth.

Wildlife photographer Donald Jones captured the red fox's entire hunt, from listening out for its prey and jumping into the air to plunging deep into the snow to secure its next meal.

Mr Jones, of Troy, Montana, followed the fox for hours while it was hunting in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming - and this was the patient animal's first pounce.

Skilled hunter: The bushy-tailed red fox listens to its prey before leaping three feet into the air and plunging headfirst into the snow

Skilled: The clever red fox dives headfirst into the snow and lands with just its torso, hind legs and bushy tail visible from above

The 56-year-old said: 'He sat for a while and listened carefully, cocking his head and triangulating where the vole was feeding.

'It was exciting because I knew what was about to happen so I had to be sure to be perpendicular to the subject to keep it from jumping out of focus.

'It's a scene I have visualised many times but had never gotten.'

Foxes are skilled hunters and have excellent hearing which they use to listen out for prey under the snow, before they take aim and then dive for their food.

'He sat for a while and listened carefully, cocking his head and triangulating where the vole was feeding,' photographer Donald Jones said

Success: The red fox emerges from the snow in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, with a vole in its mouth at the end of its hunt

Mr Jones added: 'I followed the fox for about an hour or two with snowshoes and this is the only time he really made a pounce.

'What I'm proudest of is that I continued shooting so I got the whole sequence instead of just shooting the jump and getting excited to look at the images and missing him looking at me with the vole in his mouth.