Owing to its beautiful coat and bushy tail, which can be fiery red, steely gray or snow-white, the wild fox has held a special place in our hearts since time immemorial as a beautiful and mysterious woodland creature. These 22 wildlife photography pieces will make you fall in love with the cute animals all over again.

The common red woodland fox that most of us know is undoubtedly beautiful, but this cunning creature has managed to adapt to diverse climates throughout the world. The fennec fox of the Sahara desert and kit fox in the southwest U.S. both sport larger ears that help them stay cool in the desert, while the arctic fox has a thick and snow-white insulated coat and small ears that help it retain its body heat.

The fox is a member of the Canidae family, which also includes dogs, wolves, and other similar animals. After 50 years of breeding experimentation in the Soviet Union, they’ve also provided us with extraordinary insight into the domestication process. Over several generations of selective breeding (by choosing foxes with less fear of humans), Soviet scientist Dmitry Belyaev was able to breed silver foxes that began to exhibit domestic animal traits like tail wagging.

No matter how each fox looks, however, their wide range ensures that they have become elements of local folklore around the world. Various cultures throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, consider the fox to be a cunning and sly creature that often plays the part of the trickster in folktales and myths.

Don’t forget to scroll below for the beautiful fox pictures! As playful as the baby foxes are, you’ll find that images of foxes fully-grown show the intelligence in their appearance so favorited in the folklore.

Image credits: Roeselien Raimond

Image credits: Kai Fagerström

Image credits: Julie Milne



Image credits: Wenda Atkin

Image credits: Igor Shpilenok

Image credits: Igor Shpilenok

Image credits: Roeselien Raimond

Image credits: Edwin Kats

Image credits: Einar Gudmann

Image credits: Roeselien Raimon

Image credits: Jim Cumming

Image credits: Remo Savisaar

Image credits: Francisco Mingorance

Image credits: Igor Shpilenok

Image credits: William Doran

Image credits: Ivan Kislov

Image credits: Dan Dinu

Image credits: Robert Adamec

Image credits: Micheal Eastman

Image credits: Edwin Kats