Classroom lesson · Wildlife · 🇦🇷 Argentina

Pampas fox - the dawn hunter

A small, clever fox that roams the grasslands of Argentina

A grey-brown pampas fox looking towards the camera on open ground

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Pampas fox is a small, light-grey fox that lives across the wide grasslands of Argentina, called the Pampas. They are roughly the size of a medium pet dog. Like most foxes, they are most active at dawn and dusk, when the light is low and the air is cool.

Tell me more

The Pampas are huge flat grasslands - so flat in places that you can see for kilometres in every direction. The Pampas fox has learned to use this landscape brilliantly. It moves quietly through the grass, almost invisible in its grey-brown coat, hunting mice, birds and insects.

They will eat almost anything they can find: small animals, fruit, eggs, leftover food. Scientists call this kind of animal 'opportunistic' - which is a clever way of saying 'will try most things'. Being flexible helps them survive in lots of different places.

Pampas foxes are also very curious. They are known for sometimes trotting close to a person who is sitting still, head tilted, watching with bright eyes. They aren't dangerous to people - they are just trying to work out what you are.

The cubs are born in spring, in a den that the parents dig together. The whole little family stays close for a few months before the young foxes head off on their own. By the time they are a year old, they are looking after themselves.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might being flexible about what you eat help an animal survive?
  2. 02Pampas foxes are most active at dawn and dusk. What does the world look like at those times? Why might it be a good time to hunt?
  3. 03Foxes turn up in stories from many cultures. Why do you think people often see them as clever?
Try this

Classroom activity

As a class, list every animal in the school grounds (or the local park) that comes out at different times of day - dawn, midday, dusk, night. Draw a 24-hour clock and mark when each one appears. Which group is busiest at dawn?

More about Argentina

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