What Sound Does a Fox Make? Screams, Barks and Gekkering

A wide vocal range

The red fox is the fox most people in Europe and North America hear, and it has a large vocal repertoire. Its calls span about five octaves and blend into one another. Researchers studying recordings have described around a dozen distinct sounds made by adults and several more made by cubs (also called kits).

Biologists group most fox sounds into two kinds. Contact calls help foxes keep in touch over distance. Interaction calls are used at close range, when foxes greet, play, court or fight, and they change with the level of excitement or aggression.

The fox scream

The sound that startles most people is the scream, a long, single wail that rises and falls and may be repeated several times. It is usually written as “waaaah”. It is heard mainly during the breeding season in winter, and it is thought to be made mostly by vixens (female foxes) calling to attract males, although dog foxes (males) can make similar calls.

In towns and suburbs, where red foxes are common, the scream regularly leads people to call the police or emergency services, convinced that a person is being attacked. In reality, the fox is simply advertising its presence in the darkest months of the year.

Barks and the contact call

The most common fox call is the contact bark, a series of three to five quick, hoarse yaps, often described as “wow-wow-wow”. Each fox’s bark sounds slightly different, and foxes can probably recognize each other’s voices. Two foxes approaching each other in the dark may bark back and forth. In Britain this call is heard most from December to February, and it can be confused with the hooting of tawny owls.

The alarm bark is different. When a fox senses danger, such as a person, a dog or a predator, it gives a single sharp bark at a distance or a soft, muffled cough when the danger is close. Vixens use it to warn their cubs to hide.

What is gekkering?

Gekkering is a harsh, stuttering, rattling noise, a little like a ratchet or a series of throaty clicks. Foxes make it when they are excited or aggressive, especially in face-to-face encounters with other foxes. You may hear it during territorial fights between rival males, when a vixen rejects an unwanted male, or when young foxes play-fight in summer.

Gekkering usually comes with dramatic body language: foxes stand on their hind legs, push each other with their front paws, open their mouths wide and arch their backs. It looks and sounds violent, but most of these encounters end without serious injury.

Whines, growls and cub sounds

When foxes greet one another, they make high-pitched whines and whimpers, especially a lower-ranking fox approaching a dominant one. A submissive fox may also give a wavering, siren-like shriek. When threatened, foxes growl, hiss with their mouths open and make a sharp “huff”.

Cubs are noisy from an early age. They make warbling whimpers while nursing, which get louder when they are hungry or unhappy, and they squeak and squabble while playing outside the den in spring. Adults greet their cubs with soft, gruff huffing sounds.

When are foxes noisiest?

Red foxes are most vocal during the mating season. In Europe and most of North America, this runs mainly from December to February, peaking in January. That is when screams and contact barks are heard most often, because foxes are establishing territories and looking for mates.

Most fox calls are heard at night, because red foxes are mainly active from dusk to dawn, especially where people are around. Sound also travels well on still, cold winter nights. In spring and summer, foxes are much quieter, apart from the squeaks and gekkering of cubs at play.

Other foxes and their voices

Other fox species have voices too. Arctic foxes bark, yelp and scream much like red foxes, and fennec foxes in the Sahara make yaps, purr-like sounds and whimpers. The gray fox of North America has a harsher, more yapping bark.

Foxes do not have a true group howl like wolves or coyotes. If you want to compare, see why do wolves howl? and why do coyotes howl?. And if you are curious about which animals make the most noise of all, browse our list of the loudest animals in the world.