Rescued Wild 'Siblings' Turn Out To Be Completely Different Species

A few days ago, a wildlife sanctuary in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, rescued two babies who look like they were born in the same litter but are actually completely different species.

The two fox pups were around the same age at the time of their rescue — 3 weeks or so — and their features are almost identical, but one’s a red fox and the other is a gray fox. At first glance, you might not notice a difference, but there’s one distinct trait that sets them apart.

“You know how to tell? The tip of the tail …” Newhouse Wildlife Rescue (NWR) wrote in a post.

You can see the two pups side by side here:

Just like the fox pups’ appearance, their rescue stories are almost identical, with one key difference.

A few days ago, NWR received a call about a tiny baby fox who was found alone and crying underneath a shed. The homeowners hoped, at first, that the pup’s mom would come back, but a couple of days later, they came to the difficult conclusion that she was gone.

NWR partnered up with Billerica & Tewksbury Animal Control (BTAC) to coordinate the rescue, which ultimately took a few hours. When they were finally able to pull the fox kit out from under the shed safely, they could tell right away that she had been alone for a while.

“[It] was evident that she had been on her own for a while,” NWR wrote in a Facebook post announcing the fox’s rescue. “She is very thin and dehydrated … I don’t know what happened to her family, and it breaks my heart to hear her cry for them.”

Just like with all their rescues, NWR was instantly dedicated to nursing the red fox pup back to health. They started her on fluids that night, and by the following morning, she was already feeling much better.

“Our 3-week-old orphaned fox kit is feeling much better this morning now that she is hydrated and has been able to have some formula,” NWR wrote in an update post on Facebook. “Despite all she has been through, she is doing well this morning.”

A few nights after her rescue, NWR’s veterinarian, Dr. Vasilakis, stopped by to check on the baby fox. While Dr. Vasilakis was looking her over, another baby fox almost identical to the first was brought into the sanctuary.

The experienced rescue team at NWR spotted the difference between the two pups right away. The red fox kit they’d rescued a few days ago had a white tip on her tail, while the gray fox kit didn’t. But there was something else that made the second baby fox’s case stand out. Whereas the first baby was very skinny and obviously abandoned, this baby seemed to be well fed.

“This one looked very healthy to us, so we aren’t convinced [she’s] truly been orphaned,” NWR wrote on Facebook. “Our first fox kit was very underweight and dehydrated when we rescued her. This one was well hydrated and was a healthy weight for [her] age.”

Because the second baby fox was found in such good condition, the rescue team says there’s a chance that her family’s still out there. They’re currently working with BTAC to look for possible dens. They hope they can locate her family.

“We are working with the finders, who are willing to do whatever is necessary to help,” NWR wrote in a Facebook post. “The best place for these kits is always with their family,” they added in another.

As of now, the two fox pups are still at NWR receiving the care they need to grow and thrive. Because they’re different species, they don’t naturally cohabitate together, so their caregivers are keeping them apart.

For now, they’ll keep soaking up the love they’re getting from their dedicated friends at NWR while continuing to puzzle the internet with their seemingly identical appearance.