The legs tend to be brownish or rufous,[3] and the underparts light, a pale sand or ginger shade.

[3] The genus Vulpes can be separated from Canis and Cuon in the Indian region by the flat forehead between the postorbital processes and not inflated by air cells.

[8] The Bengal Fox is endemic to the Indian subcontinent, ranging from the Himalayan foothills and Terai of Nepal through the South portion of the Indian Peninsula (but the western and east Ghats are not included) and from southern and eastern Pakistan to eastern India and southeastern Bangladesh.

[3] It is relatively widespread in low rainfall areas where the vegetation is usually scrub, thorn or dry deciduous forests, or short grasslands.

[9] Bengal foxes are predominantly crepuscular and nocturnal; while individuals may sometimes become active during cool periods of daytime, they typically spend warmer daylight hours under vegetation or in subterranean dens.

Less common prey items include ground lizards, oriental rat snake (Ptyas mucosa), Madras hedgehog (Paraechinus nudiventris) and Indian hare (Lepus nigricollis).

[6] The Bengal fox does not appear to have latrine behaviour, a feature seen in some social canids, in which all members defecate at specific spots.

Bengal foxes are thought to form long-term monogamous pairs, but this supposition is based on scarce evidence[13] and extra-pair copulations are known to occur.

[13] Throughout most of its range, the mating season occurs in December to January and after a gestation period of around 50–53 days, two to four pups are born in a den.

Aggregations of grown foxes at den sites have been recorded when the dispersal has been delayed, although the presence of helpers has not been observed.

[15] While the Bengal fox is common, it usually occurs at low densities across its range, and populations may experience significant fluctuations due to prey abundance and disease (canine distemper virus and rabies,[16] which have been confirmed to cause local population declines in western India).

For example, in southern India, less than 2% of potential Indian fox habitat is covered under the existing protected area network of the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh .

[17] Hunting for its skin and flesh, as well as conversion of its grassland habitat to agriculture, industry, and increasingly bio-fuel plantations, have affected its population density.