In the stories of Beatrix Potter, what kind of animal is Mr. Tod?

"The Tale of Mr. Tod" is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, first published in 1912. The tale is about a badger called Tommy Brock and his arch enemy Mr. Tod, a fox. Many of Potter's tales appealed to girls, but Mr. Tod had a strong following among boys, due perhaps to the lengthy fight at the end of the book accompanied by "dreadful bad language". The tale does source elements from the stories of Uncle Remus. There, both rabbits and foxes contend, but unlike the fox in Uncle Remus, the Potter fox is not particularly wily and the rabbits win, not by outsmarting the fox, but only because they enjoy a stroke of luck.

Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as those in "The Tale of Peter Rabbit".

Born into an upper-middle-class household and spent her holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, which she closely observed and painted.

Potter wrote thirty books; the best known being her children's tales. With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, in 1905 Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a village in the Lake District. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape. Potter died of pneumonia and heart disease on 22 December 1943 at her home in Near Sawrey at the age of 77.