Monday, August 27, 2007
Bat-eared Fox
The distribution of the bat-eared fox is divided into two populations, one from southern Zambia and Angola to South Africa, the other from Ethiopia and south Sudan to Tanzania.
Unlike most members of the canine family, these foxes eat primarily insects. Perhaps this is because their enormous ears are pointed out and down, and specifically adapted for hearing prey that live underground. They also have different teeth than most other canines; sharp, pointy and specialized for crunching insects. They can have up to 48 teeth in their mouth including and extra 4-8 molars.
They breed annually and are monogamous. Young are born in self dug dens after a gestation period of 60 days. The average litter size is 2-4 pups. Newborns are sparsely covered with gray underfur and change to adult coloring in 4-5 weeks. Considered full grown at 5-6 months. Males play a larger role than females in guarding, grooming and playing with the pups
Unlike most members of the canine family, these foxes eat primarily insects. Perhaps this is because their enormous ears are pointed out and down, and specifically adapted for hearing prey that live underground. They also have different teeth than most other canines; sharp, pointy and specialized for crunching insects. They can have up to 48 teeth in their mouth including and extra 4-8 molars.
They breed annually and are monogamous. Young are born in self dug dens after a gestation period of 60 days. The average litter size is 2-4 pups. Newborns are sparsely covered with gray underfur and change to adult coloring in 4-5 weeks. Considered full grown at 5-6 months. Males play a larger role than females in guarding, grooming and playing with the pups
# posted by saffron @ 8:27 AM 
