Bat-eared Fox

• sentidosIt has the largest ears for its size of any canid, tuned to pick up insects moving underground — its main food.
• It has between 46 and 50 teeth, more than almost any other land mammal: three upper and four lower molars on each side, against the two and three of other canids.
• A single individual can eat as many as 1.15 million harvester termites a year.
• The male spends as much time as the mother or more caring for, grooming and playing with the pups, which is exceptional among canids.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)

Habitat & environment

Short-grass savannah and arid scrub of eastern and southern Africa, wherever termites and beetles are plentiful. It digs burrows with several entrances and chambers, and sometimes reuses abandoned termite mounds

Gestation / incubation

60 - 70 days

Litter / clutch size

2-6 pups, with one litter a year

Lifespan in captivity

An individual caught in the wild reached about 17 years in captivity (Weigl 2005, via AnAge)

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List (e.T15642A46123809); Animal Diversity Web; Clark 2005, Mammalian Species 766; AnAge (Weigl 2005); San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance; Estes 1991, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals

Best time: All year round; its activity pattern shifts with the season, more diurnal in winter and more nocturnal in summer