Carnivores: Aardwolf African Wild Cat African Wild Dog Banded Mongoose Bat Eared Fox Black-backed Jackal Brown Hyena Cape Clawless Otter Cape Fox Caracal Cheetah Civet Dhole Large Spotted Genet Golden Jackal Honey badger Jaguar Leopard African Lion Asiatic Lion Sand Cat Serval Side Striped Jackal Snow Leopard Spotted Hyena Striped Hyena Suricate (Meercat) Tiger White Tailed Mongoose Yellow Mongoose
Also known as Delalandes Fox
The bat eared fox also has a colloquial name in Afrikaans - Draaijakkal, which means Turning Jackal - a reference to its jackal-like appearance, and its ability to turn rapidly even when running at high speed.
The Bat eared fox is a small jackal-like carnivore. It is around 80 centimetres in length and the height to the shoulder is around 30-40cm. The Bat eared fox typically weighs 3-5Kg. The bat eared fox has large prominent ears, up to around 14cm long, and it is these prominent ears that resemble those of a bat that give the animal its name. The body is covered with a grey-brown fur, and the legs are dark. There is a light coloured band across the bat eared foxes forehead.
The Bat eared fox is active during both day and night, but in areas where they are persecuted they tend to become almost completely nocturnal. When active during the day, they tend to avoid activity in the hottest part of the day, reserving their activity for mornings and late afternoon when its slightly cooler. Bat eared foxes are good diggers and often dig prey out of holes. They do sometimes dig their own dens, but will often modify a disused burrow dug by an aardvark or other species. They are playful and agile and their ability to turn rapidly even at high speed has given rise to its Afrikaans colloquial name - Draaijakkals - the turning jackal.
Bat eared foxes are sometimes preyed on by larger predators such as Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena or large birds of prey. Bat eared foxes often suffer from the activities of the similar looking black backed jackals which often take farmers livestock, and this results in the farmers hunting and killing jackals and often killing bat eared foxes as well - especially when they hunt with dogs as these don't distinguish between a bat eared fox, an Aardwolf and a black backed jackal, even though neither the Aardwolf nor Bat Eared Fox is a threat to a farmers livestock.
Before each breeding season, couples locate a new den site near areas of good foraging (usually where there are plenty of termites - their preferred food choice). This means the den and home range can vary in location from year to year. Home ranges vary in size considerably from 25 - 350 hectares (0.25 - 3.5 km2), with varying degrees of overlap with other bat eared foxes home ranges. Population densities also vary considerably and can be as high as 28 foxes/km2 (72/mile2) but 3-20 per km2 is more typical
Bat eared foxes mainly prey on insects - especially termites, as well as scorpions, centipedes and other invertebrates. As well as insects, the bat eared fox also preys on mice and other rodents, and snakes. When hunting, the bat eared foxes excellent hearing enables it to locate prey, even if the prey is underground. Once the prey is located, the fox will then dig the prey up.
Bat eared foxes mate for the long term - often for life, and breed annually, and give birth around the start of the annual rains, which is when the insect population is at its highest, thus ensuring a good food supply. The gestation period is around 60 days, and the female gives birth to between 2 and 6 young per litter. The young emerge from the den at around 2-3 weeks old, by which time only 2 or 3 of the litter have survived. Up to the age of 15 weeks, the young are fed only milk, and after this time they eat the same as the adults. The pups are at full adult size by the time they are 4-6 months old. Several females sometimes share a den, and when this happens the pups are cared for and suckled by all the lactating females. The male bat eared fox helps care for and protect the young.
Bat eared foxes are found in open savannah, grassland, scrub areas, lightly wooded areas and farmland. They are generally absent from desert areas and forests.
There are two distinct populations of bat eared foxes - one in Southern Africa, and the other in East Africa. The Southern Africa population is spread across Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and parts of Angola, Zambia and Mozambique. The East Africa population covers Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia.
© Predator Conservation Trust.
