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The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat and listen for underground prey.
Carnivores include the fennec fox, least weasel, Saharan striped polecat, Egyptian mongoose, striped hyena and Mediterranean monk seal; wild cats include the caracal, wildcat and sand cat. [8] Smaller mammals include cape hares, crested porcupines, ground squirrels, gerbils, jirds, jerboas, rats and mice.
Vulpes is a genus of the sub-family Caninae.The members of this genus are colloquially referred to as true foxes, meaning they form a proper clade.The word "fox" occurs in the common names of all species of the genus, but also appears in the common names of other canid species.
Juvenile red foxes are known as kits. Males are called tods or dogs, females are called vixens, and young are known as cubs or kits. [14] Although the Arctic fox has a small native population in northern Scandinavia, and while the corsac fox's range extends into European Russia, the red fox is the only fox native to Western Europe, and so is simply called "the fox" in colloquial British English.
The fennec fox's large ears help keep it cool: when the blood vessels dilate, blood from the body cycles in and dissipates over the expanded surface area. [1]A xerocole (from Greek xēros / ˈ z ɪ r oʊ s / 'dry' and Latin col(ere) 'to inhabit'), [2] [3] [4] is a general term referring to any animal that is adapted to live in a desert.
The Cape fox (Vulpes chama), also called the asse, cama fox or the silver-backed fox, is a small species of fox, native to southern Africa. [2] It is also called a South African version of a fennec fox due to its similarly big ears.
Kruuk (1972) observed that four red foxes killed 230 black-headed gulls in one night in a single colony at the Cumberland coast while fewer than 3% of the gulls showed any sign of being eaten. The greater noctule bat is believed to predate small migrating birds on the wing in the skies of Southern Europe.
A mesopredator is a predator that occupies a mid-ranking trophic level in a food web. [1] There is no standard definition of a mesopredator, but mesopredators are usually medium-sized carnivorous or omnivorous animals, such as raccoons, foxes, or coyotes. [2] [3] They are often defined by contrast from apex predators or prey in a particular ...