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Bat-eared Fox
(Latin = Otocyon megalotis, Afrikaans = Bakoorvos/Draaijakkals, German = Löffelhund)

Numbers: Fairly high

Weight > 3 - 5 kg

6 - 11 lb.

Shoulder height> 30 cm

12 in.

Pregnancy time : 60 days

Pup quantity : 4 - 6

Found everywhere in South Africa’s central and western parts (including the western half of the Free State), but avoids most mountainous and all coastal areas. It is found nowhere in any of the eastern parts, but is found all along the Northern Province’s northern borderlines.

This little fox isn’t in the cattle raging business. It feeds on termites, locusts, beetles, bird’s eggs and other insects, small reptiles or wild fruits. It doesn’t have teeth like the carnivores and was often, for this reason, captured when small, to serve as pets. Of course, their ears are its main sense of survival and it is said that it can distinguish between different sounds of underground termites! It loves to walk and work in small groups. It also falls prey to skin hunters for their soft furry skins. It has often survived a skin hunt by doubling back to its own spoor (all at great speed) and thus confusing the hunters and their dogs, earning him the title as the “turnback fox” in Afrikaans (eg. The “Draaijakkals”).