English Name:
-common zorro, Crab-eating fox, Savanna fox (7 varieties)
other names
-Ger: Waldfuchs, Savannenfuchs, Krabbenfuchs
-Fr: Renard crabier
Group
-Atelocynus
Lathin Name:
-Cerdocyon thous
-Cerdocyon thous aquilus
appearance:
-Shape and size schakallike. Fur short,dense, yellow-brown, downside
lighned, dominated by gray, brown, and black shades. However, coloring
and markings vary widely
-Broad skull with vaulted forehead; gray-brown fur; black longitudinal
stripe on upper side of the tail.
-as large as the red fox, but somewhat more compact than the central-European
fox.
-Differences in scull-shape, toothing and building of legs in comparison with der Southam. foxes
-Body length: 26 in; 65 cm
-Tail length: 11.6 in; 29 cm
-Shoulder height: 16 in; 40 cm
-Weight: 11-18 lb; 5-8 kg
Geographic Range:
-Eastern Southamerika from Venazuela and Kolumbia to Norhtargentinia
and Uruguay.
-Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, eastern and southern Brazil, southeastern
Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina
Habitat:
-Active at twilight and nocturnally; found in dense grasslands and bush,
open wooded areas, and on river balnks; territory 0.7-0.7 mi2 (1-2 km2)
-With the exception of very open terrain, dense jungles, and mountaionuos
regins, the crab-eating fox occurs in all types of South American habitats
such as bush, semi-open savannas, forests that are not too dense, gallery
forests, the banks of ponds and rivers and tropic and subtropic woods.
Behaviour:
Activity: from late afternoon to midnight; activity during the day is
limited by the heat throughout the range
- The male participates in the rearing of the young.
-The parents bring quarry home to the young, who beg by licking and poing
the parents' snouts, particularily at the corners of the mouth.
-For a time, the parents and their offspring comprise a family pack.
- Hiding places and lairs are established in bushes or dense grass; lairs
in the grass have several entrances.
-Nothing is known about caverns that they dig for themselves, but they
make use of dens abandoned by other animals. Depositories of feces are
found near the lairs.
-Hunting methods are adapted to the type of quarry. When they hear a vertebrate
approaching, the crab-eating foxes stop, orient themselves carefully, and
then pounce. The quarry is grabbed by the front paws and the snout and
shaken to death. Shrimp and insects, are taken directly into the mouth;
insects that move quickly are held down bt the forepaws. Crab-eating foxes
hunt alone or in pairs; joint hunting is favored among parents during the
whelping season. When the hunting is good, food is stored: Under such circumstances,
the animals dig holes with their forepaws, cover the food with dirt, and
smooth the site over with their snouts.
-Their repertory of sounds includes growling, barking and a siren-like
howling which is a sound that is often employed by pairs that have lost
contact.
-When they find each other again, they greet each other with an erect tail,
sniffing and licking each other's faces.
-Other modes of communication include tail-wagging, rolling over onto the
back, laying the ears flat, and standing with forepaws on the other's back.
-The marking with urine by members of both sexes is somewhat unusual. The
males do so in the normal canine way; the bitches raising a hind led and
moving it forward. In this way scent trails are laid, which help the partners
find each other.
Reproduction
-Data on its reproductive season are not consistent
-Gestation period: 62 days
-litter size: 2-5
-births in January and February as well as in July and August (These variations
might be related to dietary conditions, climate, or geographic distribution)
-Under human care, two births per year are certainly possible, but this
has not been demonstrated in the wild
-Weaning: About 3 months
-Sexual maturity: 9 months
Food Habits:
-Fruits, insects, crabs, amphibians, lizards, rodents
-fruits, insects, crabs, frogs, lizards, turtle eggs, small rodents, carrion,
occasional dimesticated fowl and refuse from human settlements.
-Diet varies with the seasons. Thus, during the rainy season in Venezuela,
it may consist of 54% insects and 20% vertebrates, and in the dry season
it may contain 48% vertebrates, 31% crabs, and 16% insects.
Specialities :
-
others :
--Crab-eating foxes can readily be kept and bred without difficulty.
Indians often do so.
-Unfortunately, these animals are often hunted, altough the fur has almost
no value.
- General Info about all
Wood(?)-foxes
Links :
Cerdocyon thous - The University of Michigan - Museum of Zoology - Animal Diversity Web.