Rüppell's Fox
Encyclopedia
Rüppell's fox also spelled Rueppell's fox and also called the sand fox, is a species of fox
living in North Africa
and the Middle East
, from Morocco
and the Sahel
region to the Afghanistan
hills. and SW Pakistan
It is named after the German collector Eduard Rüppell
. Rüpell's fox is also called the sand fox, but this terminology is confusing because the corsac fox
(Vulpes corsac) and the Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata) are also known as the "sand fox".
It has an average life expectancy of up to 6 or 7 years in the wild, but can live much longer in captivity.
, and is considerably smaller than the red fox
. It is sandy in color and has black patches on the muzzle
, as well as a white tipped tail. Rüppell's fox has fur
on the pads on its feet, that possibly helps distribute their weight and move easily on sand, and definitely keeps the hot sand from burning their feet. Similar to other desert
dwelling foxes, Rüppell's fox has massive ears to cool it off. The tail is long and bushy. These features make Rüppell's fox look almost like a large fennec fox.
as well as to spray unwanted predators, similar to the behavior of the skunk
. The female Rüppell's fox uses her scent glands to mark the cubbing den. Another use for the scent glands is that the foxes use them to greet each other. Rüppell's fox can bark, in a way similar to a dog
.
Around mating season, Rüppell's fox travels in monogamous groups, or a male and a female, but after breeding season, the fox reportedly moves in family groups of 3-15 individuals. One animal occupies about 50-69 square kilometers of territory
, though the male's territory is larger than that of the female's. Rüppell's fox is nocturnal and gregarious. The animals change dens often, and will abandon a den if there is a dangerous disturbance in the area. Most dens are dug under rocks, or under trees.
Rüppell's fox was pushed to living in the desert biome
due to competition with its larger cousin, the red fox. It is known as being an extremely good survivor. Rüppell's fox's only predators are the Steppe Eagle
and the Eagle Owl.
r. It is an omnivore
, and will eat almost anything that crosses its path. Mostly, it is an insectivore
, but its diet also consists of tubers and roots, as well as small mammal
s, reptile
s, egg
s, and arachnid
s.
animals in Arabia, including chicken
s, lamb
s, and young goat
s.
.
), dedicated a postal stamps issue to Rüppell's fox on May 1, 2008. The issue is made of a set of four stamps printed in minisheet of two sets. The issue was completed with a special First day of issue
Cover having a special postmark.
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
living in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and the Sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
region to the Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
hills. and SW Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
It is named after the German collector Eduard Rüppell
Eduard Rüppell
Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell was a German naturalist and explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet....
. Rüpell's fox is also called the sand fox, but this terminology is confusing because the corsac fox
Corsac Fox
The corsac fox , also known as the steppe fox, is a medium sized Asiatic fox species found throughout the central steppes of Asia. It is sometimes referred to as the "sand fox", but this terminology is confusing because two other species, the Tibetan sand fox and Rüppell's fox are also sometimes...
(Vulpes corsac) and the Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata) are also known as the "sand fox".
It has an average life expectancy of up to 6 or 7 years in the wild, but can live much longer in captivity.
Description
Rüppell's fox is 40-52 centimeters (15.75-20.5 inches) long and has an average weight of 1.7 kilograms (3.75 lbs). It is a very small canineCanidae
Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...
, and is considerably smaller than the red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
. It is sandy in color and has black patches on the muzzle
Snout
The snout, or muzzle, is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw.-Terminology:The term "muzzle", used as a noun, can be ambiguous...
, as well as a white tipped tail. Rüppell's fox has fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
on the pads on its feet, that possibly helps distribute their weight and move easily on sand, and definitely keeps the hot sand from burning their feet. Similar to other desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
dwelling foxes, Rüppell's fox has massive ears to cool it off. The tail is long and bushy. These features make Rüppell's fox look almost like a large fennec fox.
Behavior
Rüppell's fox relies on scent glands for many activities. It uses them to mark territoriesTerritory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
as well as to spray unwanted predators, similar to the behavior of the skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
. The female Rüppell's fox uses her scent glands to mark the cubbing den. Another use for the scent glands is that the foxes use them to greet each other. Rüppell's fox can bark, in a way similar to a dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
.
Around mating season, Rüppell's fox travels in monogamous groups, or a male and a female, but after breeding season, the fox reportedly moves in family groups of 3-15 individuals. One animal occupies about 50-69 square kilometers of territory
Territory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
, though the male's territory is larger than that of the female's. Rüppell's fox is nocturnal and gregarious. The animals change dens often, and will abandon a den if there is a dangerous disturbance in the area. Most dens are dug under rocks, or under trees.
Rüppell's fox was pushed to living in the desert biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
due to competition with its larger cousin, the red fox. It is known as being an extremely good survivor. Rüppell's fox's only predators are the Steppe Eagle
Steppe Eagle
The Steppe Eagle is a bird of prey. It is about in length and has a wingspan of . Females, weighing 2.3–4.9 kg , are slightly larger than males, at 2–3.5 kg . Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae...
and the Eagle Owl.
Diet
Rüppell's fox is a solitary forageForage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
r. It is an omnivore
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
, and will eat almost anything that crosses its path. Mostly, it is an insectivore
Insectivore
An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....
, but its diet also consists of tubers and roots, as well as small mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s, and arachnid
Arachnid
Arachnids are a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs, although in some species the front pair may convert to a sensory function. The term is derived from the Greek words , meaning "spider".Almost all extant arachnids are terrestrial...
s.
Reproduction
The female Rüppell's fox has a gestation period of around 51–53 days. She has 2-3 kits, and each are born blind. They are weaned at 6–8 weeks of age. They are born underground, to protect them from predators.Interaction with Humans
For about 100 years, Rüppell's fox has been treated like a pest. Rüppell's fox preys on many livestockLivestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
animals in Arabia, including chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, lamb
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
s, and young goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s.
Conservation status
Rüppell's fox has no conservation status as of now, for it is too hard to estimate the actual numbers. As such, the IUCN lists them as Data DeficientData Deficient
Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN, other agencies, and individuals to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made...
.
Subspecies
There are five subspecies of this fox:- Vulpes rueppellii rueppelli
- Vulpes rueppellii caesia
- Vulpes rueppellii cyrenaica
- Vulpes rueppellii sabaea
- Vulpes rueppellii zarudneyi
Rüppell's fox in philately
The Libyan Posts (General Posts and Telecommunications Company, GPTC) in cooperation with WWF (World Wide Fund for NatureWorld Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
), dedicated a postal stamps issue to Rüppell's fox on May 1, 2008. The issue is made of a set of four stamps printed in minisheet of two sets. The issue was completed with a special First day of issue
First day of issue
A First Day of Issue Cover or First Day Cover is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or...
Cover having a special postmark.
