CAPE FOX (Vulpes chama)

Photograph by “Laurie Sauterau”.

Cape fox are small, little-known animals which inhabit semi-desert scrub, open grassland with scattered thickets and open country. They are predominantly nocturnal and extremely difficult to observe, but can be seen during the cooler parts of the day, especially early morning and late afternoon.

Though they are not related to jackals, they have a similar diet (omnivorous) where their food mainly comprise of mice, insects and other invertebrates. Other food sources are birds and their eggs, small snakes, lizards and wild fruits.

Distribution in the sub-region is confined to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. There has been very few sightings in Zimbabwe.

Though their conservation status is of least concern and population said to be stable (they are not on the endangered list of International Union on the Conservation of Nature), sightings of these canids in our national parks throughout the sub-region are few and far between. Jackals and Bat-eared foxes, species with almost similar traits in habits, habitats and distribution are commonly seen.

It was one of those rare moments during a late afternoon game drive in the Etosha National Park when I spotted the Cape fox. The month was September, time was just after 18:00 hrs. I had never seen one before in the park, one can therefore imagine the interest generated to my guests and I. This animal, about 100 metres from the road was in a very clear, open space, until I reversed my car to have a better position for photographs, a very good sighting indeed. At that moment, it retreated into a thick acacia bush. Each time we aimed our cameras at it, it would turn its head away from us making it difficult to take clear shots. However, one of my guests, Laurie Sauterau managed to take random shots. I am very grateful to him that I have the honour to use one of his photographs with his consent.

While other canids of similar size (Jackals and Bat-eared fox) are known to be territorial and monogamous, Cape fox seem to be mainly solitary and maybe have small territories concentrated around den-sites. Having driven through the same area of the park countless times without seeing any, I am of the opinion that their territorial limits are confined to specific areas in wide home ranges in the park where drives are most likely not possible making it difficult to seen them often.

I therefore consider myself one of the very few lucky safari guides to have seen the Cape fox in the Etosha National Park.

CLASSIFICATION

KINGDOM                               -Animalia
PHYLUM                                 -Chordata (vertebrate)
CLASS                                     -Mammalia
ORDER                                    -Carnivora
FAMILY                                  -Canidae
GENUS                                    –Vulpes
SPECIES                                  –Vulpes chama
COMMON NAME                    – Cape fox