African Cape Fox Skull Replica

Description

African Cape Fox Skull Replica Information

African Cape fox skull replica measures 3.9 x 2.7 x 2.0 inches. African Cape fox skull is a museum-quality polyurethane resin cast from California Academy of Sciences specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). Made in USA.

The African Cape fox other names are asse fox, cama fox and silver-backed fox.

Description

• The ears are relatively large and sharp, the muzzle is small and pointed. Pelage color is silvery-gray, tawny at the back of the ears, with white hairs appearing around the side of the pinna in the center.
• The color of the neck and sides is lighter, and the underparts are pale tawny to pale buff.
• The head is dull red and the lower jaw is dark brown. There are white marks on the throat.
• The legs are more tawny than the rest of the body. The tail is dense and bushy, and can be silvery, pale fawn, buff with brown or black tips, or dull yellow. The tail tip is always black, and there’s a dark spot over the caudal gland.

Distribution and habitat

Cape fox is the only species in the genus Vulpes that exists in Africa south of the equator. It primarily occupies arid and semi-arid areas, but in sections, such as the fynbos biome of the western Cape Province of South Africa, the species reaches areas of higher rainfall and denser vegetation.

Behavior

The Cape fox is nocturnal and most active just before dawn or after dusk; it can be spotted during the early mornings and early evenings. During the day, it typically shelters in burrows underground, holes, hollows, or dense thickets.

It is an active digger that will excavate its own burrow, although it generally modifies an abandoned burrow of another species, such as the springhare, to its specific requirements.

Diet

Cape foxes are completely omnivorous and opportunists, feeding mainly on small mammals (such as rodents) and insects, but also commonly eating birds, small reptiles, carrion and fruits.

Other food items include: gerbils; field mice and other small rodents, hares, birds; bird nestlings and eggs, diverse vegetable material, including wild fruit, berries, seeds, roots, and tubers; lizards, insects, such as white ants, beetles and their larvae, and locusts.

Reproduction

During the breeding season, in southern hemisphere winter the months of July and August, monogamous pairs may occur, but the duration and persistence from year to year is not well known. Paired adults typically only have contact during the mating season, but mouth sniffing or nuzzling (“greeting”) occurs, as does body slamming.

Scientific Classification:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Carnivora
• Family: Canidae
• Genus: Vulpes
• Species: V. chama
• Binomial name: Vulpes chama (A Smith, 1833)
• Conservation status: Least concern (IUCN 3.1)

Complete your exhibit with our high-quality fennec fox skull, pale fox skull, and kit fox skull specimens. Shop for more museum-quality replicas in our fox and wolf replica store.