Talk:Bat-eared fox/Archive 1

Archive 1

January 2010

Welcome to Wikipedia. One or more of the external links you added in this edit to the page Bat-eared Fox do not comply with our guidelines for external links and have been removed. Wikipedia is not a collection of links; nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. You may wish to read the introduction to editing. Thank you. Throwaway85 (talk) 10:46, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Hi, you removed an external link from this article, pointing out that WP is not a collection of links (I agree, and since this is the ONLY link in the article, I don't see how it can be regarded as a collection) also that WP should not "be used for advertising or promotion" (which this link does not do....). I think the site is very useful for depicting skull shapes. Could you explain why you find the link offensive? cheers Androstachys (talk) 12:47, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

I agree that an image of the skull is a good idea, but think the Mammalian Species link I now added is preferable to your link, because it gives more views of the skull and in general more information. Ucucha 22:08, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Content from Bat-eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis)

Note: The recently created article Bat-eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis) is a needless dupliocation of an existing article. However, there is some new content, so I've copied and pasted the entirety here so that it can be incorporated into the existing content. --Animalparty-- (talk) 06:05, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) is a Canid found in regions of Africa. It got its name from its large, bat-like ears, which are used for thermoregulation. The head, dorsum, and upper part of the legs of the bat-eared fox are grey. The chest and underside vary from pale to honey yellow. It also has black coloring on the back portion of the ears, parts of the tail, and the facial mask. Size ranges 460-660mm (head and body) and the size of ears range 113-115mm in length.

Range and Distribution

There are two allopatric populations in Africa. One is the Otocyon megalotis virgatus, which occurs from Ethiopia and southern Sudan to Tanzania. The other population, Otocyon megalotis megalotis, occurs in the southern part of Africa. It ranges from southern Zambia and Angola to South Africa; and extends as far east as Mozambique and Zimbabwe, spreading into the Cape Peninsula and toward Cape Agulhas. Home ranges vary in size from 0.3 to 3.5 km2.

Habitat

The bat-eared fox is most common in short grass habitats and the savanna in arid and semiarid regions. It prefers bare ground and areas where grass is kept short by grazing ungulates. They tend to forage in these short grass and low shrub habitats. However, they do venture into areas with tall grasses and thick shrubs to hide when threatened. When there is high winds and low temperatures, it rests in vegetation or self-dug dens. It also modifies existing holes and lies under acacia trees in South Africa to seek shade during the day.

Behavior

The bat-eared fox is a highly social animal. They often live in pairs or groups of up to 15 individuals, and home ranges of groups either overlap substantially or very little. Individuals in a forage, play, and rest together in a group, which helps in protection against predators. Social grooming occurs throughout the year mostly between mature adults, but also between young adults and mature adults.

Visual displays are very important in communication among bat-eared foxes. When they are looking intently at something, the head is held high, eyes are open, ears are erect and facing forward, and the mouth is closed. When an individual is in fear or showing submission, the ears are pulled back and lying against the head and the head is low. The tail also plays a role in communication. When an individual is asserting dominance or aggression, feeling threatened, playing, or being sexually aroused the tail is arched in an inverted U shape. Individuals can also use piloerection, which occurs when individual hairs are standing straight, to make it appear larger when faced with extreme threat. When running, chasing or fleeing the tail is straight and horizontal. The bat-eared fox can recognize individuals up to 30m away. The recognition process has three steps: First they ignore the individual, then they stare intently, and finally they either approach or attack without displays. When greeting another, the approaching individual shows symbolic submission which is received by the other individual with a high head and tail down. Few vocalizations are used for communication, but contact calls and warning calls are used, mostly during the winter. Glandular secretions and scratching, other than for digging, are absent in communication.

Feeding and Foraging

The bat-eared fox is primarily insectivorous with harvester termites making up 80-90% of its diet. Other than termites; the bat-eared fox consumes other termite species, ants, beetles, crickets, birds, small mammals, and reptiles. Individuals consume birds and decaying flesh not because of preference, but because of advantageous opportunity.

The morphology of the bat-eared fox is modified to its prey. The lower jaw has a step-like protrusion called the subangular process, which anchors the large muscle to allow for rapid chewing. The digastric muscle is also modified to open and close the jaw 5 times per second. The bat-eared fox refuses to feed on snouted harvester termites, likely because it is not adapted to tolerate the termites’ chemical defense.

Individuals usually forage in groups, mostly in pairs and also in groups of three. Individuals forage as singles after family groups break in June or July and during the months after cub birth. Prey is located primarily via auditory means, rather than via smell or sight. Foraging patterns vary between seasons and coincide with termite availability. In the midsummer, individuals begin foraging at sunset, continuing throughout the night, and fades into the early morning; whereas, foraging is almost exclusively diurnal during the winter. Foraging usually occurs in patches, which match the clumped prey resources, such as termite colonies, in patches. Groups are able to forage on clumps of prey in patches because they do not fight each other for food due to their degree of sociality and lack of territoriality.

Reproduction

The bat-eared fox usually forms socially monogamous pairs; however, polygyny and allopatry have been observed. Breeding is seasonal, coinciding with heavier rainfall and high insect density. The male and female both raise the young, with the male guarding the den and the female foraging for food. Food that is foraged is not brought back to the pups or regurgitated to feed the pups; instead it is used to maintain the female’s milk production, which the pups heavily depend on.

Pups in the Kalahari region are born September-November and those in the Botswana region are born October-December. Young bat-eared foxes disperse and leave their family groups at 5-6 months old and reach sexual maturity at 8-9 months.

Conservation Status and Threats

The bat-eared fox has some commercial use for humans. They are important for harvester termite population control, as the termites are considered pests of the rangeland. They have also been hunted for the fur to be turned into pelts by Botswana natives. Additional threats to populations include disease and drought that can harm populations of prey; however, there are no major threats to bat-eared fox populations.

References

Anatomy

From the Dentition section: "The lower jaw has a step-like protrusion called the subangular process, which anchors the large muscle to allow for rapid chewing". I'm assuming the subangular process is a modified angular process located in a more superior position(?) Without a picture of this structure, this sentence is of little use to a layperson unless it's reworded in very basic terms. If a photo cannot be included, perhaps the phrasing could be reworded to something along the lines of "a spur-like protrusion on the back of each mandible, immediately under where the jaw hinges to the skull". – Down time (talk) 17:37, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

common names

"Cape fox" is listed as one of the alternate common names in the lead paragraph. Is this correct? There is another species of fox called the cape fox (Vulpes chama) that is native to the same region as the bat-earred fox in southern Africa. Do two animals native to the same area, Otocyon megalotis and Vulpes chama, actually share a common name? If so, this needs to be mentioned in the article. The wordage in question needs to be changed to "...The bat-eared fox is also referred to as the big-eared fox, black-eared fox, Delalande’s fox, and the cape fox. This species is not to be confused with Vulpes chama which is also known as the cape fox and is native to the same region. The bat-eared fox has tawny fur ....[etc.]" – Down time (talk) 22:08, 21 April 2018 (UTC)