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.