Cape fox | |
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Adult feeding on a helmeted guineafowl in Etosha National Park | |
Cape fox kits | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Genus: | Vulpes |
Species: | V. chama
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Binomial name | |
Vulpes chama (A Smith, 1833)
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Cape fox range | |
Synonyms | |
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The Cape fox (Vulpes chama), also called the asse, cama fox or the silver-backed fox, is a small species of fox, native to southern Africa.[2] It is also called a South African version of a fennec fox due to its similarly big ears. It is the only "true fox" occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, and it retains primitive characteristics of Vulpes because it diverged early in the evolutionary history of the group.[3]