Cape fox

Cape fox
Adult feeding on a helmeted guineafowl in Etosha National Park
Cape fox kits
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Vulpes
Species:
V. chama
Binomial name
Vulpes chama
(A Smith, 1833)
Cape fox range
Synonyms
  • caama (C. E. H. Smith, 1839)
  • hodsoni (Noack, 1910)
  • variegatoides (Layard, 1861)

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]

  1. ^ Hoffmann, M. (2014). "Vulpes chama". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T23060A46126992. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T23060A46126992.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 532–628. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ Child MF, Roxburgh L, Do Linh San E, Raimondo D, Davies-Mostert HT (2016). The red list of mammals of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho (Report). South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute and Endangered Wildlife Trust.