Missing video
Sorry, this video could not be found.
Pretty, playful foxes that love the nightlife
Bat-eared foxes
The bat-eared fox, a member of the Shy 5
© Chris Marais
Did you know?
Bat-eared foxes have 9 different calls, ranging from whistles to chirps, hisses, growls, yaps and woofs.
Early on a winter’s morning in the Karoo or Kalahari, or even in the late afternoon, you may be lucky enough to encounter a bat-eared fox.
They are unmistakable, with their outsized Mickey Mouse ears, robber masks and fluffy tails.
Usually travelling in little groups of 2 or 3, trotting on neat black legs, these nocturnal animals use their massive dish-antennae ears to locate the faint stirrings in the earth that might indicate juicy beetle larvae.
Like aardwolves, also members of the Shy 5 (which also includes the meerkat, the aardvark and the porcupine), these strange foxes mostly eat insects.
They’ll lap up harvester termites wherever they can find them, but also are swift diggers, even through the hardest soil. And they certainly won’t turn down a mouse or a lizard, pouncing on them with relish.
They don’t only dig for their food – they’ll leap acrobatically to snatch flying termites (alates) or grasshoppers, too. And they won’t turn up their cute noses at berries, spiders or millipedes either.
Bat-eared foxes are found in the drier western side of the country, and can be seen almost everywhere in these parts except in very wet and green areas.
They thrive in overgrazed areas, conditions that favour termites – their favourite food. A study has shown that bat-eared foxes typically eat more than 40 000 termites per hectare per year.
An endearing trait is that they generally mate for life, and fathers share parenting duties, looking after the young so that the mother can forage (and sustain her all-important milk production).
Another endearing trait is that bat-eared foxes are particularly playful. In the late afternoons, they’ll come out of their dens to groom 1 another and play.
Then they hunt insects quite intently until around midnight, when they pause for a rest before resuming foraging.
At dawn, they return to their burrows, bask in the rising sun and play again until it gets too hot for them. They frolic with feathers and sticks and each other.
Travel tips & Planning info
How to get here
Bat-eared foxes are most often seen in the dry centre of the country, in the Cape fynbos and the Kalahari. They don’t occur in the Kruger National Park – although you have an outside chance of seeing them in the far north. They are often seen on private nature reserves like Samara, near Graaff-Reinet.
Get around
Your best chance of seeing bat-eared foxes is on the back of a game-drive vehicle, with a guide and a tracker.
Length of stay
It’s best to stay at least 2 or 3 nights at a private game reserve for a fair chance to see bat-eared foxes.
What to pack
Bring beanies, gloves and blankets if you’re hunting for these lovely animals in the winter months.
