White-footed fox

The white-footed fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla), also known as the desert fox, is a small, Asiatic subspecies of red fox which occurs throughout most of northwestern Indian subcontinent, Pakistan's desert districts from Rawalpindi to Rajasthan and Kutch in India, Baluchistan, southern Iran, and Iraq.[2] It is mostly found on sand-hills or in the broad sandy beds of semi-dry rivers, and only very rarely in fields, and then in the vicinity of sandy tracts.[3]

White-footed fox
An Indian desert fox or white-footed fox from Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Vulpes
Species:
V. vulpes
Subspecies:
V. v. pusilla
Trinomial name
Vulpes vulpes pusilla
Blyth, 1854
Synonyms[1]

leucopus (Blyth, 1854)
persicus (Blanford, 1875)

Description

Like the Turkmenian fox, the white-footed fox has a primitive, infantile skull compared to those of its northern cousins.[4] It is smaller than the Afghan red fox and Hill foxes, and never exhibits a red phase in its winter coat, nor the silvery, hoary phase of the Afghan red fox.[2] It closely resembles the unrelated Bengal fox in size, but is distinguished by its longer tail and hind feet.[5] As adults, their pelts are easily distinguished from other subspecies by the presence of a very distinct pale patch on each sides of the back behind the shoulders, which is overlapped by a dark, transverse stripe over the shoulders in front of the light patches. The colour on the back varies from brownish yellow to rusty red with slight admixture of white, while the flanks are whitish or greyish. The outer surface of the limbs are iron-grey or rufous, while the inner side of the forelegs and the whole front of the hind legs are white. The face is rufous, with dark markings around the eyes. The underparts are slaty in hue. The chin and the centre of the chest is white. The ear-tips are black or dark brown and paler at the base, lined with whitish hairs. The tail is almost the same colour as the back, but is less rufous on the sides and beneath. Most of the tail's hairs are black, and may form a dark ring at the end of the tail. The tip is white.[3]

Behavior

It is similar in habits to the hill fox, but its diet is more carnivorous than that of other subspecies, and its prey is more restricted to gerbils and sand rats, due to the more barren habitat it occupies.[3][6]

  • White-footed fox's skull
    White-footed fox's skull
  • Desert Habitat
    Desert Habitat
  • Typical habitat
    Typical habitat
  • Desert Fox Female in its Habitat
    Desert Fox Female in its Habitat
  • Mother and young
    Mother and young
  • Pups at den
    Pups at den
  • A pup mock hunting
    A pup mock hunting
  • Desert fox pups suckling
    Desert fox pups suckling
  • Desert fox pups with their mother
    Desert fox pups with their mother
  • Fox family playing at Little Rann of Kutch
    Fox family playing at Little Rann of Kutch

References
  1. 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. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Pocock 1941, pp. 123–4
  3. Mivart 1890, pp. 124–25
  4. Heptner & Naumov 1998, p. 482
  5. Pocock 1941, p. 129
  6. Pocock 1941, p. 127

Works cited


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