Meet the Distinct Bat Eared Fox

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00][laughter] >> Look, I have all your snacks.

[00:00:04]All of this There we go.

[00:00:07]Do you guys know what kind of foxes these guys are?

[00:00:09]>> Bat-eared.

[00:00:09]>> Bat-eared. Um I would have also accepted the cutest or the best >> Bat-eared foxes.

[00:00:15]>> Um they are super duper cute. We are here today to talk about our bat-eared foxes. They are [music] super awesome animals and they are actually on our secret menu here at the park. So, there's a lot of experiences you can sign up for on your own, but if you [music] really want to meet the bat-eared foxes, that is one that you have to specially request to meet.

[00:00:33]Right now, I'm asking a bunch of what we call his maintenance behaviors. So, that is behaviors he knows really solidly and I think he's going to do.

[00:00:43]Sometimes I'll throw in a couple new behaviors here and there, like what I've been working on now is asking him to put his front legs up on my arm like this.

[00:00:52]That way I can get a good look at his claws to see if anything needs to get trimmed or filed down. I want to tell you guys about why these animals are so awesome and amazing. So, bat-eared foxes are native to Africa and they can live in eastern or southern Africa and they usually are out and about looking for food and their absolute [music] favorite foods are going to be insects. They are insectivores and the favorites are [music] termites and dung beetles. So, about 70% of their diet is just termites. So, you guys have probably noticed that they have really massive ears. Those ears are really important when they are finding their food.

[00:01:28]Termites are going to be underground in furrows or mounds and those ears are going to help them to listen and find out exactly where they are. Then, they're going to dig down into that mound, start eating all those termites and they have a couple extra molars that are going to help them crush and crack through those exoskeletons, but they also want to eat really fast.

[00:01:47]The longer they're at that termite mound, the more soldier ants and termites that are going to come up and they are not immune to the bites from those soldiers. So, if they eat really fast, they can get them before all the soldiers [music] come up. So, bat-eared foxes in their natural habitat have a lot of predators they have to worry about. These guys are pretty small. They look big and fluffy, but they're only about 11 lb or so. [music] So, they have to worry about cats like leopards. They have to worry about hyenas or jackals or big hawks. [music] So, usually these guys are pretty shy.

[00:02:18]If they hear or smell anything and they're not sure what it is, [music] they're going to zoom away and try to hide. They are really good at digging.

[00:02:25]So, a lot of times they'll have burrows that they can duck into. But, if that doesn't work, one thing they can do to try to defend themselves is try to look as scary as possible. So, they will poof up all that fur along their body and it makes them look a little bit bigger and hopefully the predator will go, "Ooh, I thought you were smaller and I could get you." So, maybe by being a little bigger, they can scare that predator away.

[00:02:47]All right.

[00:02:48]Good job. Uh the jump behavior, it's really cute, but it's actually really important for us to be able to gauge mobility.

[00:02:55]So, if he was like favoring a foot or something, >> [music] >> how he jumps or if he refused to jump could tell me, "Oh, his hip is hurting." or which leg is hurting things like that.

[00:03:06]So, bat-eared foxes are found in either eastern [music] or southern Africa. And in one part of the world, they will live in just pairs.

[00:03:14]So, it'll just be a male and a female together. Whereas in the other parts, there will actually be a male and a couple females. Scientists aren't totally sure why it's different for the two different regions. But, also they're not as territorial as other canids can be. A lot of times we think of wolves or things being very [music] set with a territory where no one else is allowed in. A lot of times with [music] bat-eared foxes, they actually tolerate other groups of bat-eared foxes kind of overlapping. As long as there's enough food and things like that, they don't mind if they kind of cross over. They do still stick with their family unit, but they don't mind if they run into another group of them.

[00:03:51]So, the two foxes we have at Tanganyika are Sonar and Echo, and they are brothers. They weren't born here at the park, though. They were born in another facility, and we got them when they were just a few months old, and we started training with them right away.

[00:04:08]Stay.

[00:04:11]Touch.

[00:04:13]Good job.

[00:04:16]Bat-eared foxes can be a little shy, so we wanted to desensitize a lot when they were young, and we also started teaching them a lot of behaviors. So, here at the park, they know a lot of things. They can target, spin, rise, back up, all kinds of fun stuff. And when [music] you do the experience, you'll get to see a lot of those cool behaviors that they can do. Some of them you'll also get to participate in. They have a voluntary medical behavior where they rest their chin [music] in a little chin station, and that was actually taught to give them eye drops. These guys are prone to allergies, [music] but during the experience a lot of times you can ask that behavior, and they'll come right up [music] and rest their chin in that station for you.

[00:04:53]Also, during the experience, you'll get to get real close with the foxes. A lot of times we take you right to their habitat, so you can go in with them, and you can see where they live. They'll come right up to you for a lot of behaviors. They usually love [music] to check out your smells and see if you've been anywhere fun. They also know how to jump through a hoop, and a lot of times you get to hold that for them. Sometimes you get to touch them, so it is a super fun experience. [music] We are so excited for you guys to come out and meet them, and we can't wait to share more info about our bat-eared foxes with you.

[00:05:22]>> Yeah, this is a big camera.