Common Name: Bat-eared Fox
Scientific Name: Otocyon megalotis
Conservation Status: Least Concern (Hoffmann, 2014).
Habitat: Short-grass plains, areas with bare ground, open scrub vegetation, arid, semi-arid, or winter rainfall shrub lands, and open arid savanna (Mackie & Nel, 1989).
Range: Occurs across the arid and semi-arid regions of eastern and southern Africa in two distinct subspecies: O. m. virgatus and O. m. megalotis (Hoffmann, 2014).
Diet: Primarily feeds on insects and other arthropods such as the harvester termite and dung beetle. Also known to occasionally feed on small rodents, lizards, the eggs and chicks of birds, and plant matter (Thomson, 2002).
Threats: Drought; canine distemper virus; subsistence hunting for fur (Hoffmann, 2014).