Hoary fox

“Hoary Fox” by Carlos Henrique Luz Nunes de Almeida, licensed under CC BY 3.0

Common Name: Hoary Fox

Scientific Name: Lycalopex vetulus

Conservation Status: Near Threatened (Lemos, et al., 2020).

Habitat: Cerrado (Brazilian savanna),  pastures, man-made farmlands (Lemos, et al., 2020).

Range: Endemic to Brazil, occupying the limits of the Cerrado ecoregion. The current range extends from north-eastern and western São Paulo to northern Piauí and middle-eastern Maranhão, including Mato Grosso (central-southern) and Mato Grosso do Sul (dry and non-flooded Pantanal areas), southern Rondônia, Tocantins, Goiás, Distrito Federal, south-western Bahia, and central-western Minas Gerais (Lemos, et al., 2020).

Diet: Omnivore; Termites compose the base of their diet but they also consume beetles, grasshoppers, wild and exotic fruits, small mammals, lizards, snakes, anurans, and birds (Lemos, et al., 2020).

Threats: Habitat destruction and fragmentation as a result of extensive commercial and industrial development in the region characterized by the growth of urban centers, increased timber exploitation for coal provision, conversion of natural habitats to pastures and crops, and the expansion of linear structures for transportation of rural products; vehicle mortality, human persecution and other indirect effects of anthropogenic disturbance (Lemos, et al., 2020).