Rüppell's fox

Description

Rüppell's fox (Vulpes rueppellii), also called Rüppell's sand fox, is a fox species living in desert and semi-desert regions of North Africa, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia. Its relatively small legs are beige in color, with individual black hairs that turn lighter to white towards the legs. The soles are heavily coated with fur that fully covers the pads, an adaptation to extremes of temperature in the desert, that probably helps to distribute its weight and move easily on sand. The back has a black speckling, resulting in a thick black patch at the base of the tail, which is bushy with a white tip. The fur is very soft and fluffy in two coats, a heavier denser winter coat and a thinner summer coat. The females have three pairs of mammae. Similar to other desert-dwelling foxes, Rüppell's fox has large ears to cool it off. Although adults are too large to confuse with fennec foxes, which live in the same area, young Rüppell's foxes can be confused with adults of that species. The larger ears, however, make them easy to distinguish from red and pale foxes, which also live in some of the same areas. In addition, the coat of a Rüppell's fox is much paler than that of a red fox, while pale foxes lack the white tips on their tails. Rüppell's fox is found in the deserts of North Africa south of the Atlas Mountains, from Mauritania and Morocco in the west to Egypt and Djibouti in the east. The species is also found in Algeria, central Niger, Libya, northern Chad, Egypt, southern Sudan, the arid lowlands of Ethiopia and northern Somalia. It is common in Arabia, except on the coast of the Red Sea and in the mountainous outskirts. It is also found in the Arabian Peninsula southwards from Syria, Israel, Jordan and Iraq, and as far east as Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Within this region, it prefers sandy or rocky deserts, but may also be found in semiarid steppes and sparse scrub. It is assumed that the distribution areas have changed historically with desertification and are mainly limited by competition with the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and by human settlements.In 2007, an expansion of the occurrence of foxes in the United Arab Emirates was documented through the first sighting of the species in Al Dhafra in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.