The bat-eared or big-eared fox is morelike a jackal in appearance than a fox, with its narrow face, long ears, and a limp brush. Its build is lighter than that of the common red fox.  The head and body length is 18-23 in., only a little less than that of a red fox, but the bat-eared fox weighs 6 1/2 - 10 lb compared to the 20 lb of a red fox.
    The coat is yellowish-brown, the long hairs on the shoulders and back tending to fall loosely either side of the body leaving a part down the centre. There is a dark streak running through the eyes and down the centre of the nose. The limbs are dark, becoming black towards the toes, and the last third of the tail is also black.
    The distinguishing feature of the bat-eared fox is the long ears, measuring up to 4 1/2 in., brown at the base and black at the tips.  The length of the  ears is presumed to be an adaptation to life in hot, and country, whereby the fox is able to lose excess heat through the large surface of the ears.  The argument for long ears acti ng as radiators is strengthened by the long ears of the fennec fox. This is the smallest kind of fox but has the longest ears, these being a good 6 in. long.  The fennec lives in the hot deserts of North Africa and the Arabian peninsula.  On the other hand, as we have seen previously, the Arctic fox has small ears, almost buried in its fur, and this doubtless prevents heat loss.  However, another feature of desert animals is their very sensitive hearing. Sometimes this sensitivity is enhanced by adaptations in the mechanisms of the inner ear, as in the kangaroo rat, but it can also be improved by a more efficient sound-collecting device, and there is reason to suppose that the large bat-eared and fennec foxes could be primarily connected with their sensative hearing, with the radiating a bonus.

Inquisitive fox

    The bat-eared fox lives in and regions of southern and eastern Africa, often favouring open, sandy country.  It is found all over south-west Africa, extending north into Angola and the southern corner of Rhodesia and south to Port Elizabeth, in Natal. Further north it reappears in Ethiopia, Somalia, southern Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.  The remains of an very-closely related species have und in north-west India, so the bat-eared fox may once have had a greater range. 
    Like our more familiar red foxes bat-eared foxes are mainly nocturnal, but it is quite usual to see them out during the day, especially in parts where they are common. They have a strong sense of curiosity, often coming near human habitations and watching human activities.  They are usually seen in ones or twos but they may go about in small parties of five or six.  When inactive they lie up in tall grass or under bushes and overhanging rocks. 

Enemies

    Leopards account for many bat-eared foxes, and the Bushmen of south-west Africa eat them, running them down with dogs. 

Breeding

    Litters of 2-5 are born, usually in the rainy season from December to April, but over the whole range of the bat-eared fox, breeding has been recorded at all times of the year.  Gestation takes 60 or 70 days and the cubs are born in a burrow, often the disused burrow of an aardvark. 

Insect-eating fox

    The diet is mainly termites and other insects, but this varies over the fox's range.  Writers who have studied bat-eared foxes in one part of Africa will say that they live almost wholly on termites, whereas others who know another part will write that the diet is general, including, as well as insects, small rodents, the eggs and nestlings of ground-nesting birds, lizards, fruit, tuberous roots and other plants.  They are also said to eat carrion. 
    The spoor of bat-eared foxes is often found around gerbil warrens, where several families of gerbils have their burrows in a sandy bank.  The foxes run down these small rodents, whose behaviour on being alarmed is first to freeze, then to scurry towards their holes if danger threatens.  They can also change direction very rapidly, suddenly doubling back on their tracks, but it has been noticed that the bat-eared foxes are just as skilful at doubling back in pursuit, so outwitting the gerbils. 

Twin teeth

    The predominantly insect diet of the bat-eared fox is reflected in the structure of its teeth.  Other members of the dog family have strong teeth with some of the cheek teeth, the carnassials, having sharp edges for cutting off lumps of meat from their prey, but the bat-eared foxs' teeth are small and relatively weak, although not so weak as those of the aardvark or aardwolf.  Moreover the teeth are more pointed than those of other carnivores.  Pointed teeth are more suitable for crushing the hard bodies of insects. 
    A more unusual feature of the bat-eared fox's teeth is that they have more teeth than any other true, or placental, mammal apart from the toothed whales such as the dolphins.  Their teeth are like those of dogs except that they have an extra tooth on each side of each jaw.  These have probably been formed bv some of the normal teeth 'twinning'.  This sometimes happens in other animals where teeth of simple structure may be duplicated.  Elephants and walruses, for instance, sometimes have double tusks, but what was a freak in these species has become normal in the bat-eared fox. 
    The value of this is probably, once again, to enhance the efficient crushing of insects.