Rüppellfuchs
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Rüppellfuchs ( Vulpes rueppellii ) |
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| Vulpes rueppellii | ||||||||||||
| ( Schinz , 1825) |
The Rüppellfuchs or Sandfuchs ( Vulpes rueppellii ) is a kind of the real foxes (Vulpini) within the dogs (Canidae). He lives in the desert and semi-desert areas of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East . Like most foxes, the Rüppellfuchs is primarily a carnivore, primarily feeding on insects and small mammals. The species epithet honors the German natural scientist and Africa researcher Eduard Rüppell .
There is no reliable information on the size of the population or the development of the population, and only limited data is available on the way of life. Due to the large distribution area and the current lack of serious threats, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies it as “Least Concern” despite a lack of information about its population size.
features
general characteristics
The Rüppellfuchs is a comparatively small fox. The head-trunk length is 30 to 40 centimeters, the tail length about 30 centimeters and the weight about 2 kilograms, with a range of 1.3 to 2.2 kilograms being documented. The rear foot length is on average 100 to 110 millimeters, the ear length 94 to 98 millimeters. The shoulder height is 30 to 35 centimeters. There is no pronounced sexual dimorphism , but on average the females are slightly smaller than the males.
The light and very dense fur is silver-gray to brownish on top due to numerous white hairs, on the sides orange, sand-colored or beige and whitish on the underside, there are also very light specimens. In winter the animals also form a thick undercoat. There is a cinnamon-colored to red-brown band on the back, which narrows towards the back. The face is colored red-brown, the lips, sides of the snout and the throat are white. Characteristic is a dark spot on the side of the snout that extends to the eye. The vibrissae on the snout are well developed and up to 70 millimeters long. The noticeably large ears are cinnamon-colored red-brown on the outside and white on the inside. The red-brown legs are comparatively short and have individual black hairs, they become lighter to whitish towards the feet and the soles are densely covered with long, soft hair that completely covers the pads. The approximately 30 centimeters long and bushy tail is sand-colored and is characterized by a white tail tip.
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The Rüppellfuchs is a lot smaller and slimmer than the more well-known and closely related red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) , which sometimes occurs in the same area . It also differs from this one mainly through the larger ears and the proportionally longer legs. The Rüppellfuchs has a finer and softer fur than the red fox, it is sandy-gray in color, the fur of the red fox, on the other hand, is always reddish and, in contrast to the Rüppellfuchs, has a black tip of its tail. The ears are also black on the back instead of cinnamon brown. The Rüppellfuchs differs significantly from the other foxes of the Arabian desert regions. Young animals are, however, often confused with adult Fenneks ( V. zerda ), with which they appear sympatric . The fully grown Rüppellfuchs, on the other hand, is visibly larger and heavier and has a significantly longer tail, which corresponds to about 70 percent of the head-torso length in the Rüppellfuchs and about 50 percent in the Fennec. The ears of the Fennec are proportionally larger and they also have a black tip of their tail. This also applies to the pale fox ( V. pallida ), which occurs in the south of the Sahara sympathetically with the Rüppellfuchs and never has a white tip. The Afghan fox ( V. cana ) differs from the Rüppellfuchs mainly in its long and bushy tail, which in relation to the total length of this species is significantly longer than that of the Rüppellfuchs (by 6.8 percent) and that of the red fox (by 9.8 percent ) and especially with the Fennek (by 22.5 percent). The length of the hind legs of the Afghan fox, on the other hand, is shorter in relation to the body length compared to those of the other species, the relative ear length is between that of the red fox and the ear length of the other species.
Skull and skeletal features
| 3 | · | 1 | · | 4th | · | 2 | = 42 |
| 3 | · | 1 | · | 4th | · | 3 |
The skull is small and narrow and has a basal length of 100 to 105 millimeters and a maximum width in the area of the zygomatic arches of 53 to 56 millimeters. The tympanic cavity (bulla tympanica) is well developed, but not as prominent as in the fennec. The nasal bones are short and slightly constricted in the middle, at the front end they point slightly upwards. There is only a flat crest of the skull on the skull. The fox has three incisors , one canine , four premolars and two molars in one half of the upper jaw and three incisors, one canine, four premolars and three molars in one half of the lower jaw, a total of 42 teeth. The first molar is significantly smaller compared to other fox species.
The penis bone (baculum) is very straight and reaches a length of 40 millimeters.
genetics
The Rüppellfuchs has a simple chromosome set (s) of 20 and a diploid chromosome set of 40 chromosomes in each cell. The X chromosome is metacentric and the Y chromosome is very small. The autosomes are metacentric or submetacentric, only two pairs are acrocentric . It is assumed that the genome of the common ancestor of the steppe and Tibetan fox as well as of the Rüppell and the red fox developed through fusions from a genome formerly equipped with 2n = 68 chromosomes, whereby the type of fusion in the various taxa and Species was different. The genome of several species of the genus Vulpes , which are characterized by very different chromosome numbers, was examined in a study by Graphodatsky and colleagues in 2008. As a result, an original number of 2n = 78 chromosomes was assumed in the modern foxes of the genus Vulpes as well as other genera of the dogs, which have been reduced in the various branches over several steps to the genome of the modern species. The common ancestor of most Vulpes species therefore had a genome of 2n = 68 chromosomes, with the Fennec having the highest number with 2n = 64 chromosomes. The red fox as a sister species of the Rüppellfuchs (which itself was not included in the analysis) has a chromosome set of only 2n = 38 chromosomes.
Sequence data is available for various genes and gene segments of both the nuclear DNA and the mitochondrial DNA , which were mainly used for phylogenetic analyzes. These include the sequences of cytochrome b and the genes COI and COII, all of which come from mitochondrial DNA and are often used as a standard for these analyzes.
Distribution area and habitat
The distribution area of the Rüppellfuchses covers the desert areas of North Africa and the Middle East from Morocco , Mauritania and Mali in the west over the Arabian Peninsula to the Iranian highlands and to the west of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east. It is located in Africa north of the 17th parallel along the northern areas of the Sahara to northern Somalia . In the Middle East it extends in the northwest to Jordan , Iraq and Israel and, with the exception of the coastal areas of the Red Sea and the mountain ranges, includes the entire Arabian Peninsula.
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, for example, an increase in the occurrence of foxes in the United Arab Emirates was documented through the first sighting of ruff foxes in Al Dhafra in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi . In addition, the Rüppellfuchs avoids the extremely dry areas of the Central Sahara and Arabia and is accordingly more common in the desert foothills, mountain ranges and in the vicinity of oases . The annual rainfall in the distribution area is usually around 100 to a maximum of 240 millimeters per year, especially on the northern edge of the Sahara it is a maximum of 150 millimeters per year. The vegetation is characterized by sporadic grasses and herbs, including in Saudi Arabia Fagonia indica , Indigofera spinosa , Panicum turgidum and species of the genera Tribulus and Stipagrostis, and in Morocco Hammada scoparia , Panicum turgidum and Fagonia species and in Wadis acacia and argania spinosa , Balanites aepyptica , Maerua crassifolia and Capparis decidua .
Way of life
Rüppellfüchse's habitats are sandy and stony desert areas, which they usually rummage through at dusk or at night in search of food; they are inactive in the hours before sunrise. They usually spend the day resting in their underground burrows, but in winter they are occasionally active during the day. The animals use two different types of burrows, which are strictly separated: the brood burrow and the resting burrow. The brood chamber is only used jointly by a couple during the rearing season of the young animals. The burrows have one, more rarely up to five entrances and are created by the females. Rest burrows, on the other hand, are smaller with only one entrance and only house one animal. They are usually changed frequently, on average about every 4.8 days. The foxes often use existing burrows, such as the Egyptian thorntail or honey badger .
The Rüppellfuchs, just like the fennec , can do completely without water in waterless areas and satisfy its need for fluids with food. The thick fur, the hairy soles of the feet and the undercoat developed during winter are adaptations to the extreme temperature fluctuations in the animals' habitat. The foxes live in pairs during the rearing season and share their hunting area, which covers around 50 km 2 . The foxes communicate acoustically, mimically and olfactorily by marking them with urine and the secretion of the anal gland . Acoustic communication occurs mainly during the mating season and consists mainly of a series of short barkers , which are interrupted by pauses of 20 to 40 seconds. There are also other vocalizations, such as aggressive hissing when the animals feel disturbed, high-frequency calls and whistles.
nutrition
Like other foxes, the Rüppellfuchs is an opportunistic hunter and feeds primarily on small to medium-sized mammals and insects, but also on birds or plant material. Within its range, the composition of the prey spectrum can vary according to the occurring and dominating species. In Morocco and other parts of North Africa in particular, the diet consists mainly of insects, such as grasshoppers and beetles. In the Sahara and Egypt, there is also a greater proportion of small vertebrates, such as rodents, birds and lizards. The Egyptian thorntail ( Uromastyx aegyptia ) and the Arabian desert runners (genus Mesalina ) make up a large part of the lizards hunted. However, it also prey on other prey when it has the opportunity. For example, in an investigation of destroyed nests of the hawksbill sea turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata ) in Qatar, together with feral domestic cats and humans, it is identified as a potential predator for the nests and eggs. Due to its physiological properties, the fox is also able to break down and digest the bones and teeth, especially molars, of the prey.
In addition, the Rüppellfuchs feeds, if possible, on fruits, especially dates and in the area of the oases on fruits of the Doum palms . The animals reach these by actively climbing the date palms . They also eat the leaves of succulents as well as grasses and other parts of plants. Although the foxes stay away from human settlements, regionally they feed on a small proportion of fruits and other components of municipal waste, and they may also ingest indigestible waste such as paper or packaging film.
Reproduction
The sex ratio of the reproductive Rüppellfüchse slightly outweighs the male animals. Ratios of females to males of 1: 1.7 could be determined, and counts of Egyptian museum specimens resulted in a ratio of 1: 1.4. Rüppellfüchse form monogamous pairs that find each other within a year. The females only ovulate once a year and are only able to reproduce then. In the males, the testicles enlarge from the beginning of October and remain so until January. The mating season is in November, the mating act takes an average of 11 minutes.
The females prepare the burrows for the litter before the mating season. In Saudi Arabia it has been observed that they will start doing this as early as mid-October. The young animals are born in mid-January after a gestation period of 52 to 53 days on average. A litter consists of two to six puppies , with an investigation in Saudi Arabia the average being 3.3 pups and observations of dams with up to six pups. Of animals in captivity, one litter with three puppies and another with two is known. If the burrow is disturbed, the parents transport the young to a new burrow.
The puppies are born blind and develop their independence after about four months. Young ruff foxes have a light reddish coat like the pups of the Arabian red fox; the color of the fur changes with age and becomes increasingly lighter, in very old foxes over five years of age it can be almost white. The young foxes leave the burrow between July and August at the age of six to seven months, and within the first year of life the animals become sexually mature. A high mortality is assumed, especially during the phase in which the animals leave their parents' den.
Mortality, predators and parasites
The life expectancy of foxes in captivity is around 6.5 to a maximum of 12 years, in the wild it is usually much lower at seven years, although dental examinations of individual individuals also show an age of up to nine years. Depending on the specific habitat and the time of year, the main causes of the death of ruffian foxes are predators or death from starvation and exhaustion. The predators mainly include birds of prey such as the steppe eagle ( Aquila nipalensis ) or large owls such as the desert owl ( Bubo ascalaphus ). An animal already caught in a cage trap has been shown to have been killed by a honey badger ( Mellivora capensis ). In addition, the foxes are hunted by humans in parts of their habitat with traps, poisoned bait and by shooting.
Like other foxes, ruffian foxes are attacked by fleas and ticks . Among the fleas, the species Caenopsylla laptevi , Coptopsylla joannae , Synosternus pallidus and Xenopsyllar conformis as well as species of the genera Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus among the ticks . In studies in Saudi Arabia, 93.6 percent of all the ruffian foxes examined were colonized with fleas and ticks, of which 31.5 percent had only fleas, 30.1 percent only ticks and 38.4 percent both species. No data are available for the Rüppellfuchs on endoparasites such as tapeworms and roundworms . The infestation with the single cell Toxoplasma gondii and the resulting fatal toxoplasmosis could be documented for a captive young animal. Among the viral diseases , rabies is the most widespread; in Saudi Arabia, 35 percent of all foxes tested (of several species) tested positive for rabies. For canine distemper viruses , canine parvoviruses and canine rotaviruses, there are also blood serum findings for antibodies .
Evolution and systematics
Fossil history
Dogs have been known in Africa since the Miocene , and the oldest finds of the Vulpes genus include lower and upper jaw fragments from the Ahl al Oughlam site in Morocco, which date back to the Upper Pliocene around 2.5 million years ago. These are assigned to the species Vulpes hassani , newly described in 2011 , which may represent a preform of the Rüppellfuchs. In addition, little is known about the Rüppell fox fossils. However, remnants of a very similar form ( V. cf rueppelli ), which include an anterior skull fragment, a lower jaw remnant and several isolated teeth, come from various sites in northwest Africa, such as Tighenif (also Ternifine ) in Algeria or Thomas 1 Quarry and Oulad Hamida in Morocco. They each date to the early Middle Pleistocene and are between 800,000 and 500,000 years old. For the outgoing Upper Pleistocene of Rüppell's Fox was at the archaeological site Ifri n'Ammar in the north Moroccan Rif be detected, where he met with legacies of hunter-gatherer groups of iberomaurusian was associated.
Systematics
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Phylogenetic system of the genus Vulpes (after Binninda-Emonds et al. 1999)
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The first scientific description of the Rüppellfuchs comes from the German naturalist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz from 1825, who assigned it to the real dogs as Canis rueppellii on the basis of an individual from Dunqula in Sudan . Eduard Rüppell , after whom the fox was named, became known as a natural scientist and Africa explorer and lived around the same time as the first describer Schinz. Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar described the Canis famelicus from the Kurdufan region in 1826 and in 1921 Festa described the Vulpes cyrenaica from Libya ; both are now as synonyms for Canis rueppellii . The Rüppellfuchs is now classified in the genus Vulpes along with eleven other recent species .
On the basis of morphological and molecular biological data, it was developed by Binninda-Emonds et al. Recognized in 1999 as a sister species of the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ), both together form the sister group of a taxon from the steppe fox ( V. corsac ) and the Tibetan fox ( V. ferrilata ). The studies by Zrzavý & Řičánková in 2004 also confirmed the close relationship of the Rüppell fox with the red fox and the steppe fox, but not with the Tibetan fox, which was classified in the genus.
There is no closer relationship with other species adapted to life in deserts; accordingly, these ways of life developed independently in the genus Vulpes . In addition to the Rüppellfuchs, the fennec and afghan fox ( Vulpes cana ) as well as the swift fox ( Vulpes velox ) and the kit fox ( Vulpes macrotis ) living in North America are particularly adapted to life in climatically dry areas.
With the nominate form Vulpes rueppellii rueppellii in Egypt and Sudan and with Vulpes r. caesia , Vulpes r. cyrenaica , Vulpes r. sabaea and Vulpes r. zarudnyi , according to Wilson & Reeder 2005 and Larivière & Seddon 2001, five subspecies are distinguished, while Silleo-Zubiri 2009 names another subspecies with Vr somaliae from Eritrea and Somalia.
| subspecies | First describer | Occurrence |
|---|---|---|
| V. r. rueppellii | Schinz , 1825 | Egypt, Sudan (Nubian Desert) |
| V. r. caesia | Thomas & Hinton , 1921 | North, West Africa |
| V. r. cyrenaica | Festa , 1921 | Southwest Egypt, Libya, extreme northwest of Sudan |
| V. r. sabaea | Pocock , 1934 | Arabian Peninsula, Middle East |
| V. r. somaliae | Thomas , 1918 | Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia |
| V. r. zarudnyi | Birula , 1913 | Baluchistan (Afghanistan), Iran, Pakistan |
Hazard and protection
Due to the comparatively large distribution area in the desert and semi-desert areas of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the species as "Least Concern", as it is an acute threat to the stocks are not accepted.
However, there is insufficient data for the stock figures. Accordingly, it was not assigned to any hazard category either in 1998 or in 2004 due to a lack of data. Nationally, too, the level of knowledge about the stocks of the Rüppellfuchs is largely insufficient. It is assumed that it occurs regularly in suitable habitats, but no relevant records are available. In the United Arab Emirates , the fox is considered endangered due to the rare sightings, and in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Oman it is even rated as endangered.
Active hunting by humans with the help of traps and poisonous bait represents a potential threat to the Rüppellfuchs, whereby the species is neither relevant as a source of food nor as a supplier of fur and is only rarely hunted for these purposes. Poison baits are often used to fight red foxes, jackals and feral cats and are accidentally ingested by ruffian foxes. Instead, they are hunted regionally because of the assumed threat to domestic animals and as popular prey, such as the collared bustard ( Chlamydotis undulata ). In Saudi Arabia, the active hunting of the fox has been identified as a potential threat, in Morocco the animals are sometimes viewed and hunted as pests.
In some areas, especially in the Negev in Israel, direct competition with the red fox, which spreads in the area of human settlement, is leading to a withdrawal of the ruff fox and a decline in the numbers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Serge Larivière, Philip J. Seddon: Vulpes rueppelli . Mammalian Species 678, pp. 1-5. Online PDF , doi : 10.1644 / 1545-1410 (2001) 678 <0001: VR> 2.0.CO; 2
- ↑ a b Eli Geffen: Vulpes cana (Carnivora: Canidae) . In: Mammalian Species . tape 462 , 1994, pp. 1–4 ( full text PDF; 525 kB).
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Claudio Sillero-Zubiri: Rüppel's Fox Vulpes rueppellii. In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009; Pp. 443-444, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 .
- ↑ Alexander S. Graphodatsky, Polina L. Perelman, Natalya V. Sokolovskaya, Violetta R. Beklemisheva, Natalya A. Serdukova, Gauthier Dobigny, Stephen J. O'Brien, Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith, Fengtang Yang: Phylogenomics of the dog and fox family (Canidae, Carnivora) revealed by chromosome painting. Chromosome Research 16, 2008; Pp. 129-143. ( Abstract ).
- ↑ a b c James D. Murdoch, Christopher Drew, Ingrid Barcelo Llanes, Christophe Tourenq: Rüppell's foxes in Al Dhafra, United Arab Emirates. Canid News 10, 2007. ( full text ; PDF; 208 kB).
- ↑ Gentile Francesco Ficetola: Impacts of Human Activities and Predators on the Nest Success of the Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, in the Arabian Gulf. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 7 (2), 2008; Pp. 255-257. doi : 10.2744 / CCB-0700.1
- ^ A b c d e F. Cuzin, DM Lenain: Rüppell's Fox Vulpes rueppellii (Schinz, 1825) . In: Claudio Sillero-Zubiri, Michael Hoffman, David W. MacDonald: Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs - 2004 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN / SSC Canid Specialist Group 2004, ISBN 2-8317-0786-2 : pp. 201–205 full text (PDF; 9677 kB).
- ↑ To Pas, JP Dubey: Toxoplasmosis in Sand Fox (Vulpes rueppelli). Journal of Parasitology 94 (4), 2008; Pp. 976-977. doi : 10.1645 / GE-1492.1
- ↑ Denis Geraads: A revision of the fossil Canidae (Mammalia) of north-western Africa , in: Palaeontology 54 (2), 2011, pp. 429-446.
- ↑ Émilie Campmas: Caractérisation de l'occupation des sites de la région de Témara (Maroc) au Pléistocène supérieur et nouvelles données sur la subsistance des hommes du Paléolithique moyen d'Afrique du Nord , Thèse, Université Bordeaux 1, 2012, table 23.
- ↑ a b O. RP Binninda-Emonds, JL Gittleman, A. Purvis: Building large trees by combining phylogenetic information: a complete phylogeny of the extant carnovora (Mammalia). Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 74, 1999; Pp. 143–175 ( full text ; PDF; 2660 kB).
- ↑ a b Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.): Vulpes rueppelli in Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed).
- ↑ Jan Zrzavý, Věra Řičánková: Phylogeny of Recent Canidae (Mammalia, Carnivora): Relative Reliability and Utility of Morphological and Molecular Datasets. In: Zoologica Scripta Volume 33, No. 4, July 2004, pp. 311-333, doi : 10.1111 / j.0300-3256.2004.00152.x .
- ↑ a b c d Vulpes rueppellii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: F. Cuzin among others, 2008. Accessed March 24, 2013.
- ^ A b Peter L. Cunningham: Persecution of Rüppell's fox in central Saudi Arabia. Canid News 12, 2009. ( full text ; PDF; 598 kB).
literature
- Serge Larivière, Philip J. Seddon: Vulpes rueppelli . Mammalian Species 678, 2001, pp. 1-5. Online PDF with images of the skull
- Claudio Sillero-Zubiri: Rüppel's Fox Vulpes rueppellii. In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2009; Pp. 443-444, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
- Chris & Tilde Stuart: Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa . Struik, 2000, ISBN 1-86872-534-0 .
Web links
- Vulpes rueppellii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: F. Cuzin u. a., 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- Elizabeth Kierepka: Vulpes rueppellii Rüppel's fox . Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved July 24, 2013
- Canid Specialist Group: [1] . Retrieved July 24, 2013
