Tibetan fox
| Tibetan sand fox | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Vulpes |
| Species: | V. ferrilata |
| Binomial name | |
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Vulpes ferrilata Hodgson, 1842 |
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| Tibetan fox range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Vulpes ekloni (Przewalski, 1883) |
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Vulpes ekloni (Przewalski, 1883)
The Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata) is a species of true fox endemic to the high Tibetan Plateau, Ladakh plateau, Nepal, China, Sikkim, and Bhutan, up to altitudes of about 5300 m. It is classed as of "least concern" for extinction by the IUCN, on account of its widespread range in the Tibetan Plateau's steppes and semi-deserts.
It is sometimes referred to as the Tibetan fox, or simply as the sand fox, but this terminology is confusing because the corsac fox (Vulpes corsac), which lives in arid environments north and west of the Tibetan Plateau, is often called the "sand fox" or "Tibetan fox" as well. The Rüppell's fox (Vulpes rueppellii) is also known as the "sand fox".
Tibetan foxes are small and compact, with soft, dense coats and conspicuously narrow muzzles and bushy tails. Their muzzles, crowns, necks, backs and lower legs are tan to rufous coloured, while their cheeks, flanks, upper legs and rumps are grey. Their tails have white tips. The short ears are tan to greyish tan on the back, while the insides and undersides are white. Adult Tibetan foxes are 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) from head to body (juveniles are somewhat smaller) and tail lengths of 29 to 40 centimetres (11 to 16 in). Weights of adults are usually 4 to 5.5 kilograms (8.8 to 12.1 lb).
Among the true foxes, their skulls are the most specialised in the direction of carnivory; they are longer in their condylobasal length and in mandible and cheek tooth length than those of hill foxes. Their cranial region is shorter than that of hill foxes, and their zygomatic arches narrower. Their jaws are also much narrower, and their foreheads concave. The canine teeth of Tibetan foxes are also much longer than those of hill foxes.
The Tibetan sand fox is restricted to the Tibetan Plateau in western China and the Ladakh plateau in Northern Pakistan. It is found across Tibet, and in parts of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan. Outside of China, it can be found in northern Bhutan, and in the northernmost border regions of Nepal and India, north of the Himalayas. No subspecies are recognised.
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Wikipedia