Crab-eating fox

 

This is week we are looking at the crab-eat fox, also known as the forest dog, wood fox, bushfox or maikong, is an extant species of medium-sized canid endemic to the central part of South America since at least the Pleistocene epoch. Like South American foxes, which are in the genus Lycalopex, it is not closely related to true foxes. 

They can be found in the ranges in savannas; woodlands; subtropical forests; prickly, shrubby thickets; and tropical savannas such as the caatinga, plains, and campo, from Colombia and southern Venezuela in the north to Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina at the southernmost reaches of its range.

They can be solitary but can also form couples or even families of up to disturbed by human activities. The species gets its name because during the wet season it searches for crabs on muddy floodplains.

Crab-eating foxes are omnivorous; their diet includes many fruits, vertebrates, insects, amphibians, crabs and other crustaceans, birds and carrion.

The crab-eating fox is predominantly greyish-brown, with areas of red on the face and legs, and black-tipped ears and tail. It has short, strong legs and its tail is long and bushy. The head and body length averages 64.3 centimetres (25.3 in), and the average tail length is 28.5 centimetres (11.2 in).

They reach sexual maturity within 9–10 months. Adult females give birth to one or two litters per year, depending on the climate and the availability of food. The reproductive period most often begins in November or December, and again in July.

The birth of offspring follows after an approximately 56-day gestation, typically in January, February or sometimes March then again from September to October. If giving birth to one litter, they typically give birth in the early spring. The parents are monogamous and raises the pups together, which are weaned at around three months old and become independent of their parents around 5–8 months old.