Bat-Eared Fox, Otocyon megalotisimage credit: zooborns.com

Bat-Eared Fox, Otocyon megalotisimage credit: WildImages

Bat-Eared Fox, Otocyon megalotisimage credit: floridapfe

Bat-Eared Fox, Otocyon megalotisimage credit: Jim Scarff

image credit: zooborns.com
Habitat: African savannah
Status: Least Concern

I just realized I haven’t posted much in the way of OH-MY-GOD-THAT’S-SO-FREAKIN’-CUTE animals in quite a while, so to make up for that here’s the Bat-Eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis).

Those giant ears are to hear you better, my dear. The ears of bat-eared foxes can grow up to 5.3 inches long and for a creature that stands 11.8-15.7 inches at the shoulder, that’s super huge! These guys have insanely great hearing; they can hear larvae chewing their way out of an underground dung beetle ball or detect the faint chewing sounds of harvesting termites.

Insects make up the majority of the Bat-Eared Fox’s diet so it also has specialized teeth to chew up them buggies and a jaw built in such a way that it can open and close quite rapidly, so nothing escapes.

Thank goodness for Bat-Eared foxes, because they are quite the pest controllers for termites. A single bat-eared fox can eat approximately 1.15 million termites each year!

Delicious and nutritious!

Edit: added a cute/funny little video for you all to check out!