Pampas Fox

The Pampas fox, also called Azara's fox or the grey pampean fox, is a South American 'false fox' (zorro) rather than a true fox. It looks like a smaller culpeo but has a proportionately wider snout, a reddish head and neck and a black mark on the muzzle. The short, dense coat is grey over most of the body, with a black line running down the back onto the tail and almost white underparts. The large triangular ears are reddish on the outside, and each lower hind leg carries a distinctive black spot. Animals in the north of the range are more richly coloured (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives alone for most of the year, but pairs come together in the breeding season to raise their young, and the male brings food to the female at the den. It is mainly nocturnal but can be active by day, dens in caves, hollow trees or old viscacha and armadillo burrows, and marks its territory with latrine sites. Home ranges are about 260 hectares. Pups are born between September and December, are weaned at about two months and start hunting with their parents at about three months. Pumas and dogs are its main predators, and people hunt it for fur and to protect livestock (Wikipedia, general species account).

Eastern Bolivia lies within the Pampas fox's range, at the northwestern edge of the open grasslands and Chaco where the species lives (Wikipedia, general species account; Handbook of the Mammals of the World).