KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It looks like Zoo Knoxville has a new member of the family. They announced Friday the birth of a bat-eared fox, Ziggy.
The zoo said the five-week-old kit has started to venture out of the den and explore under the watchful eyes of parents Fern and Motsumi.
"Ziggy is hitting all the appropriate developmental milestones and this is exactly when we would expect to see a kit start taking short forays out of the den," Terry Canon, curator of mammals, said. "Since Ziggy is healthy and mom and dad are doing an excellent job caring for them, we have been keeping the den quiet and our interactions to a minimum to give them time to bond as a family. At this point, we don’t know if we have a male or female kit.”
As Ziggy gets familiar with its habitat, it can often be seen in the early mornings and late afternoons when the zoo is quiet, according to the Zoo Knoxville. Caregivers expect them to begin spending more time outdoors over the next few weeks.
According to the zoo, bat-eared foxes live in family groups of mating pairs and their young, and males are very active in guarding, grooming and playing with the kits. Caregivers report that father Fern has been very attentive and protective of Ziggy.
Bat-eared foxes are native to more than 10 African countries. They play an important role in the ecosystem by controlling termites-a single fox can eat more than 1.15 million termites each year, Zoo Knoxville said.
Bat-eared foxes are threatened by loss of habitat as human populations expand. According to Zoo Knoxville, conservation groups are working with local communities to implement sustainable agriculture, reducing the amount of land needed and mitigating human-wildlife conflict.