44 SOUTH AFRICAN MAMMALS 



Yulpes chama. Silver Fox. Zilver Jakfia>- 



The colour is of silvery grey above, becoming on the 

 lower portions of the body of a reddish yellow. The 

 far is long, soft, and of a finely speckled appearance. 

 The skins of these handsome little foxes are in great 

 demand for karosses, muffs, furs, &c. The ears are 

 large and of a reddish brown colour behind, with a 

 yellowish patch at the bases. There is a black patch 

 on the hind leg between the knee and the hock. The 

 tail is almost a foot long, bushy, and of a yellow and 

 black colour with a black tip. The length of the head 

 and body is about two feet. 



This animal is known in the Natural History books 

 as the Fennec, or the Asse Fox, and to the Boers as the 

 Zilver Jakhals, or Vaal Jakhals, although the latter 

 name is also applied to the Side-striped Jackal, and 

 the former shared by the Black-backed. It is, however,, 

 a true fox. It is fairly evenly distributed over South 

 Africa, but is nowhere exactly common. I procured several 

 examples in the Eucalyptus Plantations near the Rand. 

 The Zoo has had examples from Springs, Machadodorp, 

 Middelburg, Klerksdorp, Brandfort, Standerton, Carolina, 

 Heidelberg, Warmbaths, and Pretoria. 



Sclater gives its diet as insects and fruit, and says it 

 has never been known to injure stock. We have had 

 some difficulty in keeping these animals alive in cages, 

 but since we have had them transferred to an open camp 

 of fair size with the natural ground for a floor they have 

 done very much better. Their food consists of raw 

 meat, and bread and milk, upon which they thrive fairly 

 well. We have now had one particular individual in 

 captivity for three years. He is very fond of climbing 

 up into the branches of a thick cypress tree growing 



