Blanford's fox

Blanford's fox (Vulpes cana), is a small fox found in certain regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. Blanford's fox is named after the English naturalist William Thomas Blanford, who described it in 1877. It is also known as the Afghan fox, royal fox, dog fox, hoary fox, steppe fox, black fox, king fox (Persian: شاه‌روباه‎, romanized: shāhrūbāh), cliff fox or Baluchistan fox. The specific name, cana, is Latin for 'hoary' (so the scientific name means 'hoary fox', corresponding to one of the vernacular names of the species). Blanford's fox inhabits semiarid regions, steppes, and mountains of Afghanistan, Egypt (Sinai), Turkestan, northeast Iran, southwest Pakistan, the West Bank, and Israel. It may also live throughout Arabia (particularly Oman, Yemen, and Jordan), as one was trapped in Dhofari region of Oman in 1984. Recent camera trapping surveys have confirmed the presence of the species in several places in the mountains of South Sinai, Egypt, the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah and Jebel Hafeet in the UAE, and in Saudi Arabia. Blanford's fox possesses hairless footpads and cat-like, curved, sharp claws described by some authors as semiretractile. This fox has an ability to climb rocks and make jumps described as 'astonishing', jumping to ledges 3 m (9.8 ft) above them with ease, and as part of their regular movements and climbing vertical, crumbling cliffs by a series of jumps up vertical sections. The foxes use their sharp, curved claws and naked footpads for traction on narrow ledges and their long, bushy tails as a counterbalance. Like all desert foxes, the Blanford's fox has large ears which enables it to dissipate heat. However, unlike other desert foxes, it does not have pads covered with hair, which would otherwise protect its paws from hot sand. Its tail is almost equal in length to its body. Its coat is light tan, with white underparts and a black tip on the tail. Among all extant canids, only the fennec fox is smaller than Blanford's. Omnivorous, and more frugivorous than other foxes. It prefers seedless grapes, ripe melons and Russian chives when consuming domestic crops. In addition, it eats insects. The Biblical foxes in the vineyard mentioned in the Song of Songs 2:15, described as 'little foxex who roun the vineyards' are most probably the frugivorous Blanford's foxes.