The common fox

The common fox is the best known among Venezuelan carnivores. Their body measures seventy centimeters long, and the tail adds another thirty. The weight of an adult reaches six kilos. Their hair goes from clear to dark gray, showing cream and yellow tonalities that help them hide in their habitat.

Venezuelan wild carnivores are represented by five families: that of the foxes and bush dogs; that of the spectacled bear; that of the crab eating fox, the guache and the cuchicuchis; that of the weasels, the nutrias and the skunk and, finally, the felines as the jaguar, the puma, the ocelot, the margays and the jaguarondi.

What unifies such a disparate group of species, differing so much in size, coloration and habits, is their characteristic and specialized set of teeth. These include six incisive and two well developed canines in each jaw. Being carnivorous puts nearly all these species as predators, controlling the final link of their food chains.

Not all species eat only meat. The spectacled bear is a vegetarian, and the cuchicuchi is an omnivore. In his diet, the common fox, includes fruits as guásimo, caruto and mangoes, aside from small animals as insects, mice, doves and even iguanas, as this picture, taken in the llanos of Guárico State clearly shows.