Wildlife
Tibetan foxes are small true foxes that live high up on the remote Tibetan plain where they form life-long partnerships. They live, hunt and share the responsibility of raising the young together. Kits stay with their parents until they are 8-10 months old, when they leave the den to find mates and home ranges of their own. Tibetan foxes are not overly territorial and many pairs live in close quarters and share hunting grounds.
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Tibetan fox hunt
First ever footage of this bizarre and remote animal as it hunts rabbit-like pikas.
The two years it took to get filming permits for the Tibetan plateau and four weeks searching for brown bears yielded an unexpected bonus - the elusive Tibetan fox. At 6,000m above sea level, conditions here are extreme, with temperatures under -20 degrees Celsius. The HD camera's long lens capability was indispensable in filming such a rare and shy animal.
The following habitats are found across the Tibetan fox distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Population trend: Unknown
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata) is a species of true fox endemic to the high Tibetan Plateau and Ladakh plateau in Nepal, China, Sikkim, and Bhutan, up to altitudes of about 5300 m. It is classed as Least Concern for extinction by the IUCN, on account of its widespread range in the Tibetan Plateau's steppes and semi-deserts.
It is sometimes referred to as the Tibetan fox, or simply as the sand fox, but this terminology is confusing because the corsac fox (Vulpes corsac), which lives in arid environments north and west of the Tibetan Plateau, is often called the "sand fox" or "Tibetan fox" as well. Rüppell's fox (Vulpes rueppellii) is also known as the "sand fox".
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Helpless young
Carnivorous
Burrower
Acoustic communication
Altitude tolerant
Monogamous
Polymorphism
Adapted to running
Chemical communication
Viviparous
Social