Behavior
The Cape fox is nocturnal and it is mainly active at night and is most active just before dawn or after dusk; it can be spotted during the early mornings and early evenings. During the day, it typically shelters in burrows underground, holes, hollows, or dense thickets, and it is an active digger that will excavate its own borrow, although it generally modifies an abandoned borrow of another species, such as a springhare's burrow, to its specific requirements. They are solitary creatures, and although they form mated pairs, the males and females are often found alone, as they tend to forage separately and are seldom seen together. They are not territorial, however they will mark their territories with a pungent scent. Although a normally silent fox, the Cape fox is known to communicate with soft calls, whines or chirps. However, it will warn with a loud bark whenever alarmed. When aggressive, the Cape fox is known to growl and spit at its attacker. To show its excitement, the fox lifts its tail, and by which the higher the height of the tail lift often indicates the measure of excitement in the fox.
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Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“The fact that behavior is “normal,” or consistent with childhood development, does not necessarily make it desirable or acceptable...Undesirable impulses do not have to be embraces as something good in order to be accepted as normal. Neither does children’s behavior that is unacceptable have to be condemned as “bad,” in order to bring it under control.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
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—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)