New arrivals at the zoo!

Exmoor Zoo are celebrating the birth of a litter of Bat Eared Fox puppies! Visitors to the zoo might have wondered about the secrecy as part of the zoo was sealed off to create a special, quiet area for two of our cutest foxes while they were preparing for the arrival of their new babies. Now the pups are getting a bit bigger, the barriers have gone and the secret is out!

As they are gaining more independence, the zoo is looking to the public to help come up with names as many of the keepers are threatening to name one of them Batty Mc Batface. Their names will be with them for life, even if they move to another zoo – so your help is greatly needed!

In the wild, bat eared foxes live on the grass savannah of Africa and spend their days hunting termites, which their ears help them locate. Their hearing is so good, they can even hear an ant or termite move! In fact, they have developed the most acute hearing and the largest ears for their size of any wild dog. Over years of evolution, these charming and good-natured foxes have completely adapted to just eat termites.  Unlike other foxes, their teeth have increased in number and becoming extremely small, all the better for eating the insects with!

Vuko, the dad, was born in Orgod Zoo in Wroclaw, Poland, while Opal, the mum, was born in Opel-Zoo in Frankfurt, Germany. The birth was a welcome surprise as there is only one other zoo in the UK that has a breeding pair.

The curator at Exmoor Zoo, Derek Gibson, said: “We have been carefully nurturing the puppies with extra feeds and lots of their parent’s favourite food and they are now only beginning to let the puppies have a share as they are starting to be weaned.”

Zoo collection manager, Danny Reynolds, is hoping that the zoo can keep all the puppies as they grow up but this could require a bigger home within the zoo.

Come visit the family of bat eared foxes, if you choose a sunny day, you’ll find them enjoying the sunshine, especially at midday.