Semien Fox

(Canis simensis)
(Simenia simensis)

Amharic: Kay-Kabaro

This beautiful animal was once widespread over the Ethiopian plateaulands and was often observed by travellers in the 19th century, its fine red coat shining in the sun, making it easy to spot against the greens and browns of the grasslands. Its frightening decline in numbers is due not only to in- discriminate shooting, but also to outbreaks of rabies, which certainly decimated its numbers in the Semyen area. In this part of Ethiopia it is now extremely rare, even rarer than the Walia Ibex,' but it has another stronghold, in Bale, which the Walia doesn't. Its restriction to these two areas is not fully understood, as it is not considered that it was so extensively hunted throughout its range that it should have been unable to survive in the thousands of hectares of suitable "fox country" available.

It is one of most beautiful and spectacular members of the dog family in the world, with its bright rufous coat, white undermarkings and black tail. Not dog, nor wolf, nor jackal - it has been called all of these. It is not really a fox either, but as it shares much the same colouring as the European fox this name seems to have stuck. Scientifically it occupies a niche of its own and is the only member of its genus.

Although it was once thought to exist mainly in the Semyen and surrounding areas in northern Ethiopia (hence its name), it is now much easier to see in the Bale Mountains National Park. Since it was placed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature list of endangered animals, with the classification "critically endangered", the Ethiopian Government has made huge strides in enforcing the regulations of the national park area of Bale where it was known to exist. This has resulted in a highly satisfactory population increase. It is now unusual to visit the park and not see one at least, and more likely several, foxes.

Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia's second highland park area, is not as breathtakingly spectacular as the Semyen. But it is less humanized, more vegetated, more wild. A vast tract encompassing about 1,000 sq. kms. of highland moorland, ringed with forests of Hagenia and Podocarpus, and graceful ancient cedars, Bale is more the naturalist's paradise. Population pressures in neighbouring Arsi region forced people to turn to agriculture, destroying in the process hundreds of hectares of forest, but at the time of the proposing of the national park this stage had not yet arrived in Bale (pronounced Bahli), and the creation of the park was achieved without disturbing the pastoral people who lived in the region. The mountains of this area are of volcanic origin, studded with spectacular rock bosses that are the remains of old individual volcanos. The whole high plateau is riven by deep gorges and valleys with clear rivers rushing from the heights to the plains below. Bale, (and all western Ethiopia,) receives considerably more rain than the Semyen and other parts of the country and this accounts for its luxuriant green 'vegetation. Its steep mountainsides are clothed in abundant forests of giant heath and Hypericum, Hagenia and Podocarpus.

On the west side of the park lies true highland moor- land country. Rolling seas of white everlastings (Helichrysum) are punctuated by dark green giant lobelia (Lobelia rhynchopetalum). Rocky buttresses protrude from the grasslands. It is in this kind of country that a superabundance of grass rats (Arvicanthis abyssinicus), the fox's main food, breed in spectacular numbers. These rats, when too numerous, honeycomb the ground with their burrows, reduce grazing and are a pest to cultivated crops. The fox, aided by various other predators, from buzzards and kestrels to eagles, is a main instrument in keeping down population explosions of these little animals. He will also eat birds, hares and hyrax, but examination of the stomach contents and faeces has shown that grass rats are an almost exclusive diet, and that far from being harmful as some believed, the fox is the farmer's friend. The foxes stalk and pounce on the rats on the surface and do not dig them out. They have very rarely, if ever, been known to prey on sheep. Part of the cause of its decline in the Semyen was the mistaken idea held by some of the local people that it fed off domestic stock, and for a time they did their best to exterminate it. In the Bale Park, the fox has enjoyed complete protection for a number of years and is recovering its former numbers quite rapidly to a point where it is locally quite common.

Semien foxes are normally seen singly or in pairs, sometimes in small family groups of father, mother and cubs. Standing 60 cms. (24 inches) at the shoulder (quite a lot taller than the European fox ) it has a typical foxy head; a long and slender snout and pricked pointed ears, its coat is moderately long and silky. Its most dramatic feature is its vibrant red colour, which shades from strong dark rufous to to yellowy fawn. It has the upper lip, chin and throat pure white and two successive rufous collars across the neck, separated by a white transversal band. The lower chest is whitish tinged with rufous as are the underparts. The tail reaches to the hocks and is thick and bushy. The proximal section is conspicuously white below and red on the top. The end of the brush is black or blackish.

It is reputed to be mainly diurnal, although no one knows yet for sure, and its voice is often heard at night. However, the little rat on which it feeds only comes above ground in daytime so the inference is that all its hunting and feeding must be in daylight hours. It has two cries: a high-pitched long scream, "weeah-weeah", apparently a call, and a bark, "yealp-yealp" uttered in, competition or alarm.