Orphaned crab-eating fox adorably steals water bowl

These Crab-eating Fox pups (Cerdocyon thous) have lost their mothers, so they had to be rescued and now live at a Wildlife Refuge. They are wild pups, but pups nonetheless, so they are curious and playful, and this little fella simply decided to steal the water bowl from one of the caretakers, and take it away, after getting the floor all wet. They are still in quarantine, which why they are not in a proper enclosure yet.

The Crab-eating fox is the sole extant member of the Cerdocyon genus. Although it is called "fox", it doesn't belong to the fox-like tribe Vulpini, but shares the Canini tribe with 21 dog-like species, such as wolves, jackals, coyote, bush dog, wild dog, maned wolf, and the domestic dog, along with some other small canids that are called foxes, such as the Andean Fox, South American Gray Fox, Pampas Fox, Sechuran Fox, and Hoary Fox.

It is mostly endemic to South America, but it has been sighted in Panama since 90s. It can be found in most South American habitats, such as savannas, tropical savannas such as the caatinga, plains, and campo, woodlands, subtropical forests, and prickly, shrubby thickets. It is only absent from rainforests, high mountains, and open grassy savannas, as well as urban areas.

Although, as the name suggests, it feeds on crabs, the Crab-eating Fox is actually an omnivore, and its diet may vary according to location. It is opportunistic, eating insects, rodents, birds, turtle eggs, tortoises, fruit, bird eggs, crustaceans, insects, lizards and carrion. It is an important species for biological control.

The illegal wildlife trade is the third most valuable illicit commerce in the world, losing only to drugs and weapons. That, along with loss of habitat by deforestation, fires, etc., results in an enormous amount of animals in need of rescuing.

Only 1 in 10 animals survive trafficking! Do not support the pet trade! Animals should be free!