Fennec fox

The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small fox that lives in the hot, dry deserts of North Africa. You can find them from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula.

What makes the fennec fox special is its big ears, which help keep it cool and let it hear small animals hiding underground.

As the smallest fox in the world, the fennec has special features that help it survive in such a tough place. Its fur, ears, and even its kidneys have changed over time to work better in places with very high heat and almost no water.

Fennec foxes eat mostly insects, tiny mammals, and birds. In places where they are kept safely, they can live up to 14 years, but in the wild they usually live about 10 years. Their homes are special, too—they dig big holes called burrows in the sand where they stay safe and warm. These burrows can be huge, about as big as a small room, and sometimes many families share them.

Even though we do not know exactly how many fennec foxes there are, we think they are doing okay. However, sometimes they are caught to be shown or sold as an exotic pet in other parts of the world.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

The fennec fox was first described by scientists in 1780. It was later named Vulpes zerda, its current scientific name.

DNA shows the fennec fox is closely related to the Blanford's fox. Both are desert foxes with sandy-colored fur and large ears. The word fennec comes from an Arabic word. The fennec fox is one of 13 species in the Canidae family, which includes dogs and foxes.

Description

The fennec fox has fur like sand. This helps it stay cool during the day and warm at night. It has a black nose and a tail with a black tip. Its long ears have reddish stripes and are hairy inside, which helps it stay cool and find food underground. The fennec fox is the smallest type of fox, with females being a bit smaller than males. Both have big eyes and paws covered in fur to help them walk on hot sand.

Distribution and habitat

The fennec fox lives in the Sahara Desert, from Morocco and Mauritania to northern Sudan, through Egypt and its Sinai Peninsula. They like areas with small sand dunes and sparse plants like grasses, sedges, and small shrubs.

Fennec foxes are mostly active at night to avoid the hot sun. They dig dens in the sand, sometimes with many entrances, to stay cool and safe. These foxes live in family groups and enjoy playing, especially when they are young.

Threats

The fennec fox has some problems in the desert. Sometimes people catch them to show tourists or sell them. When more people move into places where fennec foxes live, the foxes have less space. Building roads, mining, and oil work also make it harder for them to find space.

Conservation

Since 2015, the fennec fox has been considered safe enough by the IUCN Red List. It is protected in Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Some fennec foxes live in zoos to help save the species, and schools teach people about these animals to keep them safe.

Interactions with humans

In culture

See also: Foxes in popular culture

The fennec fox is the national animal of Algeria. It is also the nickname for the Algeria national football team, called "Les Fennecs." The fennec fox appears in The Little Prince, a story about a pilot in the Sahara Desert. In 2000, the fennec fox was shown on the cover of a Ranger Rick magazine. In ancient Roman art and literature, writings suggest the fennec fox may have been kept as a special pet in the Roman empire. The fennec fox also appears in the anime series Aggretsuko as a character named Fenneko.

In captivity

The fennec fox is sometimes kept as an exotic pet. Breeders take baby foxes from their mothers to raise them by hand. In the United States, there is a registry to help keep these foxes healthy. As of 2020, 15 states allowed people to keep foxes without extra paperwork. However, captive foxes can sometimes grow larger if they are not fed the right food.

Foxes in captivity sometimes show repeated behaviors because their homes may not be big enough. When they hear noises from zookeepers or visitors, they might pace back and forth. For example, two male foxes at the National Zoological Park often paced in their enclosures. Giving foxes more space outdoors can help them feel safer and reduce these behaviors.