Fennec Fox

Fennec Fox
(Vulpes zerda)
The Fennec Fox is one of the most beautiful of all desert animals. They are small canine animals, with tiny bodies that are only about a foot to a foot and a half long.
Their most amazing feature is the ears. The Fennec Fox has ears that are about six inches long. They look huge in comparison to the rest of their heads.

The large ears help them to track their prey animals as well as being useful to help them to lower their body heat.

The Fennec Fox weighs only about three pounds when full grown.
The fur on the Fennec Fox is creamy tan to reddish tan, and thick, while they have a long bushy tail that is about seven inches long and may be tipped in white or black.

They are completely adorable animals, pleasant to view and to watch, but are in reality like any other, wild animals, although there are breeders in the United States who do advertise to sell the Fennec Fox.

In the wild, the Fennec Fox is nocturnal and has large dark eyes that provide them with excellent night time vision.

Between the toes of the Fennec Vox there is thick hair and it helps them to move very quickly and very silently through the sandy surfaces they live in.

The Fennec Fox is native to the drier regions of North Africa, in the Sanai and the Arabian Peninsula.

Usually living in sandier areas, they normally make their homes in a burrow in the sand, lined with soft materials such as feathers and fur.
The Fennec Fox is a very rapid digger, and when they are threatened they can dig with remarkable speed.

Once a year in January they will breed, bearing up to five young in March or April. While both partners will defend the burrow, only the female is permitted to enter the burrow with the young.

Fennec Foxes will eat many different foods, including dates, plants, birds, eggs, lizards and insects as well as small mammals.

Although it is not endangered per se, they are rare in some places because they have been hunted to be used as pets.