Fennec fox

• 1. Introduction

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  The fennec fox, Vulpes zerda, is the smallest species in the dog family, and its most striking feature is a pair of unusually large ears. Its home is the deserts of North Africa, from Western Sahara and Mauritania across to the Sinai Peninsula. Nobody has an exact count of how many exist. Population estimates rest on how often people see them. What is known about their social lives comes almost entirely from animals kept in captivity. How does a fox this small live where heat is extreme and water is scarce? Why did scientists give it so many different names over two centuries? And what happens to a desert animal when people begin to trade and keep it as an exotic pet?

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• 2. Desert Engineering

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  Sand-colored fur does two jobs for the fennec fox. It reflects sunlight during the day and keeps the animal warm through the cold desert night. The ears are the centerpiece. Compared with body size, they are the largest of any canid, and they likely release heat while helping the fox locate prey. Hair fills the inside so densely that the ear opening cannot be seen. The backs carry reddish stripes, and the edges are whitish. In males the ears measure about 10 cm. Inside the body, the kidneys are large and dense, with a compact medulla that helps store water when little is available. Dense fur covers the pads of the paws, which makes walking on hot sand easier. The nose is black, and the tapering tail ends in a black tip. Dark streaks run from the inner corner of each large dark eye along the slender muzzle. Females measure 34.5 to 39.5 cm from head to body, with a long tail. Males are slightly larger and weigh at least 1.3 kg. How much water that body must cope without depends on where in the Sahara the fox lives, and the difference between regions is large.

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• 3. Sand and Night

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  Annual rainfall in the northern part of the fennec's range has been recorded at under 100 mm, while the southern part receives about 300 mm. Across that span, from Morocco and Mauritania to northern Sudan and through Egypt, the fox lives on small dunes and in vast treeless stretches of sand. Grasses, sedges and small shrubs are the only vegetation. Its range probably overlaps with those of the golden jackal and Rüppell's fox. Compared with these canids, the fennec seems to occupy harsher climates, and it digs burrows in grainier surfaces, which gives it an edge over its competitors. Fennec foxes are mainly nocturnal. Activity peaks in the cooler hours, which helps them avoid the Saharan heat and cuts the water lost through panting. The den is dug in sand, either in the open or in spots sheltered by plants on stable dunes. In compacted soil, a den can cover up to 120 m2 and have as many as 15 entrances. Different families sometimes link their dens or build them close together. In soft, loose sand the den is simpler, with a single entrance leading to one chamber. Once dusk arrives, each fox must find a meal in this sparse landscape, and its menu turns out to be wide.

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• 4. What the Scat Revealed

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  In the Algerian Sahara, researchers gathered 114 scat samples from fennec foxes. The samples held more than 400 insects, along with plant fragments, date palm fruits, and the remains of birds, mammals and squamate reptiles. That mix matches the animal's reputation as an omnivore. Its diet includes small rodents, lizards such as geckos and skinks, small birds and their eggs, fruits, leaves, roots and some tubers. Much of its moisture comes from the prey itself, though it drinks water when it can find any. The fox hunts alone, digging into the sand for insects and small vertebrates. Some individuals have been seen burying prey to eat later. Others have been seen searching for food near human settlements, a habit that foreshadows a more complicated relationship with people.

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• 5. Family Life

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  Fennec foxes mate for life, and captive animals reach sexual maturity at around nine months. Mating takes place between January and April. A female is in estrus for about 24 hours and usually breeds once a year. The copulation tie can last up to two hours and 45 minutes. Gestation usually lasts 50 to 52 days, though it sometimes stretches to 63. After mating, the male turns aggressive and guards the female. He also brings her food during pregnancy and nursing. Births come between March and June, in litters of one to four pups. The pups open their eyes after 8 to 11 days, and both parents care for them. The family communicates by barking, purring, yapping and squeaking. Younger animals are especially playful. Pups stay with the family even after a new litter arrives. They are weaned at 61 to 70 days, and the adults keep rearing them until they are about 16 to 17 weeks old. A fox in the wild lives about 10 years on average. The oldest captive male reached 14 and the oldest captive female 13. Pups, however, face a predator with wings.

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• 6. A Name With Many Layers

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  In 1780, Eberhardt Zimmermann scientifically described the fennec fox as Canis zerda. Johann Friedrich Gmelin added the synonym Canis cerdo in 1788 and gave the Sahara Desert as its type locality. Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer named it Viverra aurita in 1793, with Algeria as the locality. Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest followed with Fennecus arabicus in 1804. Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger proposed Megalotis cerda in 1811, based on Gmelin's earlier descriptions. In 1820, Desmarest offered Fennecus brucei, with a locality spanning Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Sudan. René Lesson coined Canis fennecus in 1827, largely drawing on the 1780 description. Pierre Boitard named it Vulpes denhamii in 1842, citing the "interior of Africa". John Edward Gray named it Vulpes zuarensis in 1843, citing Egypt. Gordon Barclay Corbet settled on Vulpes zerda in 1978. The species began in the genus Canis, but molecular analysis moved it to Vulpes, even though it has some distinct physical and behavioral traits. DNA evidence points to Blanford's fox as its closest living relative. Both belong to a group of eight desert foxes, the others being the corsac fox, pale fox, kit fox, Tibetan fox, Rüppell's fox and Cape fox. All eight evolved sandy coats, large ears, pigmented eyes and specialized kidneys. The fennec is one of 13 living Vulpes species in the family Canidae. The word fennec comes from the Arabic fanak, which likely has Persian origins.

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• 7. Dangers and Protection

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  Nomads who share the Sahara with the fennec say it is so fast, and turns so well, that even their Salukis are hardly ever able to catch it. Pups are less lucky. African horned owl species such as the Pharaoh eagle-owl prey on them. Reports of jackals and striped hyenas taking fennecs are anecdotal. In captivity, illness is a larger threat. Canine distemper virus brings fever, eye discharge, diarrhea, severe emaciation, seizures, dehydration and death. Stress from capture and long-distance transport is thought to be the cause. In 2012, a study reported a fungal infection, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, in a 2-year-old male. The fox died not long afterward from anorexia and icterus. A 2019 review covered deaths from medical conditions or pathogens at the Bronx and Prospect Park Zoos since 1980. Most were attributed to neoplasia and infection, and many animals developed skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, or suffered trauma. Known parasites include the roundworms Capillaria and Angiostrongylus vasorum, and the single-celled Toxoplasma gondii. In the wild, the fox is commonly trapped for exhibition or sale to tourists. In southern Morocco, growing permanent settlements pushed it out of some areas and confined it to marginal ground. Roadwork, seismic surveys, mining, oil fields and commercial expansion are cited as further risks. Even so, sighting frequency suggests the species is not currently threatened with extinction. As of 2015, the IUCN Red List classes it as least concern. It appears in CITES Appendix II and is protected in Morocco and Western Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, where it has been documented in several protected areas. Placement in zoos is another conservation measure, alongside educational programs, and it puts the fox among people who keep it in very different circumstances.

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• 8. The Fox in Human Hands

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  Algeria has named the fennec fox its national animal, and its national football team carries the nickname Les Fennecs. The fox appears in The Little Prince, a 1943 novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry about a pilot forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara. A fennec was on the cover of a Ranger Rick magazine in 2000. In the anime series Aggretsuko, a character named Fenneko echoes the species. Roman art and literature rarely show foxes of any kind. Yet Martial's Epigrams describes a popular pet called the "long-eared fox", which suggests the fennec was kept as an exotic pet in the Roman empire. Today the fox is bred commercially for the pet trade. Breeders take pups from their mother and hand-raise them, because tame foxes are worth more. A breeders' registry in the United States aims to avoid problems from inbreeding. As of 2020-15 US states allowed fox ownership without any document, though a document is also permitted. Poor diets have led captive foxes to grow abnormally large. Zoos and homes also expose a troubling pattern. Captive foxes often show stereotyped behaviors, possibly because their environments are inadequate. Noise from keepers and visitors makes them pace repeatedly. In one case, two males at the National Zoological Park spent most of their time pacing their enclosures. Larger outdoor enclosures may help, since they give a fox more room to flee from perceived danger and a safe spot to hide.

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