Fennec Fox

It is a Fennec Fox. It has huge ears and a short face. They can be wild as well as domesticate also. But training them could be hard for you. So, before taking any decision just read below to get some idea about it. 

Fennec Fox

• With its huge ears, short face, and pointed snout, the fennec is the smallest of the fox species.
• It has a long tail with a black tip and is cream in color.
• Their long, velvety, and dense coats come in a variety of colors, including reddish cream, light fawn, and virtually white.
• Their tails are bushy and have black tips, and their undersides are completely white.
• Do you know? The foxes in this group have adapted to living in the desert.

Scientific Name

Vulpes zerda

History

• All of them share a common ancestor and are members of the Canidae family.
• Foxes began their evolution in North America along with other canids.
• The ancient fox ancestor entered Asia across the Bering Strait about 8 million years ago and spread throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Physical Description 

Color

• Their long, velvety, and dense coats come in a variety of colors, including reddish cream, light fawn, and virtually white.
• Their tails are bushy and have black tips, and their undersides are completely white.
• The foxes in this group have adapted to living in the desert.

Weight

• They often weigh 2 to 3 pounds.

Size

• With a tail that is an extra 7 to 12 inches long, they are 14 to 16 inches long. 

Behavior

Sleeping Behavior 

• Most of them are nocturnal creatures. In order to avoid the desert heat, they spend the most of the day underground.
• At dusk, they leave their dens and start looking for food. These foxes are omnivores that hunt at night, consuming a variety of animals.

Feeding Behavior

• They hunt at night and by themselves.
• They listen for prey under the sand with their extraordinarily enormous ears and then dig with all four paws to reveal it.

Lifespan

• For a secure escape in the event of an outside attack, these dens frequently contain many entrances and exits.
• In human care, Fennec Fox can live up to 11 years.

Food & Diet

• In their natural habitat, it consume tiny rodents, lizards, birds, and their eggs in addition to insects, particularly grasshoppers and locusts.
• They will also eat leaves, fruits, and roots, all of which aid in keeping them hydrated.

Habitat & Range

• North African foxes can be found all over the Sahara Desert, from Sinai in the east to Arabia in the west.
• They favor dry, arid areas with vegetation like scrub or desert grasses.
• Due to their territorial nature, it mark their territory with urine and droppings.

Reproduction

• For the duration of the year, couples will live in the same den.
• The male becomes extremely violent after mating and defends the female, feeding her during pregnancy and nursing.
• It has a two-month gestation period, and the vixen will give birth to 2 to 5 kits during that time.

Mating season 

• Every year, the breeding season lasts from January through February, and females give birth in March or April.
• They have lifelong monogamous relationships. 

Baby Fennec Fox

• The litters are composed of 2 to 5 kits.

Predators

• Their ecological environment does not contain many common predators.
• The eagle owl is the main predator of this creature in the wild, but other large mammals including hyenas, caracals, jackals, and domestic dogs also prey on them.
• In addition, habitat degradation brought on by humans puts them in danger.

Fennec Fox For Sale

• Before deciding to bring a fox home, please do your study.
• Even while both fennec and bat-eared foxes can be trained, people shouldn’t expect them to act like domesticated animals like dogs because they are still exotic animals.
• Their nutrition is extremely dissimilar from a dog’s diet. For them and bat-eared foxes to flourish, their diet must include raw flesh, whole prey, and live insects.
• If a person has the required licenses, permits, or health certificates for the animals, states including Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Texas will let them to keep them as pets.
• An typical price range for a juvenile fennec from a reputable breeder is between $1,500 and $3,500.
• A price that is lower than this is typically suspicious and could be a fraud.

Fennec Fox Pet

• Due to the fact that they are a wild species, they are not suitable as pets.
• Typically found in the African deserts, it require freedom to act according to their natural impulses.

Cute Fennec Fox

• Because Fennec Fox are predatory animals in the wild, they can be fairly shy and easily startled as pets, and they are typically not very cuddly with people.
• Furthermore, they are primarily nocturnal, they are more active at night.

Conservation & Threats

• According to the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Fennec Fox is not currently considered an endangered species and is instead classified as a species of least concern.
• The illicit pet trade puts fennec foxes in danger, especially in North Africa where they are abducted and sold to travelers.
• As an exotic pet, they are raised commercially, with breeders removing the young from the mother to grow them by hand. Furthermore, their fur is sought after.
• The eagle owl is the main predator of fennec foxes in the wild, but other large mammals including hyenas, caracals, jackals, and domestic dogs also prey on them.
• In addition, habitat degradation brought on by humans puts them in danger. Pollution is another threat.

Fun Facts

• It surpasses even the bat-eared fox in size and has the longest ears (which can be half as long as its body).
• Lifelong partners, they. The kids from one litter may remain with the family even while the following litter of puppies is born. A couple has one litter of two to five pups per year. When a female is expecting and caring for the puppies, her partner will bring her food and keep her safe. Up until they are roughly two months old, puppies are not weaned. They take roughly nine months to attain maturity.
• They prefer to hang out in broad and close-knit social circles in addition to having usually successful family lives.

Reference Link

• https://g.co/kgs/TfyvEh

Fennec Fox-FAQ