The fennec fox is one of the most distinctive and unique creatures on Earth, but most people know almost nothing about them. You might have seen a picture of a tiny fox with giant ears and wondered what it is or where it comes from. Or maybe you know a little bit about them and want to know more. You might even be someone who has a fennec fox as a pet or are considering getting one.
One question people frequently ask about fennec foxes relates to its conservation status. Why are fennec foxes endangered? Or is the fennec fox endangered?
The good news is that the fennec fox is not currently believed to be in any danger as a species. International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the fennec fox as a species of Least Concern. This means that there is no evidence that the fennec fox is under threat of going extinct or seeing its numbers drop significantly in the near future.
However, this doesn’t mean that there’s no reason to worry about the fennec fox. In its native Africa, the fennec fox is frequently hunted for its highly desirable pelt. And human beings continue to make inroads on all natural wilderness areas as populations expand and people continue to spread out. The fennec fox isn’t in serious danger now, especially when compared to other threatened animals. But that could change in the future, especially if people aren’t aware of the fennec fox in general.
In this guide, I’ll cover everything you might want to know about the fennec fox. I’ll touch on its physical characteristics, where might you find a fennec fox in the wild, what it eats and what its natural predators are and its natural lifecycle. I’ll also discuss fennec foxes as pets and some of the things pet owners should be aware of. I’ll even throw in some fennec fox fun facts.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the fennec fox for any reason, this resource has what you’re looking for.
Contents
Chapter 1: Fennec Fox Facts
The fennec fox is the is the smallest member of the biological family Canidae. Canidae includes dogs, wolves, jackals, coyotes, dingoes and foxes. The two most significant characteristics for which fennec foxes are known is their petite size and their large ears.
In the wild, fennec foxes live in desert environments, and their bodies are specialized in a number of ways to thrive in a desert climate.
What Does a Fennec Fox Look Like?
Fennec foxes have a light, creamy-colored coat with a thin, black-tipped tail. They usually measure around 9 to 16 inches long and about 8 inches tall. They walk on four legs and possess thickly padded feet. Like other foxes, they have a tapering snout and a dark colored nose.
Many people see fully grown fennec foxes and believe them to be juvenile or immature. This is due to a combination of their small size and exaggerated ears and facial features. But if you encounter or see a fennec fox any bigger than around 9 inches long by 7 inches tall, it’s probably an adult. Most people will have an adjustment period before grasping how big is a fennec fox.
The most notable physical feature of the fennec fox is its unusually large ears. A fennec fox’s ears can measure up to 6 inches long, far larger than those of even larger canids.
What Does a Fennec Fox Sound Like?
Fennec foxes are highly social animals in the wild. As a result, they possess a fairly wide range of sounds they make in various situations. Fennec foxes are capable of making a purring sound similar to that of a cat. When threatened, they make a growling or snarling sound. In addition, they can make howling or shrieking noises, as well as chattering and whimpering sounds. In the wild, a fennec fox sound allows it to communicate with its siblings, mate or other fennec foxes.
How Much Does a Fennec Fox Weigh?
Fennec foxes usually weigh anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 pounds in the wild. As such, fennec foxes are smaller than house cats and all but the tiniest species of dog. In captivity, a fennec fox can grow to be a pound or so heavier if overfed. But most healthy fennec foxes will be in the 1.5 to 3.5 pound range.
Male fennec foxes tend to be slightly larger and heavier than female foxes. But fennec fox size from male to female isn’t hugely different.
How Fast Can a Fennec Fox Run?
Fennec foxes have been observed to run as fast as an estimated 20 miles per hour. Fennec foxes are extremely agile, able to change directions quickly. That agility allows them to pursue their prey in the wild. In addition to being fast and agile, fennec foxes are also excellent leapers. They’re capable of jumping around two feet vertically and four feet horizontally.
How Long Can a Fennec Fox Go Without Water?
Fennec foxes are amazingly well adapted to a desert climate. They’re capable of surviving in conditions that would quickly kill most animals. One of the fennec fox’s most significant adaptions to desert survival is their water consumption. Fennec foxes don’t actually need to drink water.
They gain all the water they need through the consumption of prey animals and vegetation. A fennec fox will drink water if presented the opportunity, but it doesn’t require it to survive. As long as its diet includes foods that give it the fractional amount of water it needs, a fennec fox can go without water indefinitely.
Chapter 2: Fennec Fox Habitat
Fennec foxes are adapted to living in some of the harshest desert climates in the world, including the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. The fennec fox is able to survive in environments in which temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Additionally, the fennec fox’s habitat is almost entirely lacking in water sources.
The extreme environment of the fennec fox has shaped its physical appearance and behavioral mannerisms. The fennec fox is perfectly suited to thrive in a desert environment in which almost no creatures on Earth can survive.
Where Can Fennec Foxes Be Found in the Wild?
Fennec foxes can be found in the wild throughout northern Africa and into the Arabian peninsula. On the west, their habitat stretches to Morocco, and on the east all the way through Egypt and into Israel and Kuwait. They span from the top of the African continent in the north down to Niger and Ethiopia in the south.
Within this range, fennec foxes inhabit desert environments. They’re well suited to surviving in conditions other species can’t live in, and gravitate toward desert climates. Areas subject to punishing heat and sunlight throughout the day and lacking in water sources are the fennec fox’s natural habitat.
Fennec foxes are burrowing animals, constructing dens in which they sleep during the daytime to avoid the full heat and sunlight of the desert daytime. Fennec foxes dig their dens into the sand, and they are skilled burrowers. The den of a fennec fox varies in size and complexity depending on the quality of the sand in their environment.
If a fennec fox lives in an area with loosely compacted sand, its burrow will be simple and small, with a single entrance. However, if digging in stable, compacted sand a fennec fox burrow can span up to 120 square meters and include as many as 15 entrances. Fennec fox families will even construct burrows that interlink with one another in some cases.
What are the Fennec Foxes Predators?
The main non-human predator of the fennec fox are varieties of the eagle owl found in northern Africa. Eagle owls are nocturnal like fennec foxes, and are able to swoop down from above the take fennec foxes unaware. Fennec foxes are a significant food source for certain owls such as the Pharaoh eagle-owl.
In addition to eagle owls, fennec foxes have been known to be hunted by hyenas, jackals and the saluki, a type of greyhound-like dog local to the area. However, fennec foxes are difficult prey animals for these types of predators due to their agility and elusiveness. The only animals known to heavily prey on fennec foxes are eagle owls.
In a real sense, a fennec fox’s main predator at this point is humans. Fennec foxes are hunted for sport, in large part because of their elusive nature. Their light-colored coats are also prized for fur to be used for garments and other decorations. Finally, the fennec fox is a popular exotic pet, meaning that hunters target them attempting to capture their young for sale to tourists and other pet-seekers.
How Do Fennec Foxes Protect Themselves?
Fennec foxes have a number of defense mechanisms to protect themselves from possible predators. First of all, their dens are their primary defense during most of the day. Most would-be predators aren’t able to dig down into a fennec fox den to attack them. Fennec foxes stay in their burrows during the daytime when certain predators are active, only emerging at night to hunt and forage.
Once out of their burrows, fennec foxes still, have a number of additional ways of eluding hunters. Their light-colored coats blend in with the desert sand, making it difficult for predators to spot them. Fennec foxes are speedy and agile, making them too difficult for hyenas or jackals to chase down or corner in most circumstances. Fennec foxes prefer to flee rather than fight in most situations. But they do possess sharp teeth and can bite if cornered and left with no other options.
Chapter 3: Fennec Fox Adaptation
As I’ve mentioned before, fennec foxes are supremely well adapted to their desert environments. This ranges from their bodies to their diets to their social structures. All in all, fennec foxes fulfill a specialized niche within their ecosystem.
Physical Characteristics
Fennec fox possesses feet covered at the bottoms with unusually thick fur. This fur allows them to walk on sand so hot that it would burn the feet of a creature with less padding as protection.
The coat of a fennec fox blends in well with the sand, especially during the night time when fennec foxes are active. Combined with its small size, the fennec fox is naturally camouflaged in a desert setting.
Fennec foxes have organs and bodily systems which make extremely efficient use of water. The fennec fox’s kidneys in particular are able to prevent water loss better than almost any other mammals in existence. As a result, they require much less of it to function than most creatures of similar size and weight. They’re able to extract enough water from their diet to survive with no direct water source if needed.
In addition to the above fennec fox adaptations, the fennec fox’s distinctive ears are yet another way the fennec fox is suited to its environment.
Fennec Fox Ears
A fennec fox’s ears serve two purposes in the wild. First, a fennec fox’s ears act as a means to rid the body of excess heat. The ears have many blood vessels close to the surface to dissipate heat, allowing the fennec fox to survive a sweltering desert. The second function of the fennec fox’s large ears is to allow them to detect prey. Fennec foxes’ hearing is so acute that they can even hear tiny prey animals burrowing underground.
Fennec Fox Diet in the Wild
Fennec foxes are opportunistic feeders and survive on a wide range of food sources. Fennec foxes are omnivores, eating both animals and plants, although the bulk of their diet tends to be animal in nature.
Fennec foxes hunt at night, targeting primarily insects and small rodents. They use their large ears and an outstanding sense of hearing to locate small animals in the darkness. Using their hearing, fennec foxes are able to detect prey beneath the sand and quickly burrow down to capture their prey. When observing a fennec fox hunting, you may see it seem to stare at the ground while rotating its head. When exhibiting this behavior, the fennec fox is keying in on minute underground sounds to locate prey.
Fennec foxes supplement their diet with birds, rabbits, lizards, eggs and various fruits, roots, and vegetation. The plant-based part of the fennec fox’s diet is where it gets most of the water it needs to survive.
If a fennec fox finds a food source large enough that it can’t eat it all immediately, it will cache the food for later consumption. Fennec foxes hunt with their young and teach them how to successfully hunt.
Chapter 4: Fennec Fox Behavior
Fennec foxes are highly social animals in the wild, living in family units. A fennec fox family unit usually consists of a single breeding pair, a litter of young kits, and sometimes an older sibling or two. These familial units can reach up to 10 foxes. In some cases, fennec foxes have been observed living in close proximity to another fennec fox family. In these instances, the two families may even share a den structure.
Although fennec foxes are highly social, they are exclusively solo hunter. The only exception to this is parents teaching their young how to hunt. Aside from that, fennec foxes do not hunt cooperatively.
Because fennec foxes are social creatures in the wild, it’s possible for them to live with humans. Fennec foxes raised by humans from as young an age as possible tend to socialize best with humans. It’s worth noting that fennec foxes are not domesticated under any circumstances. They are able to live with humans in a domestic setting though, especially if hand-raised from a young age.
Fennec foxes are territorial creatures and in the wild mark their territories with both urine and scat. They tend to become more aggressively territorial during mating season, especially male fennec foxes.
While in captivity, fennec foxes have been known to bury their feces by pushing sand over it. However, it’s not known whether this type of behavior is common in the wild. Sadly, fennec foxes have not been studied in depth while in the wild. As a result, little is known about some of their social behaviors in the wild.
As I mentioned previously, fennec foxes are nocturnal and spend much of the day sleeping and resting in their dens. Fennec foxes do exhibit play behaviors within their family units and like to rest in close proximity to one another.
Fennec Foxes as Pets
Fennec foxes can make wonderful pets if bred and raised properly. If you want to be able to handle and socialize with a fennec fox, it’s necessary for a breeder to hand raise it from a kit. This hand raising process will need to start as soon as possible and properly raised fennec foxes can be expensive as a result. A fennec fox will likely cost around $1,500 to $2,000. You may also have to wait as long as a year to get a reputably bred fennec fox.
Since they’re not truly domesticated, certain aspects of owning a fennec fox can be challenging. Some fennec foxes are able to be litter trained or housebroken. Others may never get the hang of it and will urinate and defecate where they want. Fennec foxes generally will escape if provided an opportunity. Because they are excellent diggers, an owner will need to take precautions against escape.
Fennec foxes as pets are energetic and require regular exercise to stay happy. They are able to be leash trained and can be taught to come when called and other simple tricks. Fennec foxes can co-exist with other domestic pets, though there’s no guarantee of a perfect match. They tend to be friendly with strangers if properly raised, and only bite when they feel under threat in some way.
Legality of Keeping a Fennec Fox Pet
Fennec foxes are considered to be an exotic pet. As a result, it’s not legal to keep them in all jurisdictions. Further, you might be required to have a special permit in order to have a fennec fox as a pet. If you’re considering getting a fennec fox, it’s important to know what states is it legal to own a fennec fox.
Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and Washington all ban the ownership of fennec foxes. Certain states including Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Texas require that an owner obtain either a health certificate or a permit in order to own one.
It’s also worth noting that even if a state allows for fennec foxes as pets, your local municipality or city may have additional statutes or restrictions. If you’re considering getting a fennec fox, look into the laws at both a state and local level. Spending the money and effort to get a fennec fox only to find out that it’s illegal after the fact would be very unfortunate.
Chapter 5: Fennec Fox Lifespan
Fennec foxes have a comparable lifespan to domestic dogs and cats. In the wild, a fennec fox tends to live around 10 years on average. In captivity or as a pet, a fennec fox is capable of living up to around 14 years on average. Fennec foxes are vulnerable to many of the same kinds of ailments that dogs and other canids are subject to. If you keep a fennec fox, you’ll want to find a veterinarian who is willing to work with fennec foxes.
Fennec Fox Life Cycle
Fennec foxes produce a litter of babies each year in the wild. They reach sexual maturity at around 9 months. Fennec foxes mate for life, with a breeding pair able to produce a litter each year but not mating more than once per year. A litter of fennec foxes will be between two and five kits.
Generally, fennec foxes in the wild mate in January or February, with litters begin born in March or April. Gestation usually lasts between 50 to 55 days. During the time in which the female fox is pregnant, the male will hunt for her and be very protective of her. He will continue to hunt for the female while she’s lactating and feeding the young.
Fennec fox kits survive on their mother’s milk for the first five weeks of their life. After that, they begin to be weaned onto more solid food captured by their parents. For the first two months of their lives, fennec fox kits remain within their dens protected by their parents. There’s a temporary period where the male fox stays away from the den as the kits get a bit older during which the male might otherwise attack the kits.
Gradually, the young fennec foxes begin to hunt on their own, and by around 9 to 11 months are able to go out on their own and start their own family.
Conclusion
Fennec foxes are one of the most beautiful and unique creatures in the world, with their cream-colored pelts, juvenile-seeming appearance, and pronounced ears. In addition to their physical distinctiveness, fennec foxes are also marvelous in how they adapt to the inhospitable desert climate. All in all, they are a species deserving of our respect and care.
Are fennec foxes endangered? No. Fennec foxes aren’t currently seen as a species in danger of extinction or diminishment in the wild. However, humans continue to put pressure on their environment as we expand, and it’s a good idea to stay vigilant as to their status in the future.
Maybe you’re someone who has or had a fennec fox as a pet in the past or knows someone who has one. Or maybe you’re simply fascinated by this uncommon and beautiful creature. Regardless, please leave a comment below if you’d like to add your own thoughts or experiences to the discussion.
