The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small, crepuscular fox native to the deserts of North Africa. Well adapted to desert life, the fennec fox's diet consists of a variety of plants and animals. As opportunistic omnivores, fennec foxes play an important role in controlling the populations of various species within their territories.
Physical Adaptations
The fennec fox's physical characteristics are well-suited to its desert environment. It is the smallest species of fox, with adults weighing between 2 and 3 pounds and measuring 10-16 inches in head-to-body length, with a 7-12 inch tail. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat and listen for underground prey. The fennec fox has sand-colored fur that reflects sunlight during the day and helps keep it warm at night. Its nose is black, and its tapering tail has a black tip. The long ears have longitudinal reddish stripes on the back and are densely haired inside. Dark streaks run from the inner eye to either side of the slender muzzle, and its large eyes are dark.
Habitat and Distribution
Fennec foxes are found throughout the Sahara, from Morocco and Mauritania to northern Sudan, through Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Arava and Negev desert in southern Israel. They inhabit small sand dunes and vast treeless sand areas with sparse vegetation such as grasses, sedges, and small shrubs. Fennec foxes make dens beneath stable sand dunes, preferring dunes with vegetation nearby. They dig burrows to sleep in during the heat of the day, which can be up to 3 feet deep.
Behavior
Fennec foxes are crepuscular animals, spending the day in their den and coming out in the cool of the night. In contrast to most foxes, which are solitary, fennec foxes form groups of about 10 members. Males are territorial, marking their boundaries with urine and becoming aggressive towards each other during the mating season.
Dietary Habits
Fennec foxes are omnivores, eating mostly leaves, roots, and fruits. They can also eat rodents, eggs, insects, and small reptiles. As opportunistic generalists, they adapt to what prey are seasonally common. The most important food items are animals and plants. Fennec foxes dig to find insects and other small prey, and can survive long periods without drinking water, as most of the water they need is provided by the plants and animals they eat.
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Food Items
In a study of three diets from south-eastern Algeria, insects (mainly Coleoptera), small mammals, and plant material were identified as the main items in the fennec fox's diet. The fennec fox adapts its feeding ecology to local and seasonal prey availability and abundance. Insects, found in all scats, proved to be the most numerous prey in the study, with Coleoptera being the main prey, excluding the consumption of Isoptera in Bamendil. Tenebrionidae and Scarabeidae were probably dug out, while Orthoptera were far less abundant in the three diets.
Small rodents are rarer prey than insects, but their biomass is dominant. Squamates were incidental prey, but can constitute a significant portion of biomass in certain areas. Birds, while having low dietary occurrence, formed a significant biomass in Guemar and Bamendil, in the vicinity of oases particularly attractive for passerines.
Plant material, which was reported common in the diet from the Sahelian zone, was present in all scats in Guemar and half scats in Sanderouce and Bamendil. This plant material includes stems of Poaceae, roots and small tubers, and dates of Phoenix dactylifera, which provide a valuable amount of energy.
Nutritional Needs in Captivity
Fennec and bat-eared foxes thrive on a diet high in live insects, whole prey, and raw meat. Commercial dog food may also be fed as an alternative diet, but only brands and formulas of the highest quality, with real meat as the first ingredient and no fillers in the first several ingredients. A taurine powder supplement must be added to the meal, as taurine is depleted during the cooking process. Fennec foxes should consume approximately 250mg of taurine daily, while bat-eared foxes should get 500g. Fruits and vegetables should not make up more than 10% of their diet.
At Dragonstone Ranch, the foxes receive freshly prepared meals consisting of whole prey or raw meat, insects, and sometimes a small portion of fruits and vegetables.
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Feeding Schedule for Kits
Baby fennec foxes should be syringe-fed milk replacer four times a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. The amount per feeding should be increased as the kit grows, while reducing the number of feeds per day. Solid food feedings should replace a milk feeding, and kits can be weaned off milk by 8 weeks.
Conservation Status and Threats
As of 2015, the fennec fox is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. However, the fennec fox is threatened by increasing aridity and consequent reduction of potential food and water supply. In North Africa, the fennec fox is commonly trapped for exhibition or sale to tourists. Expansion of permanent human settlements in southern Morocco caused its disappearance in these areas and restricted it to marginal areas.
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