Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The largest pop­u­la­tions of Vulpes zerda occur in the cen­tral Sa­hara, though the species can be found in moun­tain­ous and desert re­gions from north­ern Mo­rocco (roughly 35 de­grees N lat­i­tude), east along the north­ern tip of the Red Sea to Kuwait, and south into north­ern Nige­ria and Chad (15 de­grees N lat­i­tude). ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; King­don, 1997; Smith, 1985; Zimen, 1990)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

Fen­necs are highly spe­cial­ized to desert life and found al­most ex­clu­sively in arid, sandy re­gions. The pres­ence of desert grasses and/or light scrub veg­e­ta­tion is im­por­tant, as fen­necs use these plants to bol­ster, shel­ter, and line their dens. Fen­necs are so well adapted to their Sa­ha­ran cli­mate that they need not drink. In times of need, how­ever, nearby veg­e­ta­tion is a handy source of water and may be eaten. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; King­don, 1997; Os­born, 1998)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Fen­necs are the small­est of the canids. They range in size from 0.8 kg in vix­ens to 1.5 kg in males. They are smaller than an av­er­age house cat. Tail length is be­tween 18 and 30 cm, and ac­counts for nearly 60 per­cent of the 30 to 40 cm body length. Stand­ing 18 to 22 cm at the shoul­der, fen­necs are sig­nif­i­cantly shorter than other African foxes, which av­er­age a shoul­der height of 30 cm. Not enough is known about fen­necs to state con­clu­sively whether they are sex­u­ally di­mor­phic. The fam­ily Canidae, how­ever, ex­hibits the lim­ited sex­ual di­mor­phism com­mon in groups of mostly monog­a­mous species. Since V. zerda is monog­a­mous, it is rea­son­able to as­sume this species fol­lows the pat­tern of slight sex­ual di­mor­phism. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; Estes, 1991; King­don, 1997; Smith, 1985; Zimen, 1990)

The ears of fen­necs are per­haps their most dis­tinc­tive fea­ture. Mas­sive in pro­por­tion to the skull, the large, 15 cm long pin­nae are used both to dis­si­pate heat and to lo­cate prey mov­ing under the sand. En­larged au­di­tory bul­lae also serve this lat­ter pur­pose. Fur in adults is thick and silky, buff-col­ored on the dor­sal sur­face and white along the an­i­mal’s legs, face, ear-lin­ings and un­der­side. In con­trast, ju­ve­niles are downy and al­most ex­clu­sively white. The fur over the vi­o­let gland - found in all foxes, and of un­known func­tion - is black or dark brown. This is also the color of the fur on the tip of the tail. The feet are heav­ily furred, pro­tect­ing the pads from the hot desert sand. The eyes, rhi­nal pad, and vib­ris­sae of fen­necs are all black. Den­ti­tion is weak, sim­i­lar to that in bat-eared foxes. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; Estes, 1991; King­don, 1997; Os­born, 1998; Smith, 1985; Zimen, 1990)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  0.8 to 1.5 kg

  1.76 to 3.30 lb

• Average mass

  1.5 kg

  3.30 lb

• Range length

  30 to 40 cm

  11.81 to 15.75 in

• Average length

  30 cm

  11.81 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  2.693 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle is known about how fen­necs at­tract or de­fend their mates, though re­pro­duc­tive op­por­tu­nity may be af­fected by so­cial po­si­tion. It is pos­si­ble that only dom­i­nant males pair with fe­males. The breed­ing sea­son runs from Jan­u­ary to Feb­ru­ary, but vix­ens re­main in es­trus for only a few days. Fen­necs mate for life. This monog­a­mous pair­ing leads to a so­cial struc­ture in which each breed­ing cou­ple (or fam­ily- fen­nec par­ents often en­list the aid of older sib­lings in car­ing for off­spring) have their own ter­ri­tory. This ter­ri­tory is bounded by urine and piles of fecal mat­ter. Fen­necs are vig­or­ous de­fend­ers of both ter­ri­tory and pups. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; King­don, 1997; Zimen, 1990)

• Mating System
• monogamous
• cooperative breeder

The breed­ing sea­son of V. zerda be­gins in mid win­ter (Jan­u­ary to Feb­ru­ary), and pups are born after a ges­ta­tion pe­riod of 50 to 53 days. 50 days is the av­er­age ges­ta­tion. Fen­necs have a slow re­pro­duc­tive rate, and vix­ens give birth only once yearly. Their lit­ters are rel­a­tively small, usu­ally con­tain­ing only 2 to 4 al­tri­cial pups (al­though 5 and even 6 are not en­tirely un­com­mon). At birth, the blind and help­less off­spring weigh 50 g. Their mother at­tends them in the den for the first 2 weeks, until their eyes open. At 4 weeks the pups begin to play within the den. At 5 weeks play ex­tends to the area just out­side the den en­trance. The pups of V. zerda suckle longer than those of most foxes, and wean­ing may not occur until nearly 3 months of age. Young may be licked, car­ried, and closely watched for up to 70 days. Sex­ual ma­tu­rity comes with the at­tain­ment of adult size at 6 to 9 months of age. (Zimen, 1990; "Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; King­don, 1997; Smith, 1985; Zimen, 1990)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Fennecs breed once yearly

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs in January and February.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 6

• Average number of offspring

  3

• Average number of offspring

  2.2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  50 to 53 days

• Average gestation period

  50 days

• Range weaning age

  30 to 90 days

• Range time to independence

  6 to 9 months

• Average time to independence

  6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  6 to 9 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  6 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  6 to 9 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  6 months

The low birth rate and slow re­pro­duc­tive re­cov­ery of de­clin­ing fen­nec pop­u­la­tions means that fen­nec par­ents have a high re­pro­duc­tive in­vest­ment in their al­tri­cial pups. Vix­ens give con­tin­u­ous care for the two weeks fol­low­ing birth. Fa­ther and mother work to­gether dur­ing the pro­longed rear­ing of the young. Males bring food to the fam­ily and watch for dan­gers to play­ing pups. Fen­necs are very ag­gres­sive in the de­fense of their young, and added pro­tec­tion for the pups may be a rea­son to main­tain com­mu­nity struc­ture. Though weaned at as early as one month, fen­nec off­spring re­quire care and su­per­vi­son for a much longer pe­riod. Full in­de­pen­dence is not at­tained until roughly 6 months of age. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; King­don, 1997; Zimen, 1990)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Fen­necs can live for up to 10 years in the wild, a com­mon lifes­pan among African foxes. Cap­tive fen­necs may sur­vive for up to 12 years. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; Smith, 1985)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  10 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  12 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  10 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  12 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

Fen­necs are highly so­cial an­i­mals, liv­ing to­gether in fam­ily groups which may con­tain up to 10 in­di­vid­u­als. These kin-based clans usu­ally in­clude at least one breed­ing pair, a lit­ter of im­ma­ture pups, and per­haps a few of the pups’ older sib­lings. Ter­ri­tory is marked by both urine and scat. Dom­i­nant males uri­nate more at am­rk­ing sites than their sub­mis­sive fel­lows.

The gre­gar­i­ous na­ture of fen­necs is ev­i­dent in their fre­quent and var­ied vo­cal­iza­tions. Both adults and pups chat­ter, whim­per, wail, growl and shriek. Howls are brief and loud, de­scend­ing in pitch and re­peated many times.

Fen­necs often en­gage in play and prove re­mark­ably agile for their small stature. A full-grown adult can jump straight up to 0.7 m, and over 1 m from the stand­ing po­si­tion. This trait helps fen­necs cap­ture prey. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; King­don, 1997; Zimen, 1990)

Noc­tur­nal hunters, fen­necs need places to sleep dur­ing the day in which they will be shel­tered from the hot desert sun. For this pur­pose they dig bur­rows. These dens are also used to rear pups. Often they be­come ex­ten­sive tun­nel sys­tems and may posses sev­eral en­trances from which the fen­necs can flee should en­e­mies ar­rive. Bur­rows are usu­ally dug be­neath desert bushes, al­lowi­ing the roots of the plants to pro­vide sup­port for tun­nel walls. Leaves are used to line the vixen’s nest­ing cham­ber.

In some in­stances sev­eral fen­nec fam­i­lies may live to­gether, shar­ing a com­plex den. Even when this co­hab­i­ta­tion oc­curs, fen­necs, like other foxes, still pre­fer to hunt alone. Their preda­tory method is the stalk-spring-pounce. Fen­necs are op­por­tunis­tic feed­ers, and cache food for fu­ture use. They re­mem­ber these cache sites well from sea­son to sea­son. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; King­don, 1997; Zimen, 1990)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Home Range

The size of fen­nec home ranges has not been re­ported.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Vulpes zerda per­ceives its en­vi­ron­ment pri­mar­ily through highly de­vel­oped senses of hear­ing and smell. The enor­mous ears are able to fil­ter sound through many cen­time­ters of sand, and can de­tect sub­tle dif­fer­ences be­tween whines and whim­pers in the calls of other fen­necs. Night vi­sion is en­hanced by a re­flec­tive retina called a tape­tum. This adap­ta­tion cre­ates the il­lu­sion of glow­ing eyes and is char­ac­ter­is­tic of noc­tur­nal an­i­mals.

So­cial rank among fen­necs is com­mu­ni­cated mainly through play. As so­cial an­i­mals, they use vi­sual and tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; King­don, 1997; Zimen, 1990)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Fen­necs have small car­nas­sial teeth. They ob­tain much of their food through dig­ging, and, as om­ni­vores in a desert en­vi­ron­ment, will con­sume al­most any­thing that makes it­self avail­able. Small ro­dents, lizards, birds, eggs, and in­sects are all com­mon prey. Fruit, leaves and roots are an im­por­tant part of the diet of V. zerda, as they pro­vide al­most 100 per­cent of the an­i­mal’s hy­dra­tion. Fen­necs can go in­def­i­nitely with­out free water, and are known to cache extra food. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; King­don, 1997; Os­born, 1998)

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• reptiles
• eggs
• carrion
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• fruit

• Foraging Behavior
• stores or caches food

Pre­da­tion

Lit­tle is known about what an­i­mals prey on fen­necs, though it seems safe to as­sume that some do. Fen­nec dens are de­signed for quick es­cape, and the sand-col­ored fur which aids stalk­ing of prey may also help them evade de­tec­tion by larger, fiercer an­i­mals. Ex­cel­lent hear­ing surely al­lows V. zerda to lo­cate and avoid preda­tors. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; King­don, 1997; Os­born, 1998)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Fen­necs are preda­tors, re­duc­ing the num­ber of small mam­mals, birds, rep­tiles, in­sects, and other ter­res­trial in­ver­te­brates found within their home ter­ri­to­ries. They may strip the leaves off scrub veg­e­ta­tion, but there is no ev­i­dence that this be­hav­ior causes per­ma­nent dam­age to the plants. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b; Estes, 1991; King­don, 1997; Os­born, 1998)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Fen­necs are dis­trib­uted to zoos and as per­sonal pets. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004a; "Fen­nec Fox", 2004b)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Fen­necs do not have any known neg­a­tive im­pact on hu­mans, and why na­tive peo­ples of the Sa­hara are hunt­ing them into de­cline re­mains un­clear. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; Zimen, 1990)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Fen­necs once ranged broadly over north­ern Africa, but sport hunt­ing and in­tru­sion by hu­mans are shrink­ing their habi­tat and in­creas­ing their scarcity. The IUCN Red List cites fen­necs as Data de­fi­cient. CITES places fen­necs in Ap­pen­dix II in Aus­tria, and Ap­pen­dix III in Den­mark and Tunisia. ("Fen­nec fox", 2004; Zimen, 1990)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II Appendix III

Other Com­ments

In­ter­est­ingly, fen­necs raised in the lab often dig or at­tempt to dig within their cages - ev­i­dence that this be­hav­ior is in­tu­itive, rather than learned. ("Fen­nec Fox", 2004b)

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Re­becca Adams (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

2004. "Fen­nec Fox" (On-line). Mam­mals of the San An­to­nio Zoo. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 04, 2004 at http://​www.​sazoo-aq.​org/​02meet/​02sublinks/​fennec.​html.

2004. "Fen­nec Fox" (On-line). The Chaf­fee Zoo. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 04, 2004 at http://​www.​chaffeezoo.​org/​animals/​fennec.​htm.

2004. "Fen­nec fox" (On-line). BBC Na­ture Facts. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 04, 2004 at http://​www.​bbc.​co.​uk/​nature/​wildfacts/​factfiles/​146.​shtml.

Estes, R. 1991. The Be­hav­ior Guide to African Mam­mals. Berke­ley & Los An­ge­les, CA: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

King­don, J. 1997. The King­don Field Guide to African Mam­mals. San Diego, CA: Aca­d­e­mic Press.

Os­born, D. 1998. The Mam­mals of An­cient Egypt. West­min­ster, Eng­land: Aris & Phillips Ltd.

Smith, S. 1985. The Atlas of Africa's Prin­ci­pal Mam­mals. Re­pub­lic of South Africa: Nat­ural His­tory Books.

Zimen, E. 1990. Fen­nec. Pp. 131-132 in B Grz­imek, ed. Fen­nec, Vol. 4, Sec­ond Edi­tion. New York: Mc­Graw-Hill.