Cats and Dogs: Fennec Fox
The fennec fox or fennec (Vulpes zerda) is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat. Its name comes from the Arabic word فنك (fanak), which means fox, and the species name zerda comes from the Greek word xeros which means dry, referring to the fox's habitat The fennec is the smallest species of canid in the world. Its coat, ears, and kidney functions have adapted to high-temperature, low-water, desert environments. In addition, its hearing is sensitive enough to hear prey moving underground. It mainly eats insects, small mammals, and birds.
The fennec has a life span of up to 14 years in captivity. Its main predators are the African varieties of eagle owl. Families of fennecs dig out dens in sand for habitation and protection, which can be as large as 120 m2 (1,292 sq ft) and adjoin the dens of other families. Precise population figures are not known but are estimated from the frequency of sightings; these indicate that the animal is currently not threatened by extinction. Knowledge of social interactions is limited to information gathered from captive animals. The species is usually assigned to the genus Vulpes; however, this is debated due to differences between the fennec fox and other fox species. The fennec's fur is prized by the indigenous peoples of North Africa, and in some parts of the world, the animal is considered an exotic pet.
The fennec fox is bred commercially as an exotic house pet. Breeders tend to remove the young kits from the mother to hand-rear, as owners prefer tamer and more handleable foxes, thereby making them more expensive.
The species is classified a "Small wild/exotic canid" by the United States Department of Agriculture, along with the coyote, dingo, jackal, and arctic fox, and is considered the only species of fox, other than the domesticated silver fox, which can properly be kept as a pet. Although it cannot be considered domesticated, it can be kept in a domestic setting similar to dogs or cats A breeders' registry has been set up in the USA to avoid any problems associated with inbreeding. The legality of owning a fennec fox varies by jurisdiction, as with many exotic pets.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French aviator and writer, made a reference in a letter written to his sister Didi from Cape Juby in 1918 to his raising a fennec that he adored. Saint-Exupéry also mentioned encountering a fennec when wandering in the Sahara after his plane crashed there in 1935. The fennecs he had known in these two contexts are considered to have inspired the fox character in Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.
A fennec called Baha, is also mentioned as a pet in a popular children's book Mischief in Fez by Eleanor Hoffman, published in 1943. In this story, the fennec is depicted according to the Arabic and Moorish tradition, whereby as a pet it is able to keep away djinns and other such demonic creatures, from a house.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennec_fox
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