Oh, did you think it was going to be a one-and-done with ‘fluffies that pokemon are loosely based on?’ If so, you missed that the song says I gotta catch them all.
Today’s Moment of Science… the fennec fox.
A ridiculous set of ears with a small-ish fox shaped thing attached to it, the Vulpes zerda can be found throughout the Sahara desert and in some parts of Egypt and Israel. Weighing in at just 2-3lbs, it’s not just the smallest fox in the world, it’s the tiniest cousin on the canine family tree.
Every pluck of these danger chihuahuas is custom designed to laugh in the face of desert survival, and the ears play an outsized role in that. Sometimes reaching a third the length of the fennec’s body, the pair of gracious aural offerings help with both the ability to detect prey from a distance and keep the little bugger cool. Even their small size is an adaptation that’s highly suited to their environment. Its high surface area for such a wee little thing allows it to shed body heat much more efficiently than some of its wolfier cousins.
Big beige feet act kinda like fluffy snowshoes, keeping them cool and light on their feet on top of the hot desert sand. That fur coat is as versatile as it is fabulous, the light color deflecting heat in the punishing sahara sun and thickening up to keep them toasty in the cold winters.
Evolution has crafted the fennec to be a touch unique from other foxes. They mate for life and establish cozy dens that can be bigger than a thousand square feet. Dens give them shelter from predators like jackals, African horned owls, hyenas, and caracals. The kits stay at home for a while, even after mom has the next litter of kits. Social creatures, sometimes they more or less construct duplexes and their dens connect to the fennecs next door.
(If you’re not picturing the cutest little fennec cookout with their little fennec neighbors right now, we can’t be friends).
Fennecs have a rich omnivorous diet that includes lizards, insects, rodents, birds, bird eggs, fruits, leaves, and roots. When they get access to water, they drink like they don’t know when they’ll see water again. Likely because they don’t know when they’ll see water again. With super efficient kidneys, they generally wring all the water they need from their food.
A major threat to fennecs: humans. People capture them for their fur or for the exotic pet market. Because it was cute and small enough to tell ourselves we could be the boss of it.
In captivity, pups are often taken from their mothers by breeders and hand raised to make them tamer, more valuable pets. Which… I have feelings about.
Do you want a pet fennec fox? Take a few things into account. They’re used to having the biggest sandbox on Earth to roam around in, and males especially like to mark their territory. They can also become aggressive during breeding season, and I’m not sure what they’re gonna try humping in the house in the absence of another fennec fox. Just because they were raised by breeders doesn’t mean they’ve had generations of the types of adaptations that your golden retriever’s been through; they’re still wild animals.
What does the fennec fox say? No exaggeration, they sound roughly like a Karen having a meltdown in a Victoria’s Secret.
This has been your daily Moment of Science, telling myself over and over and over again why a fennec fox is a bad idea and hoping I’ll believe myself.
To get the daily MOS sent right to your inbox with adorable critters, terrifying plagues, and Cold War nuclear fuckery to liven up your day, head to patreon.com/scibabe.
Join the discussion!