Sahara and Phoenix

the

Fennec Foxes

Sahara (at 4 weeks old) with Phoenix (4 months old)
Sahara at 4 weeks old with Phoenix at 4 months old

Phoenix and Sahara are my two Fennec Foxes.

Fennec Foxes are the world's smallest foxes weighing a maximum weight of about 2 to 3 pounds. Fennec Foxes are also known as Desert Foxes since they live in the hot arid deserts of North Africa, throughout the Sahara including Morrocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, south to the Sudan to approximately 17° N. According to the Davis Dictionary of the Bible, "Tristram enumerates two species of fox as occurring in Palestine, the Egyptian fox (vulpes nilotica), and the tawny fox (vulpes flavesceus)."

Distribution of Fennec Foxes in the wild
Distribution of Fennec Foxes in North Africa

Being desert dwellers, Fennec Foxes are sand colored, and their most noticable characteristic is their large ears which are used for diffusing heat in the daytime and for hunting at night.

Their name in Arabic is "Tha'lab Saharawi" which means "Fox of the Desert". Their Latin name is "Vulpes zerda", formerly "Fennecus Zerda", and in German, they are called "Fennek" or "Wüstenfuchs".

Names

We named our little female fox "Sahara" which means "desert" in Arabic. We thought about calling the male "Felix the Fox", but we wanted a name that had more connection to Egypt or the desert, and when we came upon "Phoenix the Fennec Fox", it was perfect - it had just the right ring to it and it invokes images of the desert! Any good songwriter in Nashville would appreciate the alliteration in that name!

Phoenix was born on my birthday, April 7, 2000, and as of today, he is exactly old. We got Sahara from our breeder friend Sharolyn Snyder, and Sahara's parents are Slygo and Snickers. Sahara was born on July 12, 2000, so as of today, she is exactly old. When Sahara was about 5 weeks old, she ran underfoot, and suffered head trauma. After about 2 weeks of intensive care by our vet, Sahara survived and learned to walk again, although she remains blind in her right eye. Other than that, she is now back to normal and is now one energetic little fennec fox!

Sahara (at 4 weeks old) with Phoenix (4 months old)

Phoenix (at 4 months old) chasing Sahara (4 weeks old)
Phoenix at 4 months old chasing Sahara at 4 weeks old

Statistics

Size of average adult Fennec Fox:

Diet

Care and Housing

Breeding

Fennec Foxes

Fennec Foxes

Lifespan

Approximate life span:

Status

The Fennec Fox is on Appendix II of CITES. It is not on the USDI list of Endangered/Threatened animals.

Resources

For more information about diet, health, care, housing, breeding, breeders, and other hard-to-find information about Fennec Foxes, you can join the free Yahoo! Groups Fennec Fox discussion list at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FennecFox

"The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
      --Matt 8:20, --Luke 9:58