Fennec fox

Fennec foxes hunt at night.

They eat bugs like grasshoppers. They also eat mice, lizards, eggs, fruit and leaves. Juicy food gives them water to drink.

Fennec foxes are omnivores, which means they eat both animals and plants. Their favorite foods are insects, especially grasshoppers and locusts, and they also catch small rodents, lizards and birds and eat eggs, roots, fruit and leaves.

Water is rare in the Sahara, so fennecs get most of the water they need from their food. Plants and juicy prey work like a packed lunch and a drink in one. A fennec can go a long time without drinking at all.

The fennec is an opportunistic omnivore. Insects, particularly grasshoppers and locusts, are a staple, supplemented by small rodents, lizards, birds and their eggs, snails, and plant material such as roots, fruit and leaves.

It hunts alone at night, listening for prey moving beneath the sand and then digging rapidly with all four feet. The Smithsonian notes it can overpower prey larger than itself, including adult rabbits. Because free water is scarce, it relies largely on preformed water in its food and can go for long periods without drinking, a key adaptation for a predator of the open sand sea.

Fennec foxes sleep in the day and wake up at night.

They dig long tunnels with many doors. Families live together. They talk with barks, squeaks and little chatters.

Fennec foxes are nocturnal, which means they are active at night. During the hot day they rest in burrows they dig themselves. Some burrows are long tunnel systems up to 10 meters long, with several doors so the foxes can escape if danger comes.

A mother and father fennec stay together, and they can live in family groups of up to ten. Sometimes several families share one big den. Fennecs are chatty: they bark, whimper, squeak, growl and even howl.

Fennecs are strongly nocturnal, which avoids both the heat of the day and daytime predators such as large birds of prey. Their burrows can be tunnel complexes up to about 10 meters long with multiple entrances, and dens are sometimes linked or shared by more than one family group.

Pairs are monogamous and may form family groups of up to about ten animals. Fennecs are territorial and mark their ground with urine and feces, especially during the breeding season, when males become more aggressive. Their vocal repertoire includes barks, whimpers, shrieks, squeaks, growls, howls and chattering calls.

There are still many fennec foxes in the desert.

But some people catch them to sell as pets. Fennecs belong in the wild. Several countries have laws to protect them.

The fennec fox is listed as Least Concern, which means scientists do not think it is in danger of disappearing soon. The biggest problem is people catching fennecs to sell as pets or to show to tourists. In some places towns and roads are spreading into their desert homes.

Fennec foxes are protected by law in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. You can help by never buying wild animals as pets or souvenirs, and by sharing what you know about them.

The IUCN Red List assessed the fennec in 2015 as Least Concern with a stable population trend, and the assessment is flagged as needing an update. Recorded threats include trapping for the pet and display trade, local hunting, and pressure from housing, roads, and oil and gas development.

The species is legally protected in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, occurs in protected areas and is covered by international trade controls. The assessment gives no estimate of how many mature fennecs there are.