"What IS this adorable creature?" you may be asking yourself. Well, you should be. It's a fennec fox, Vulpes zerda, possibly the cutest animal I have ever come across. Weighing in at only 1-1.5 kg, the fennec is the smallest member of the canine family. It's got a mostly white-to-light-orange colored coat and has a black tail tip. The soles of its feet are furry. Its giant ears are adapted to allow it to hear prey scuttling around underground. And it looks like a Gremlin.
You are probably expecting the fennec to be a native of South Asia, given our current location. In fact, it's not. It's a Saharan animal found from Morocco to Egypt. Why, then, am I writing about it here?
Well, it turns out that the fennec is one of only two species of fox that are fit to be kept as pets. The other is the Russian Silver Fox, native of Siberia. I spent probably an hour and a half this morning procrastinating by educating myself about fennecs as pets. Supposedly, they combine all the best traits of dogs and cats. They make little cooing sounds when they're happy, like to dart around like a cat with the evening frenzies, can be litter trained, and can dig up to 6 feet underground. They're undoubtedly wily.
This all sounded wonderful until we learned that most fennec owners describe their pets' dispositions using phrases like "ferret on crack". Combine that with the fact that you have to have a fence buried 6-10 feet UNDERGROUND to enclose them, and I began to feel resigned. My heart sank even further when I learned that they're highly social animals who mate for life and live in burrow communities, kind of like prairie dogs (another of my favorite animals, incidentally). I don't think I could bring myself to isolate a fennec.
Sigh. Another adorable animal that will never be mine. Perhaps this is all just my mothering instinct coming out, and I won't even want a furry friend once the baby comes?
(Dave's notes: Hopefully (for it's sake) the baby won't have such disproportionately large ears as the fennec fox)...and no, we will not be hoisting off said fennec foxes on any grandparents-to-be, unsuspecting relatives,or friendly friends!
1 comment:
SO cute! And, no, you will no longer have any desire for more creatures that rely on you for their food, health and well-being once the baby comes. I am even resenting the house plants' monthly demands for water these days! ;-)
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