Fennec fox
Vulpes zerda (Zimmermann, 1780)
The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda), also called the fennec, is a mammal in the family Canidae and the order Carnivora. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial, nocturnal carnivore with an adult body mass of 1.1 kg and values up to 1.208 kg.
Quick facts about the fennec fox
The fennec fox is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 1.1 kg – 1.21 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 14.6 years – 16.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- desertsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 49 days – 51 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2 – 5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 9 months – 9.66 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the fennec fox
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Where does the fennec fox live?
Not recorded
What is the fennec fox?
The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat and listen for underground prey. The fennec is the smallest fox species. Its coat, ears, and kidney functions have adapted to the desert environment with high temperatures and little water.
The fennec fox mainly eats insects, small mammals and birds. It has a life span of up to 14 years in captivity and about 10 years in the wild. Pups are preyed upon by the Pharaoh eagle-owl; both adults and pups may fall prey to jackals and striped hyenas. Fennec families dig out burrows in the sand for habitation and protection, which can be as large as 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft) and adjoin the burrows of other families. Precise population figures are not known but are estimated from the frequency of sightings; these indicate that the fennec fox is currently not threatened by extinction. Knowledge of social interactions is limited to information gathered from captive animals. The fennec fox is commonly trapped for exhibition or sale in North Africa, and it is considered an exotic pet in some parts of the world.
From the Wikipedia article “Fennec fox” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fennec_fox&oldid=1380846494), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the fennec fox sound like?
Is the fennec fox endangered?
The fennec fox is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the fennec fox classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyCanidae
- genusVulpes
- SpeciesVulpes zerda (Zimmermann, 1780)
Synonyms Canis zerda, Fennecus zerda
Other names and names in other languages (37)
- FennecEnglish
- FennecEnglish
- WoestynvosAfrikaans
- فنكArabic
- ثعلب الفنكArabic
- فنك، ثعلب الصحراءArabic
- AqorchiArabic
- ArhorchiArabic
- FenekArabic
- Rabosa d'o disiertoAragonese
- ØrkenrævDanish
- WüstenfuchsGerman
- FennekGerman
- ΦενέκGreek
- FénecSpanish
- FennekrebaneEstonian
- fennekkiFinnish
- פנקHebrew
- שועל המדברHebrew
- Pustinjska lisicaCroatian
- sivatagi rókaHungarian
- ՖենեկArmenian
- FennecoItalian
- MegalotoItalian
- Volpe del desertoItalian
- フェネックJapanese
- 사막여우Korean
- 페넥여우Korean
- WüstefuussLuxembourgish
- ØrkenrevNorwegian Bokmål
- WoestijnvosDutch
- Fenek pustynnyPolish
- FenecoPortuguese
- çöl tilkisiTurkish
- Uzun kulaklı çöl tilkisiTurkish
- ФенекUkrainian
- 𦗒狐Chinese
Relatives of the fennec fox
Other species in the same genus Vulpes.
Red fox
Vulpes vulpes
Corsac fox
Vulpes corsac
Bengal fox
Vulpes bengalensis
Cape fox
Vulpes chama
Tibetan fox
Vulpes ferrilata
Blanford's fox
Vulpes cana
CompareFennec fox vs Red foxFennec fox vs Corsac foxFennec fox vs Bengal foxFennec fox vs Cape fox
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the fennec fox?
The fennec fox is a mammal in the family Canidae, order Carnivora. It is terrestrial and nocturnal.
How heavy is a fennec fox?
An adult fennec fox weighs 1.1 kg, with values up to 1.208 kg reported. This places it in the medium size class.
What does the fennec fox eat?
The fennec fox is a carnivore.
How long does a fennec fox live?
The fennec fox has a lifespan of 14.58 years, with values up to 16.3 years reported.
How many young does a fennec fox have?
A fennec fox has 2 to 5 young per litter, with 2.36 as the representative value, and 1 litter per year. Gestation lasts 51 days.
What is the scientific name of the fennec fox?
The scientific name of the fennec fox is Vulpes zerda, named by (Zimmermann, 1780).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
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CreatureData. (2026). Fennec fox (Vulpes zerda). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/fennec-fox
“Fennec fox (Vulpes zerda).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/fennec-fox.
@misc{fennec_fox_2026,
title = {Fennec fox (Vulpes zerda)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/fennec-fox},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}