Animal Directory Featured species in the planned Desert Trails habitat
Fennec Fox
Vulpes zerda
LC
Fun facts
- Smallest fox in the world — adults weigh only 0.7-1.6 kg — but has the **largest ears relative to body size of any canid**, sometimes 15 cm long.
- Those oversized ears radiate body heat into cool night air and pick up the underground rustles of insects and rodents from across the dunes.
- Hairy footpads work as natural sand-shoes, gripping loose substrate and insulating against ground temperatures that swing from below freezing at night to above 50 °C by day.
- Largely nocturnal — spends the desert day in a burrow up to 10 m across with multiple chambers and escape exits, dug into stable dune slopes.
- IUCN listed as **Least Concern**; the species is widespread across the Sahara and Sinai, though pet-trade pressure is a regional concern.
From the master plan
The Fennec Fox lives at the Oasis Rest Court of Desert Trails, on the shaded side of the central palm courtyard. The exhibit is built around a deep sand substrate and a glass-fronted burrow cutaway so guests can see the species behaving naturally — sleeping by day and emerging at dusk for ranger feeds.
IUCN status sourced from the Fennec Fox assessment (Wacher, Bauman & Cuzin, 2015) on the IUCN Red List —
Vulpes zerdalisted as Least Concern.
Find them in
Zone 11
Desert Trails
A sun-baked journey through dunes, canyons and resilient desert life
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