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Community Corner

Meet the Zoo: Digger the Fennec Fox

These desert sand foxes are famous for their huge ears and ability to brave the heat.

One of my favorite animal characters is the fox from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince.”  On one of the author’s on aviation adventures in the Sahara desert, his plane crashed. The French aviator then encountered a Fennec fox, no doubt the inspiration for the wise fox character in his book.

When visitors come to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Prospect Park Zoo and join one of the popular Animal Encounters demonstrations, take an Education Department program, or perhaps even have a birthday party, they might meet the zoo’s Fennec fox, Digger. This tiny animal has two very distinctive features:  absolutely huge ears and the title of smallest species of canid (wolves, dogs, foxes) in the world.  A Fennec’s body length averages just nine to thirteen inches long, but its ears can be a whopping four to six inches long.

Like many desert animals, the Fennec fox has a buff colored coat that deflects the heat of the day.  Those big ears help them hear prey underground, but, like elephants, big ears also help dissipate heat by having a lot of blood vessels close to the skin. 

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Digger and his kin are nocturnal creatures, native to North Africa where they spend their days sleeping in burrows and their nights searching for food like rodents, insects and birds.  They are well adapted to life without water: their kidneys actually restrict water loss and they can absorb water through their food.

When zoo staff enters the quarters where 7-year-old Digger and his pals live, he will make tiny little barks and squeals.  There are days when he is a great performer and days when he is definitely grumpy.  On those grumpy days, the staff leaves him alone and instead sees if his Fennec buddy, 2-year-old Endor, will stand in.  

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But grumpy or not, Digger is a favorite with staff.  These beautiful and interesting animals reinforce Prospect Park Zoo’s philosophy that sometimes the most interesting critters are the smallest ones.  Stop by the Discovery Theater in the Animals In Our Lives building for a live Animal Encounter and maybe you’ll meet Digger, a tiny fox with a big personality.

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