A 3-month-old fennec fox is full of energy and ready to play in the Children's Zoo Nursery at the San Diego Zoo.
The young male, who weighs just 1.5 pounds, is in quarantine before being training to serve as an animal ambassador for his species.
The nocturnal fox pup has spurts of energy, so animal care staff have been giving him lots of toys and food puzzles to help keep him busy. The fox's favorite toys to play with are small, plush toy mice.
"Fennec foxes are great hunters, and in order to foster those natural behaviors, we will give him some stuffed mice that he'll toss around and pounce on as if he's practicing hunting," said Becky Kier, senior Neonatal Assisted Care Unit keeper at the San Diego Zoo. "In the wild he would normally dig for insects in the sand, so we provide him with something to dig through to encourage that behavior as well."
The fennec fox weighs about three pounds when full grown, making it the smallest fox in the world. Large, bat-like ears provide extraordinary hearing that can help locate prey underground or more than one mile away.
Guests visiting the Zoo can see the fennec fox in the Children's Zoo nursery in the Zoo's Discovery Outpost.
