The Sahara can reach temperatures of over 100°F, but the fennec fox’s ears act like an air conditioning system by cooling the blood in a network of veins.
BBC Earth
AU where Fox doesn’t die (he still gets his neck snapped but he does survive that), Bail manages to smuggle him to Alderaan and they still adopt Leia.
Just. Imagine Vader and Palpatine staring at Fox holding toddler Leia, who stare right back.
“Isn’t that CC-1010.” “Of course he isn’t, what makes you think that?” “He looks like CC-1010.” “He just happens to look like him, are you telling me I don’t know who my husband is, my Lord?” “Senator Organa, I think I know what clones look like.” “I’m so sorry, but are you saying that you think all the clones look the same?”
Senator Organa smiles at him pleasantly. The man who looks just like CC-1010 and the girl he is holding (who looks eerily familiar in a way Palpatine can’t quite put his finger on) continue to stare at him.
Weighing between 1.5 and 3.5 pounds (.68 to 1.5 kg), the fennec fox is the smallest canine in the world.
The word fennec comes from “fannek,” which is the Arabic name for the fox. The word “zerda” in their scientific name comes from the Greek word “xeros,” which means dry, so their scientific name means “dry fox.” Dry fox is a very fitting name for these desert-dwelling animals. Found in Arabia and the Sahara desert of North Africa, they almost never actually drink water. They instead get water from the food they eat. Desert animals can’t be picky about food, so the diet of the fennec fox is very diverse. They eat insects, particularly grasshoppers and locusts, fruit, roots, mice, lizards, scorpions, and even the occasional rabbit, although these rabbits are generally larger than the foxes.
The Sahara desert is one of the driest and hottest regions in the world with an average summer temperature of over 104° Fahrenheit (40° C). At night, the temperature drops dramatically to an average 25° F (-4° C). Fennec foxes hunt at night, preferring these freezing temperatures over the scorching ones. During the day, they take shelter in large burrows. They are social animals and generally share these burrows with a family group of up to ten individuals.
The fennec fox has a thick, pale-colored coat, helping them camouflage in the sand as well as insulate them, protecting them during cold nights and hot days. They have thick fur on the bottom of their feet to protect their paw pads from the heat of the sand. This fur on their feet also provides traction for running on the sand, allowing the tiny foxes to reach speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. They also have giant ears which grow to be about half the size of their body, allowing the fox to regulate its body temperature and hear small animals deep under the sand. These traits make the fennec fox perfectly suited for life in the desert.
(Head)canon: Kaveh adopts the three desert foxes that were following him and he brings them home. Alhaitham of course is not happy about it, but he can't do much because Kaveh got too attached to them and doesn't know how to say no to him
Jumps of a small jerboa during a rapid run can exceed three meters - a distance twenty times the length of the animal's body and its furry paws push off the sand for very fast turns. Only this can save his life from a very hungry desert fox.