A man enjoys rain showers during high tides near the sea front in Mumbai on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP Photo)

“The fennec fox is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa. Its most distinctive feature is unusually large ears. The name “fennec” comes from the Arabic word for fox, and the species name zerda has a Greek origin that refers to its habitat. The fennec is the smallest species of canid in the world; coat, ears and kidney functions have adapted to a high-temperature, low-water, desert environment. In addition, its hearing is sensitive enough to hear prey moving underground”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Baby Fennec is seen at Sunshine International Aquarium on June 24, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. The small nocturnal fox babies were born on May 17 2009. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

A five-month-old cheetah seated in the back of a Land Cruiser growls at an outstretched hand after being taken from traffickers in Ethiopia and driven to Harirad, Somaliland, in 2020. This photo is part of the work of more than 100 artists in Why We Photograph Animals, a new collection of wildlife photography that aims to help understand why people have photographed animals at different points in history and what it means in the present. (Photo by Nichole Sobecki/Thames & Hudson)

Tom Lishness of Windsor, who has been competing in the event since 2005, gets into position for the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta on Monday morning, Oct. 14, 2024, in Damariscotta, Maine. (Photo by Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via AP Photo)

Michael Olivant, a Times reader, saw a chance to contribute when a Dalmatian pelican landed on his wife’s head at Lake Kerkini in northern Greece in the first decade of February 2025. (Photo by Michael Olivant/The Times)

A stranded cat swims through flood water searching for dry land June 16, 2008 in Oakville, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A dog is kept at a pen at the newly opened Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, August 23, 2016. One of the most popular attractions at the zoo might come as a surprise to foreign visitors. Just across the way from the hippopotamus pen and the reptile house, dozens of varieties of dogs, including schnauzers, German shepherds, Shih Tzus and Saint Bernards – are on display in the “dog pavilion”. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

A veterinarian kisses an 8-month-old cat, wearing a prosthetic two-wheel device, at a veterinary hospital in Chongqing municipality, March 16, 2015. The cat's rear legs lost the abilty to walk after falling from the ninth to fifth floor of a building last November, its since undergone four major surgeries which included removing parts of its organs, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)