World's Smallest Wild Dog | Dogs in the Wild: Meet The Family | BBC Earth

Five and a half million square miles of sand the size of China, the Sahara smothers six percent of the

world

's land, yet this vast, unforgiving place is home to the

world

's

smallest

wild

dog, the Fennec fox, barely the size of a walking boot that this little fox is heading towards. Head to the desert every day. Sahar was filled with millions and millions of grains of sand and each grain acts as a radiator. Sand absorbs heat and the hotter it gets, the more heat it radiates. The temperature here spirals to over 100 degrees in conditions so sweltering that the Fenix's size matters a small body can shed heat faster than a large one and to lose heat even faster the Fenix's ears act as sophisticated air conditioning units the network of veins calls the blood to lower the temperature with such cooling capacity that not even a fennec can withstand the heat of the Saharan sun there is no shade, but phoenixes are masters of their environment.

Moisture is concentrated at the foot of the dunes, so the sand here is firm enough to dig a burrow, home sweet home for a pair of phoenixes. They have shelter from the worst of the heat, but eventually they must leave the safety of their den to find food and this vast desert is a dangerous place for a small

wild

dog. An unsuspecting fennec is small enough to be captured by wild

dogs

and even great horned owls, but their camouflaged coats make them less conspicuous in the dim light of twilight. She runs. Fred zigzags and jumps. He uses the dunes to mask his location.

The grains of sand move constantly, but his foot pads are furry for maximum traction. Few can control his whereabouts.