![]() This monogamous pairing leads to a social structure in which each breeding couple (or family- fennec parents often enlist the aid of older siblings in caring for offspring) have their own territory. The breeding season runs from January to February, but vixens remain in estrus for only a few days. It is possible that only dominant males pair with females. Little is known about how fennecs attract or defend their mates, though reproductive opportunity may be affected by social position. Other Physical Features: endothermic homoiothermic bilateral symmetry Dentition is weak, similar to that in bat-eared foxes. The eyes, rhinal pad, and vibrissae of fennecs are all black. The feet are heavily furred, protecting the pads from the hot desert sand. ![]() This is also the color of the fur on the tip of the tail. The fur over the violet gland - found in all foxes, and of unknown function - is black or dark brown. In contrast, juveniles are downy and almost exclusively white. Fur in adults is thick and silky, buff-colored on the dorsal surface and white along the animal’s legs, face, ear-linings and underside. Enlarged auditory bullae also serve this latter purpose. Massive in proportion to the skull, the large, 15 cm long pinnae are used both to dissipate heat and to locate prey moving under the sand. The ears of fennecs are perhaps their most distinctive feature. zerda is monogamous, it is reasonable to assume this species follows the pattern of slight sexual dimorphism. The family Canidae, however, exhibits the limited sexual dimorphism common in groups of mostly monogamous species. Not enough is known about fennecs to state conclusively whether they are sexually dimorphic. Standing 18 to 22 cm at the shoulder, fennecs are significantly shorter than other African foxes, which average a shoulder height of 30 cm. Tail length is between 18 and 30 cm, and accounts for nearly 60 percent of the 30 to 40 cm body length. They are smaller than an average house cat. They range in size from 0.8 kg in vixens to 1.5 kg in males. The Blandford fly has been recorded in the following countries: Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Latvia, Germany, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Southern England, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, European Russia and Western Siberia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine.Fennecs are the smallest of the canids. Recently, the fly has begun affecting people in other parts of southern England, including built up areas, probably encouraged by garden water features. ![]() Indeed, it is reported that the number of people bitten has dropped to less than one hundredth of those affected in 1989. They suggested using a biological, bacterial insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), which was sprayed into the weed beds, resulting in the destruction of 80–90% of the Blandford fly larvae and a corresponding reduction in the numbers of people bitten. In the late 1980s, Dorset County Council asked the Institute for Freshwater Ecology (now the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), then based in Wareham, Dorset, to investigate a means of ameliorating the problem. In a four-week period during the spring of 1972, some 600 people were estimated to have visited their doctors in Blandford to be treated for insect bites. The Blandford fly's English common name derives from a major outbreak of people being bitten around the town of Blandford Forum in Dorset, England, in the 1960s and 1970s. Scratching the irritated areas can lead to breaks in the skin, after which infection may set in. It usually bites the lower legs causing pain, itching and swelling. It spends its larval stage in the weedbeds of slow flowing rivers and when the fly emerges, the female seeks a blood meal before mating. It is a biting insect found in Europe, Turkey and western Siberia. The Blandford fly ( Simulium posticatum) is a species of black fly.
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