Fennecus Zerda

For the first unit of our population class we spent our time learning how to do Set notation. set notation is the mathimaticly correct way to write out collections of items all the way from different galaxys or in this case traits of an organism. every set is defined by a letter and for this foxes traits i used the letter F. 

For this project, I decided to study a Fennec Fox (Lupus zerda). A Fennec Fox is a very small species of fox that lives in the African dessert. Their most recognizable trait is the large ears. Standing at a height of 8 inches the fox must catch small or bird eggs to feed their carnivorous diet. Similar to wolves they work together in packs. The small size and only weapon being their small jaw, they are at the bottom of the food chain. Thus to keep the numbers high they are borne in groups of 2-5 kits per litter.

As for the taxonomy of the organism, their kingdom is Animalia because it is hetrotrop and multi-cellular. The phylum is Chordata because it has a spinal column. The class is Mammlia because it has mammary glands and fur. Order is Carnivora because of its diet of mostly meat. The family is Canidae shared with many dogs characterized by their long muzzle, tail, and ears. The Genus is Vulpus what sets it apart from dogs is with the flatter skull and smaller size, but there is a small debate the originaly had its own genus named Fennecus al though it is agreed that the fox shares the same genus as most others. And the name zerda is similar to yellow in Persian and Fennec Foxes have a yellow coloring. Thus the name can be translated to yellow fox.

As for my partners in the project they chose a Colobus Monkey(Colobinae colobus) and a Generic Giraffe (Giraffa giraffa) so we had to compare our animals. Although there was some overlap, we had massively different species that are all mammalian.

F = {Live with others, Lay down when sleeping, Lives in desert, Has a muzzle, Nocturnal, Omnivore, 2-5 kits per litter, 10 year life span, 8' height, Animalia kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Mammlia Class, Quadruped, Has a Tail, Native to Africa}

M = {Live with others, Lay down when sleeping, hair darkens over time, Herbivore, has one child at a time, lives in the jungle Flat faced, sleeps at night, 1.5-2" in height, Animalia kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Mammlia Class, Quadruped, Has a Tail, Native to Africa}

G = {hair darkens over time, Herbivore, has one child at a time,  Lives in desert, Has a muzzle, Nocturnal, Lives on their own stands to sleep dont have motherly instincts, Animalia kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Mammlia Class, Quadruped, Has a Tail, Native to Africa}

F intersection M = {Live with others, Lay down when sleeping,  Animalia kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Mammlia Class, Quadruped, Has a Tail, Native to Africa}

F intersection M, G = { Animalia kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Mammlia Class, Quadruped, Has a Tail, Native to Africa}

As for the experience of working on this project, it was nice to be able to choose the animal I wanted but it was limiting to having to take my own picture in the first place before creating the collage and after working on this project for a what feels like a month I feel like I learned nothing about the animal I was studying.