30 January 2024

Arabian Red Fox - Dhahran

When out walking in the rough scrubby area near to Dhahran Hills Waste-Water Lake recently I came across an Arabian Red Fox. This fox was quite wary and kept its distance and never came fully out into the open. They are relatively common in Dhahran and can be seen most weeks of the year if you look in the right areas, particularly around Dhahran Hills golf course. The Red Fox is currently recognized as a single species and has the widest natural distribution of any terrestrial carnivore, possibly any terrestrial mammal (excluding humans). Its range spans approximately 70 million square kilometres encompassing much of Europe, Asia and North America and extending into North Africa, with an introduced population in Australia. The Arabian Red fox has very large ears for its size and is very thin and sandy coloured compared to the European Red Fox, and they look very different.