Mischievous Desert Foxes

Between 2015 and 2025, I spent a lot of time in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In fact, we've lived in Amman. Twice. And I've been to Petra dozens of times, spent weeks at a time exploring Wadi Rum, and basically traveled the entire country multiple times.

Wadi Rum is extra special to me. It's vast. Epic. A wide-open space that is difficult to fathom, even when you're standing in it. We have incredible friends there and have spent multiple summers doing fieldwork all around, across, and through the Hisma. We've even slept outside several times, just laying on the sand next to a small, Bedouin fire, watching the colors of the Milky Way become more and more vibrant throughout the night. It is quite the experience waking up in the middle of the night and staring into the Milky Way -- not just see the cloudiness from it's namesake, but seeing it in color, like the pictures often seen from telescopes. Amazing.

On one of these overnights, we were camping next to one of the natural springs. Me, my wife, and a (female) colleague. We had just finished dinner and, as the fire began to die down, we heard scurrying in the few bushes. Maybe a bird? But it was night. Perhaps a hedgehog? No, they are too small. And then, across the fire's dying embers, we saw it: a small desert fox, or thalib in Arabic.

Now, I've camped in some remote areas of the US, and seen some interesting nocturnal animals. I even spent one night in the backcountry surrounded by a few wolves (they are a HUGE animal!) So, seeing a little fox scampering around our camp didn't worry me. We just said hi to it, and closed our weary eyes. Now, being the tallest person in our trio, my toes stuck out the bottom of our blanket just a little. It was refreshing after the heat of the day, and I didn't mind.

But then, just when I was at that falling asleep stage, I got the feeling something was watching me. I open my eyes and, in the moonlit sky, see the silhouette of that fox staring down at me! I jerked awake, startled. And it startled the fox, which immediately disappeared from view. "Are you okay?" my wife queried.

"Did you see that? The thalib was staring right over my head!"

Well, they didn't see it or, I got the feeling, didn't believe me. So we all just went back to sleep.

A few hours later, I feel something at my feet, tugging the blanket a little and, just as I opened my eyes, I feel a little nibble on my toe. I guess the fox was curious! I immediately bolted upright and exclaimed, "The freaking thalib just bit me!"

Now awake, my companions saw the fox -- I swear it was smiling mischievously, smirking even -- staring back at us. "See! I told you!" I said in a firm voice.

They laughed. Literally out loud. In the moment, I couldn't believe they would think being bit by a fox was funny. But, I mean, it kind of was. The fox was only nibbling...

Because I wanted to get some actual sleep, however, I moved my blanket and pillow to the truck bed where I hoped the fox wouldn't decide to follow, and fell asleep to the colors of the Milky Way.

Arising with the sun, we packed up and headed back into the field, musing about the mischievous middle of the night thalib.

 

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