Facebook employees are obsessed with the foxes that hang out on their office roof

Robert Bieber/Flickr (CC)

A photograph of two of the Menlo Park foxes taken in 2013.

• Facebook employees are obsessed with a family of foxes that lives on their campus and hangs out on their roof.
• Business Insider understands that employees have an internal channel where they share photos of the foxes.
• Social media is also awash with adorable photos of the furry critters.

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook employees are sharing their shiny new headquarters with some four-legged friends: Foxes!

For the past five years, a family of foxes have made regular appearances at the Menlo Park headquarters of the Californian social networking company, where they have captivated the thousands of employees working there.

Many of Facebook's employees have moved into Building 20 and Building 21 over the last few years - new offices next to their "classic" campus designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, with a vast rooftop park on top. And the foxes have moved over alongside them, where they are regularly spotted hanging out and chillaxing on the roof.

Business Insider understands that Facebook employees have created an internal group dedicated to the furry critters on Workplace, their in-house communications platform, where employees post about recent sightings of the foxes.

Pictures of the foxes are also shared frequently on Instagram and elsewhere on social media, under the hashtag #FacebookFox. 

"I met the infamous #facebookfox this morning!" one Instagram user wrote. "My first sighting of the Facebook fox! Happy Friday!" said another.

Facebook's foxes first attracted attention when the family popped up back in 2013, but five years later the community is still going strong. Employees have previously been given presentations on the proper behavior around the animals to keep them wild (don't feed them, don't pet them), and Facebook's campus was designated as a wildlife habitat due to their presence.

It's not clear how many foxes frequent Facebook's premises. One Instagram user wrote that there are seven that visit the roof of their building, but Business Insider couldn't verify this, and a Facebook spokesperson declined to comment.

The foxes have even managed to sneak their way into the Facebook app itself - in the form of a some cutesy cartoon stickers for Messenger.

There's also a public Facebook page that was set up by an employee back when the sightings started, "FB Fox." It now has more than 100,000 likes and is still going strong, with photos of the foxes posted every few weeks. 

It bills itself as "a page to appreciate the fantastic FB Foxes. Share your celebrity sightings here! Please honor the foxes. No chasing or feeding--just mutual respect."

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