Shot of the Month – March 2020

Here we have a lovely female red fox bringing a meal back to her kits.  Please do not adjust your set (old person reference).  Nor is that a typo.  You might want to sit down for this, but, red foxes are not always red.  I know, I know, it is a crazy, topsy-turvy world out there…

Despite the very firm, very unambiguous sounding name, red foxes come in a surprisingly large variety of colors.  Most are categorized under three main color variations or morphs (if you want to sound all zoological and whatnot).

Red Morph

The red morph red fox is primarily red/orange in color and is the most common type of red fox.

Silver/Black

Silver foxes are a melanistic morph of the Red Fox that have a range of colors from bold silver to almost complete black.  The silver version has silver-tipped hairs interspersed among the black fur.  Black foxes vary in color and may have some brown fur also.

This whole naming thing is starting to sound pretty bogus, but ok, let’s carry on.

Cross Morph

Cross foxes are red foxes with a prominent black stripe along the spine and a stripe along the shoulders at a right angle which gives the appearance of a cross – hence the name of this morph.  This color variation is only found in North America.

 

Regardless of the color mix all Red Foxes have one thing in common — that white-tipped paint brush of a tail.  How’s that for a handy identification tip?

So, a Red Fox can be any color mix of red, orange, white, black, grey, silver, and brown as you can see in this graphic below.  (Note:  The four morphs shown at the bottom of the graphic are not found in the wild but are the result of selective breeding)

In the image below we see the same female silver fox waiting patiently as her kits jostle for an opportunity to nurse.

Here is the same female as she heads off to hunt for more food for her family:

And here is a male silver fox that I found at a different den site with one of his kits:

And here he is with two of his kits:

 

Wasn’t life easier when you just needed the “Red” crayon to color in the fox drawing?  Well, now there is no going back.  Next time you will have to break out the BIG box of crayons.  You know, that big box of 64 crayons with the sharpener in the back?  Yeah, that one.  Let the games begin…

 

Until next month…..m

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

The Fox Website

All Things Foxes

Black Foxes UK

Wikipedia (Cross Fox)

Wikipedia (Red Fox)

Wikipedia (Silver Fox)

 

 

 

 

Nikon D4S, Nikon 600mm, 1.4x TC (850mm effective), 1/1000 sec, f/11