Albino and black foxes in Britain

[Richard Muirhead]

Dear all

I am researching incidents of albino and black foxes (or any other colour variation) in Britain within the last 20 years. If anyone has any records in literature or visual observation, please can they let me know. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,Richard Muirhead

P.S. Photos would be very welcome.

[RobinP]

You can use Google to find info on black Fox sightings in the UK, don't think you'll find a wild white one outside of the Arctic circle though.

There's even a thread on here: Black Fox

[Richard Muirhead]

Dear Robin P

Thanks for your information.

Regards,Richard

[mbaldw]

Hi Richard,

reports of white foxes from the UK surface from time to time (there was a thread on this board about them last year), although I'm not aware that there are any 'official' lists of them. Most of the literature gives little more than a passing mention to the colour phases, other than to mention that white and albino records are rare. In their revised edition of Mammals of the British Isles, Steve Harris & Derek Yalden write:

"Overall colour yellow-brown, but much variation from sandy colour to (rarely) henna red. White foxes, with normal-coloured eyes, and albinos reported very rarely. Melanistic forms common in N America, where called black, silver or cross foxes, depending on degree of blackness; very rare in British Isles."

David Alderton adds a little more detail in his Foxes, Wolves & Wild Dogs of the World, in which he writes:

"A study based on nearly 3000 skins of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Finland, revealed that 99 per cent were of the normal reddish phase. The remaining 1 per cent consisted of black-bellied individuals (0.6 per cent), pure black foxes (0.1 per cent) and so-called 'cross' foxes (0.3 per cent), with a distinctive band of darker hair traversing the shoulders, and running down the back towards the tail, creating the appearance of a cross. … Occasional albinos have been documented in Britain, both from Whaddon Chase, and Dartmoor; these are whitish in coloration, with distinctive pink eyes. Melanistic foxes, which are blackish in colour, may in fact be more common in Finland and other northern areas than elsewhere. They are nevertheless rare. In England, there is a record of a black fox being killed by the Belvoir Hunt, back in 1850, and the most recent relates to a black fox which has been seen and photographed roaming in the vicinity of Turners Hill, near Crawley in East Sussex, during the early part of 1993."

I don’t know to which Finish study Dr Alterton is referring, but similar data are presented from Hudson Bay Company (Canada) by L. Butler in a 1945 paper to the journal Genetics. Also, as per the above link, the most recent records of a melanistic fox (of which I’m aware) came earlier this year, with photos and video of individuals from Surrey and Lancashire.

I’d be interested to hear anything else you turn up on the subject.

Cheers,
Marc.

[Dogghound]

Black foxes which are often called silver foxes are more common at higher latitudes, probrably do to heat absorbtion. Also an interesting point are what are called samson foxes, they lack guard hairs so they look woolly, these can occur anywere not sure if this relates to your study though.