A "Typical Red Fox" -No Such Thing

 In A Field Guide To The Carnivores Of The World (Panthera, 2011) by Luke Hunter and Priscilla Barrett include an illustration of a "typical red fox" and this makes it easier for writers to demonstrate what they are talking about.  

Above: "a typical red fox". (c)2023 respective copyright owner

The big problem is there is no real thing as a "typical red fox" and the one thing none of these books mention is that the native Old foxes of Britain were wiped out in the 1860s.  What we see today are not the historical foxes on Britain and Ireland but descendents of the many thousands of foxes imported from Europe and elsewhere from (evidence suggests) the 16th century on -by the 19th century 2000 plus were imported to keep fox hunting going.

What people and organisations do -bodies such as the BBC- is have stock photos of red foxes that "conform to type" so what people see on TV and in books are really not typical but a form that is being pushed and that no one argues with. Incidentally, this is why the wild tabby of today is considered a genuine "Scottish wild cat" -it is another import rather like red squirrels that were wiped out (Old fox, Old wild cat and Old squirrel amongst others all fell into extinction by the 1860s).  Many naturalist/'sportsmen' who were all famous and knowledgeable on wild cats used to tour museums and rarely saw a genuine wild cat; museums seem to have gotten all their wild tabbies after 1900 and all insisted on them having the same markings as the bigger collections and this has helped push dogma through writers and naturalists own ignorance.  

I have a photo data base of foxes from all over the UK and Ireland and to be honest when I started compiling this it was to look for local or regional "types" but I soon realised that there is no longer such a thing.  

The photos that follow are (c)2023 The British Fox Study and to protect the foxes as well as those who sent the photographs no locations or names are given. If you ask "why?" then you really have not read posts on this blog before!

Above and below: these were quite large foxes and when the lady who took the photos first saw them she jumped but soon realised they were quite inquisitive and not aggressive. This is in the SE of England and it may be that these are descendents of  foxes released from fur farms in and around London that have spread out. It is possible these may have North American Red Fox (NARF) blood in them.  

Sadly, despite reporting to the police and RSPCA (no interest shown), each year someone in the area was poisoning these foxes.

Above; one thing I noticed pretty quickly were the number of foxes showing melanism traits and there are a good few of these "grey" foxes that, again, appear to have spread out from the SE and across Southern England.

Above a rather short fox. Foxes tend to be smaller, the same size or slightly larger than domestic cats -though some domestic cats are large themselves.  There was video footage from London of a "pygmy fox" that was so small but possibly an adaption to its environment though it could have been a one off.

Above I was about to write "one of the Southern "Greys" but these have spread further afield as I will note further on. In Bristol we have had three of these Greys -all killed by cars. 

One thing that is noticeable when going over all the photographs is that differences in head and body shapes is clear and this one has certain characteristics but look at the colouring, etc. which is very much not "typical red fox" and yet this is nothing other than Vulpes vulpes.

Above yet another example of a Grey fox this time in the SW.  The location surprised me at the time as Grey foxes (not to be confused with North American Grey foxes) had never been recorded there before and within weeks, including those killed by cars, five were recorded.

There are the foxes with black hair tips and a number with white hair tips making them very distinguishable.

Above a "Cherry red" or "orange" fox which is more in-keeping with the "typical" red fox but even this one had certain variations.

Above; again not typical but the colourations amongst foxes can be staggering at times. This is what was termed a "Basil Brush" type.

Above is a long legged fox with an overall brownish colouration.

Above: from the same leash but both are quite distinctive and it shows how variations can occur amongst one group.

Above: a "pygmy fox" from the north of England with shorter legs and body but there were others noted locally. The more we learn about foxes the more we realise that a litter can have perfectly "normal" looking cubs with a shorter one amongst them.

Above what may be a piebald fox. It was seen a number of times and a photo taken and that was it.

Above yet another grey fox and this was outside of what was thought to be their usual range.

Above: I had to look at this twice as the first time I thought someone had sent an image of a terrier but this is a genuine fox. Note the shorter muzzle and body shape.

Above: another tall, fine specimen and colouration is not quite what is expected from a "typical" red fox.

Below is another Grey.

Above: this one look a little like the terrier fox shown above and its fur colour is a darker brown rather than black.

Above: red fox but colouration and body shape is again different from the "norm"

Above a black fox. There is one region where these are seen fairly regularly and photographs are an easy way to tell whether you are looking at a melanistic red fox or an exotic pet escapee  -the silver fox.

Above: this type was typical of foxes in the SW of England and were called "russets" or "salt and pepper" foxes.  It is obvious that foxes have spread out more but there are other factors involved in all of these various types being seen.  

Each year hundreds of sick and injured foxes and cubs are taken in by rescues and treated until well enough and when it comes time for dispersal the rescues look for "fox safe" areas to carry out soft releases in. This means that cubs from Essex could be turned out in the SW or further north. Rescues are very sensitive about this for a reason.  What it means is that what might have at one time been a local type of fox has gradually been replaced or bred out with released foxes. 

There may well be some areas where releases do not take place and there is a local type but photo gathering is still in the early stages and none of it involves computer programs! 

But as you can see for yourselves the "little red dog" is very much not the typical type of fox and one day, perhaps, the photo archives will be online and people can see all of the types themselves and that ought to be an eye-opener.