Examining An Old Fox and New Fox

 New Fox refers to the thousands of foxes imported into England from Europe each year from (at lest) the late 16th century on. Even though they,too, faced extinction events from hunting. The descendants are the "native fox" we see today.

Points to note:

1 The back of the ears are black

2  The muzzle is longer and pointed and has a clear black "tear stain"

3  The legs end in black "socks"

4  The underside is white but grey is also common these days -as are grey coats which indicate melanism.

5  The tail can end in a white or black tip and very light/white underside as well as dark grey can be found.

6  The coat varies from "cherry red", orange, a brownish and a darker "salt and pepper" colour (indicating melanism). White and black foxes are also noted showing a mix of descendents of imported foxes from around Europe.

7 When it comes to height I have recorded foxes standing at 13-14 inches (33.2 to 35.56 cms). Domestic cats have been measured at the same size and foxes, like pet cats, can very in size from small 11 inches (27.94 cms) or 9 inches (22.86).

Old Fox refers to the true fox of the British isles (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) that were stranded here after the sinking of Doggerland (estimates 8-12000 years ago). Pictorial evidence from history indicates that this type was also in Western Europe which makes logical sense.  There were three variations (not different species as argued back and forth in the 19th century):

The Mountain/Greyhound fox was the largest and seems to have filled the niche that coyotes in the United States and jackals elsewhere fill. 

The Hill or Mastiff fox which was of "muscular, robust" build but not quite as tall as the previous mentioned fox. It lived on hills and valleys.

The Common or Cur fox was the smallest and lived around/near human habitation where food would have been far more plentiful for them.

Whether these were the species Vulpes we do not know as that would require DNA work which as volunteers we cannot afford.

1  back of ears brown

2  No black "tear stain" but slight brownish colouring

3  Underside is dark and not white or grey

4  "socks" are brown in colour when found

5   coat is brown. We do know from taxidermy examples that Old type foxes could be found with white-yellowish white fur but there are no references to melanism. This fox was killed at a time of spring molting and there are some indications in text sources that mountain/greyhound foxes could look bulky and have much whiter fur during winter. Normally, as found by my colleague LM, the Old fox had a brindle look to its fur.

6  Tail was a uniform brown and occasionally white tips were reported but in other cases no tip colour.

7 The jaw seems shorter and quite distinctive -there is also something about the setting of the eyes and face shape that is noticeable.

Re Height: These mountain/greyhound foxes were large and this is always noted in old accounts.  It was stated by Colquhoun that this was a perfect example of a mountain fox. Others agree on this which shows why these were hunted  as they would also put up a fight at the end. An adult coyote taxidermy was placed in front of this fox but the coyote had to be raised up slightly for the photograph. The fox was still a head taller than the coyote!

New and Old Foxes side-by-side comparison

As Colquhoun had been killing foxes all of his life this one he chased and shot between 1834-1836 (the full account is given in The Red Paper 2022 Canids) was what he considered to be a perfect example of a mountain fox and others agreed on that matter. Here we see rather patchy fur but this is because the fox was killed during spring molt -Colquhoun notes removing his jacket as it was warm so the lighter colour could be a winter coat or there may have been variations, although it could just be bad recording by 'sportsmen'. Take for instance this 19th century fox killed in Chechia which resembles the Colquhoun fox and shows that it was an Old Western European fox surviving longer than they did in the UK. 

We have gathered enough documentary evidence as well as taxidermy examples, or photographs of taxidermy examples along with historical images to show that the Old foxes did exist but were just ignored as dogma was taught and passed along and we can pinpoint that dogma as having started around - / + 1900.   

We need to learn the lessons from the past and look at collections in the UK (museums say they have nothing pre 1900) and Europe so that we can document this lost species and also look at whether the Old fox had three distinct types in Western Europe or whether those were unique to the British Isles.

Above all else: we need DNA work.

(c)2025 Terry Hooper