Pictured: not a red fox. (I hope.)
this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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while Sadie, the female, has a pearl-colored coat, giving her a striking black appearance.
Huh.
Red... Pearl... Black...
That's enough internet for today.
Remember that fashion colors are expensive lies, and these foxes were rescued from a fur farm because the owner died and they were left in even more deplorable conditions than all the other fucking fox-fur farms.
Do not go typing in search terms of "silver fox fur" (or whatever color) like I did, because now I'm depressed and angry. I can inform you that a "pearl" fox fur pelt is basically blonde, and "silver" is closer to Sadie's coloring, so I think the person misspoke.
I was just at ZooTampa last month and thought it was a nice place, so hopefully these guys will be enjoying themselves from now on!
Well, blonde is closer to the color I associate with pearls, so that tracks. And after seeing actual silver foxes below I see it makes sense too. But then calling an all black fox by a color name that ostensibly doesn't mean black is just... well, it's one of the choices of all time. So this is a red fox, with a silver coat, which is why it's black. Got it.
I don't think colors are real anymore.
They have a charcoal colored red fox at the park near my work. This one from the article is darker than the one here.
They are commonly referred to as a silver fox, though it's not a different species, just a melanistic red fox. It seems they used to be more common, but they fetched high value in the fur trade, so now they are much less common.
The fur of a silver fox was once considered by the natives of New England to be worth more than 40 American beaver skins. A chieftain accepting a gift of silver fox furs was seen as an act of reconciliation. The records of the Hudson's Bay Company indicate that 19–25% of fox skins traded in British Columbia in the years 1825–1850 were silver, as were 16% of those traded in Labrador. The fur was almost always sold to Russian and Chinese traders.
The silver fur of this fox was the most sought-after pelt due to its colour and style. In 1830, the allele frequency for a silver pelt was at 15% but due to overhunting, this number had fallen to 5% in 1930. The silver pelt is still hunted for and the population of foxes with this silver pelt continues to fall.
silver fur
Looks inside: not silver colored.
WTF is going on? Am I being gaslit?
This one better? There is a pretty wide gradient between silver and black they can be.
The place by my work has 2 red fox (Vulpes vulvpes, one being grey) and 2 actual grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). The guy working there said you can tell the difference between a grey fox and a silver fox one way because the silver fox still has the white tail tip because it is still really a red fox.
I just looked for a pic on their feed and found this one. I guess it's more red than I've ever noticed. It's usually either hidden or curled up sleeping.
The silver parts look pretty silver here. I thought it looked darker last week when I visited, but I mainly go there to hang with the raptors. I'll have to check again tomorrow now...
You can see the white tail tip here though and see it with the normal red fox.
Much better! Thank you!
"Red Fox" in a non-ginger coloring. Kinda like how we're all "homo sapiens," even though some of us are really stupid.