Silver Fox

A melanistic variation of the red fox is the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes). Silver fox meaning implies that they have a wide range of pelt colours. A few are fully glossy black, with the exception of a white tip on the tail, which gives them a silvery appearance. Certain silver foxes are bluish-grey in colour, while others have a cinereous colour on their sides.

Silver foxes were once one of the most prized fur-bearers, and nobility in Western Europe, Russia, and China wore their pelts frequently. Even though captive populations kept for their fur and as pets are often paired with relatives of a similar colour, wild silver foxes don't normally breed solely with members of the very same coat morph and could be littermates with the typical red type.

Silver Fox Animal Description

On several regions of the silver fox animal’s body, especially under the throat, behind the shoulders, on the flanks, and the tail, the fox's long external hair can stretch up to two inches (5.1 cm) beyond the smaller underfur. The underfur hair is brown at the bottom and silver-grey with black tips as it progresses across the follicle. The hair is smooth and shiny, and it was previously thought to be finer than the pine martens’. The consistently blackish brown or chocolate-coloured underfur is very long and dense, measuring up to two inches in length and extremely fine. It wraps around the entire body, even the tail, which is coarser and woollier.

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The silver fox animal's fur is finer on the underside and is smallest on the forehead and limbs. The hairs that make up the belly fur have a wavy appearance when examined individually. On the silver fox ears, which are heavily covered in fur, there are few long hairs. There are no callous areas on the soles of the feet because they are so densely covered in woolly hair. When a pedigreed fiery red fox is married with a silver fox, the litter is usually always 50 percent silver and 50 percent red, resulting in a Mendelian incomplete dominant characteristic. Silver cubs are occasionally produced by fiery red parents, with a one-in-four chance. Mixed foxes' colours can merge together rather than segregate. A cross fox is the hybrid child of silver and red fox.

A recessive mutation to agouti causes the dark colour in Alaskan silver foxes, whereas a recessive mutation to MC1R causes the dark colour in regular silver foxes.

Range

Red foxes, particularly the silvery variety, are among the world's most extensively dispersed carnivorous species, occupying much of the northern hemisphere and Australia. Their widespread distribution can be traced to the human introduction of foxes into new ecosystems for fox hunting.

Silver foxes are found primarily in the northeastern region of North America. Silver foxes were occasionally taken from Labrador and the Magdalen Islands in the nineteenth century, but they were sometimes taken from Pennsylvania's mountainous regions or the wilder parts of New York. They were spotted on occasion in Nova Scotia. Despite trappers' predisposition to prioritise silver foxes above all other fur-bearers once they were discovered, Sir John Richardson claims that trappers rarely collected more than 4–5 silver foxes in a single season in places where silver foxes were found. Silver foxes make up to 8% of the red fox population in Canada.

Silver foxes are predominantly found in forest zones and forest-tundra belts in the former Soviet Union, especially in middle and eastern Siberia and the Caucasus mountains. In steppes and deserts, they are quite scarce.

Silver Fox Information: History of Fur Use

Pelt standards- Certain requirements must be met in order for the pelt to be judged of acceptable quality: On the neck, there has to be a patch of lustrous black fur with a bluish hue. Pure bands, neither white nor conspicuous, must be present in the silvery hairs. Patches of silvery hair provided the coat with a flaking appearance that was regarded unattractive, therefore the most valuable furs would have an even spread of silvery hair. The "silkiness" of the fur, which refers to its softness, was determined by a client rubbing his palm over the pelt. The lustre of the coat, and also the refinement of the hairs, should represent the health of the coat and the animal where it came from. The fur must be at least 1 pound in weight, with the peak values as the size increases.

In North America- The fur of a silver fox was formerly valued at far more than 40 American beaver skins by the people of New England. Receiving a gift of silver fox furs has been viewed as a sign of reconciliation by the chieftain. According to the Hudson's Bay Company's records, 19–25 percent of fox skins traded in British Columbia and 16 percent among those traded in Labrador between 1825 and 1850 were silver. Traders from Russia and China were usually always interested in buying the fur. 

Owing to its style and colour, this fox's silver fur has been the most sought-after pelt. The allele frequency for a silver pelt reached 15% in 1830, however, due to overhunting, this figure was dropped to 5% in 1930. The silver pelt has still been sought after, and the number of foxes with this pelt began to fall. It was common practice to release free-ranging silver foxes into small islands, wherein they soon starved to death, before the method of fur farming became refined on Prince Edward Island.

In Eurasia- Silver foxes in Russian fur farms have been of North American stock, and their fur is intentionally bred to eliminate as often brown as possible, as brown fur reduces the pelt's value. After sending 2,500 foundation specimens from Norway to Mustaje farm in 1924, Estonia began producing silver foxes. In the decades that followed, the number of silver fox farms in Estonia rapidly expanded. The silver fox industry flourished during the Soviet era, because of government subsidies and a concentration on selectively breeding foxes for increased fertility rather than fur quality.

Behaviour

The silver fox morph is identical to the red morph in terms of behaviour. Scent marking is widespread behaviour. This behaviour is intended to show dominance, but it could also be used to express the lack of food in foraging regions or social histories.

Mating behaviour- Silver foxes breed in seasonally monogamous pairs from December to April, with the majority of matings taking place in January and February. Female silver foxes are monestrous (only have one estrus cycle annually), with estrus spanning 1–6 days and parturition happening 52 days after conception. The vulva of silver foxes grows in size and tumescence during or around estrus, reflecting the fox's sexual readiness or state.

Female silver foxes usually breed in their first fall, but a variety of variables influence their ability to reproduce. Age, population density, food, and the mating system (polygyny or monogamy) are among them. A higher population density means a greater chance of failing to produce pups. Silver fox litters generally range from one to fourteen pups, with the normal being three to six. Litter size tends to grow with age and food availability.

Competition Capacity- Differential reproductive performance in captivity could be related to differences in individual females' competitive abilities. Individuals' ability to control resources like food or nesting locations is referred to as competition capacity. The mother's ability to compete has a direct impact on her children's fitness. Competing capacity was positively correlated with the amount of healthy offspring reared to weaning in one experiment when vixens (whose competition capabilities were classed as high, medium, or low) were bred under typical farming settings.

The discoveries have led to the adoption of competition capacity as a much more comprehensive measure of silver fox reproductive fitness, as well as the discovery that certain vixens commit infanticide. Throughout their following reproductive cycle, the vixens produced more weaned cubs than others who did not participate in infanticide. This could indicate that efforts should be conserved or invested in order to improve future reproductive success. Following eating their own offspring, infanticidal vixens rarely adopt and help raise the kids of adjacent vixens.

Feeding- While silver foxes are opportunistic feeders who will eat anything offered to them, when meat is obtainable, they choose a more carnivorous diet. They rely primarily and heavily on plant matter when meat is limited. When pursuing different prey, the silver fox, just as the red morph, adopts diverse methods. When hunting little mammals, foxes assume a "mousing position," in which they use noise to seek prey. They fling themselves, use their forepaws to pin prey to the ground, and then bite it to death. Faster terrestrial prey necessitates more refined behaviour, which frequently involves stalking and quick chase. When prey hides in concealed caches or burrows, foxes are believed to slumber near the entrances and wait for the prey to reappear.

Domestication

The domesticated silver fox is a type of silver fox that has been tamed to a certain extent in a lab setting. Domesticated silver foxes were created as part of an attempt to demonstrate the potential of selective breeding to modify species, as outlined in On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. The experiment tracked changes in foxes while just the tamest foxes were permitted to breed within each generation, to see if selection for behaviour instead of morphology was the process that developed dogs from wolves. Most of those progeny foxes had milder personalities and much more dog-like morphologies, like mottled or spotted coats.