I've seen plenty of color charts for farm-bred morphs but never wild morphs. I've been researching and collecting images and information on naturally occurring colors in European foxes and so I decided to make my own chart! Wild foxes often get overlooked for the more fancy farm-bred morphs, but as you can see wild foxes can be just as varied and interesting in color!

Of course this is just a general overview of the main color types. Within these colors there will be a huge amount of variation, as should be evident in the links I've included to examples of each color. I've also included any other information I've gathered on each color, including local distribution. Hopefully it'll provide a useful resource for anyone wanting to know more about wild color morphs.



White Morphs



Albino: Very rare in most areas but locally common to the Jutland region of Denmark. Coat pure white with no visible markings.

While it may be an attractive color, albinoism is a genetic fault and comes with many health problems, including deafness, poor eyesight, scoliosis, deformed skeletons, skin sensitivity and a high risk of skin cancer. Albinoism also takes away the fox's natural camouflage and can make it harder for them to hunt and become easier targets for predators. As such albinos rarely survive very long.

Albino V. v. crucigera in Australia

Albino cub in Germany

Albino killed in Spain



Leucistic (White): Similar to albino but can show black pigment and sometimes small areas of creamy or grey fur. Rare in most areas but locally common to the Jutland region in Denmark and southeast England. White foxes are protected in some parts of Jutland which allows them to exist at much higher numbers than normal. Like albinos, leucistics can also suffer health problems.

Leucistic white in Kent, England

Leucistic white fox killed in Denmark

Another leucistic white fox killed in Denmark

Leucistic white taxidermy mount from France. Incorrect eyes but shows black pigment.



Leucistic: Another form of leucism, this time with more visible markings. While it may resemble some captive-bred morphs this is a naturally occurring morph in V. v. crucigera (I have yet to find an example of this color in other subspecies.) These foxes have been known for hundreds of years in parts of Europe and descriptions of these off-white or pale foxes can be found in hunting literature that long pre-date the invention of fur farming and color breeding. Here's one such passage from A History of the York and Ainsty Hunt (1899) describing foxes known to have existed between 1840 and 1860;

"There was a white fox, or nearly a white one, some years ago in the Cleveland country, which showed a lot of sport, and which was finally killed at Carlton Grove, after a very good run from Eston Lighthouse. Mr. Priestman, too, the master of the Braes of Derwent, had a very curious coloured fox a year or two ago. It was most like a sandy tortoise-shell cat in its markings. The rest of the litter were all of the normal colour. This was a vixen, and Mr. Priestman was in hopes of getting a litter from her, but unfortunately she died."