iN VIDEO: Rare fox with black fur caught on video in B.C.

We've all seen some unlikely friends in nature, and this playful pair caught on video in central B.C. is no exception.

In a video shot at a residence in Sheridan Lake, around a half hour east of 100 Mile House, a playful fox encounters a doe.

This fox is particularly playful, playing hide and seek with the curious doe around a tree before trying to coax her into a chasing game.

What's curious about the video is that the fox doesn't look like a fox — it appears to have black fur.

Thompson Rivers University small mammal specialist Dr. Karl Larsen identified the animal as a rare variety of red fox, sometimes called a silver fox. Up close, their dark fur ends in white silvery tips.

"I’ve never seen a live one," Larsen said in an email. "It’s like a black bear also coming in browns, blondes or even whites (spirit bear)."

These black-furred foxes make up less than 10 per cent of red foxes, he said, and at one time were prized by trappers for their unique pelts.


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Brie Welton

Brie is a recent graduate from UBC Okanagan where she studied English and French while managing the campus newspaper. After working as an intern reporter for the summer of 2019 in her home-town of Kelowna, she rejoined the InfoNews team in March 2020 and moved to Kamloops.
Her interests range from food features and artist profiles to politics, crime and minority issues. She has a passion for story-telling and aspires to one day become a full-time court reporter.