CROSS FOXES and RECESSIVE CROSS FOX MUTANTS
Cross foxes are created when red and silver foxes are crossed, and are named for the dark cross across the back, neck and shoulders of the fox. The amount of red or silver present on the fox depends on the type of parents and polygenes involved. When recessive mutants are applied to either a gold or silver cross fox background, it replaces the black of the silver expressed on the fox with the color factor responsible, and the red coloration is left largely intact. In theory, any recessive mutants of the silver fox like the brown, grey, or combination mutants can be included in a cross.
Gold cross fox
(Golden cross fox, Alaskan cross fox) Alaskan silver + red fox- Aa BB (Live photo from Beautiful Fur Animals and their Coat Color Genetics) The gold cross fox is created with Alaskan silver and red parents, as crossing a silver fox with a red fox will result in a gold fox instead of a cross fox. |
Silver cross fox
(Blended cross fox) Alaskan silver + standard silver Aa Bb (Live photo from Beautiful Fur Animals and their Coat Color Genetics) The silver cross fox, also known as the blended cross, can typically be obtained by crossing an Alaskan silver with a standard silver, or any other combination of parentage that will cause the silver and red gene to both be in heterozygous condition. The silver cross is darker than the gold cross, with more black and silver covering the body, and some particularly dark individuals can visibly pass as a pure silver. Mating two silver crosses together, because of the alleles involved, can in theory create every type of red, silver, silver cross and gold cross foxes, demonstrated by this chart. |
Pearl cross fox
Cross fox + pearl -Aa BB/Bb pp (Live photo from Tiny Tracks Exotic animals) When the pearl factor is added to a cross fox, the black is replaced with the gray of the pearl factor. The amount of pearl on the body depends on the type of cross - a silver background will have a greater amount of pearl than a pearl gold cross. Sapphire crosses may also exist, in which case the genotype would be presumably Aa BB pp ss or Aa Bb pp ss, and shouldn’t be mistaken for the sapphire cross arctic-red fox hybrid of the same name. |
Burgundy cross
(Cinnamon gold, burgundy gold) Silver/gold cross + burgundy - Aa BB/Bb gg (Live photo from the Estonian University of Life Sciences) In burgundy cross foxes, normally black areas are replaced with a dark red-brown color, and is most noticeable on a gold cross fox. When the burgundy occurs on a dark silver cross, it is difficult to tell that it is a cross fox at all because of the similary between the recessive burgundy color and the natural red color of the fox. The burgundy cross fox share it’s name burgundy gold with true burgundy gold foxes. “Burgundy cross” can also serve as an umbrella term for any dark brown cross mutant. |
Amber cross fox
(Amber gold fox) Silver/gold cross fox + amber-Aa BB/Bb gg pp (Amber cross pelt?) Descriptions of amber cross foxes describe amber gold cross foxes as having much less prominent red coloring, and amber silver crosses as closely resembling true amber foxes. Amber cross foxes could possibly account for "beige" cross foxes, alongside other pale brown crosses with unknown genetic backgrounds. |
Pink cross fox
(Pink champagne cross fox, champagne cross fox) Pink fox + pink fox - ?? (Pelt) In the typical appearance of a cross fox, there is a dark pink cross on the body on top of diluted red. In the pink cross, the red appears to be somewhat diluted by the pink, likely due to the suspected involvement of the fire factor gene. Very pale individuals can closely resemble a darker pink (pelt). Pink crosses are often reportedly born in litters from two pink parents. It’s unclear why the pink would replace the black on the body, as this is not the behavior of a fire factor fox's gene (such as the pink is suspected to be; fire factor does not impact the black pigment in gold, red, and cross foxes), so it is clear that more genetic investigation needs to be done. |