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Have You Ever Heard of the Canadian Marble Fox?

If you ask people if they’ve ever heard of Canadian marble foxes, probably over 9 out of 10 would say that they haven’t. Many might even believe that such a thing doesn’t exist, but they do.

These foxes have pelts that blend white and gray, often with brown or black around the ears and eyes. This gives them sort of a marbled coloration. The fur is dense and they are beautiful animals, for sure, but they don’t occur naturally.

Although the distinguishing feature of these foxes is their coloration, Canadian marble foxes, also called Arctic marble foxes, are a cross between a red fox and an arctic fox. Red foxes and arctic foxes don’t share the same range, so such a cross-breed doesn’t occur in nature. Man has bred the two and the result has been the marble fox.

The marble fox is small and built like an Arctic fox, but arctic foxes are white. The color variation apparently comes from the red foxes. This is interesting because red foxes are normally a burnt orange to vivid red color. Both Arctic foxes and red foxes have color variations, though, they just aren’t normally noticed because the variations are slight.

Red foxes have a different body build, with long, slender legs.

Canadian marble foxes live in the arctic tundra, in places like Alaska and northern Canada. They adapt well to the cold and the prey is similar to that of Arctic foxes; primarily voles, lemmings, hares, and birds.

The behavior is also like Arctic foxes, so the color is simply a genetic mutation because of the cross-breeding.

They are definitely cute animals, wouldn’t you say?

Note: The image of a Canadian marble fox kit was posted on Facebook by ‘Garden n Country’.

  • Have you ever before heard of or seen this animal?

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What do you think?

19 Points

Written by Rex Trulove

25 Comments

  1. Well now I have really learned something and I am beating myself for not having ever heard or seen this cutest little fox ever. After all I am Canadian born and raised and thid is the first time I ever laid eyes on this cross bred fox. Anything else I should know? Just a joke Rex. You sure are a wealth of information….

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    • You may be a native-born Canadian, but these foxes would almost certainly be way north of you, around the Arctic circle. There is no fault there. I doubt you’ve seen many wild polar bears or Arctic foxes, either. lol

      What I’m not sure of is how many have been bred and turned loose or escaped to the wild.

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