Incredibly Rare BLACK Fox Appeared in Dorset, Whether it Bring Bad Luck?
At first glance you might mistake this shadowy animal for a dog, with black fur, pointed ears and a fluffy tail. But the mysterious creature is in fact an incredibly rare black fox.
The stunning animal, which gets its unusual colouring from a rare genetic defect, was photographed in a quarry on Portland in Dorset.
At first glance you might mistake this shadowy animal as a dog, with black fur, pointed ears and a fluffy tail. But the mysterious creature is no dog – it is an incredibly rare black fox.
DO BLACK FOXES BRING BAD LUCK?
In Gaelic tradition, black foxes are bringers of bad luck. Rural communities used to tell of a fox as ‘black as night, so that it could live in a man’s shadow and never be seen.’
Centuries-old superstitions are often found attached to black animals, such as black dogs and black cats. It is thought to originate from when the black dog was said to bring disaster and doom to whoever saw the animal.
In Medieval times, villages were very afraid of the sighting of a black fox and considered it to predict trouble or bad luck.
Paul Stevens, 67, couldn’t believe his eyes when he snapped the jet black creature. Black foxes are unheard of in Britain and there have only been a handful of sightings in recent years.
Mr Stevens’ wife Lorraine spotted the fox from her bedroom room window on Saturday and the retired engineer went to grab his camera.
By the time he was outside, the fox had disappeared – but luckily Mr Stevens guessed its direction of travel and managed to get a photo.
Mr Stevens said: ‘It was Saturday morning and my wife suddenly shouted out “look”. ‘We live quite close to one of the quarries and she had spotted the fox from the bedroom window.
‘I ran up two flights of stairs to get my camera and ran out after it. ‘The fox had run off so I had to take a gamble which way to go. Fortunately, I guessed right.
‘It had been rooting around and then it stared at me – deciding whether to stay or run.
‘The fox was very wary and cautious. I got off a couple of shots before it ran off.
I’ve never seen one before.
Black foxes get their unusual colouring from a rare genetic defect and are practically unheard of in Britain – there have only been a handful of sightings in recent years
The rare animal was spotted in a quarry in Portland, which is the most southern point of Dorset. ‘It looked identical to a red fox apart from the fact it was black and white.
‘It was really quite a shock to the system to see one because I didn’t know they existed.’ Rather than being a species, black foxes are actually versions of the red fox.
‘Red fox’ is the species name rather than the colour description and they can come in colours all the way from red to black.
The unusual colouring is normally seen on growing cubs before the fox develops its dark chestnut coat, however some red foxes remain black due to a rare genetic flaw, which dates back hundreds of years.
The unusual colouring is normally seen on growing cubs before the fox develops its dark chestnut coat, however some red foxes remain black due to a rare genetic flaw, which dates back hundreds of years
OTHER STRANGELY COLOURED CREATURES
Cuckoo bees have bright blue and black striped bodies, rather than the typical yellow and black colouring. A new species of silver snake was spotted on a remote island in the Bahamas earlier this year.
Halloween crabs are nicknamed so because of their brilliant colours – their upper shell is black, their legs are blood-orange and they have purple claws.
The red slug is a species of land slug that lives in northwestern Europe. The rosy maple moth has pink legs and antennae, a yellow body and hindwings, and pink forewings with a triangular yellow band across the middle.
Trevor Williams, of charity The Fox Project said: ‘Photos I’ve seen in the past have sometimes subsequently turned out to be a seriously mangy fox that’s lost all the fur and the resulting grey skin looks black.
‘They can occur naturally, as can many other shades of red fox.’ According to Gaelic tradition, black foxes are bringers of bad luck to anyone who sees them.
Rural communities used to tell of a fox as ‘black as night, so that it could live in a man’s shadow and never be seen.’
Centuries-old superstitions are often found attached to black animals, such as black dogs and black cats. And the black fox has been associated with the devil.
In Medieval times, villages were very afraid of the sighting of a black fox and considered it to predict trouble or bad luck.
