At the other extreme, foxes can be dazzlingly white. If you should spot a snowy fox trotting across your lawn, this does not necessarily mean that an Arctic fox has escaped from a nearby zoo. It is probably a wild red fox that is demonstrating leucism – a sharp reduction in pigment levels caused by the failure of the melanocytes to migrate during cell development. The result is a mesmerising animal that is almost entirely furred in white; it may still show black ‘moustache’ stripes, or even have a noticeably whiter-than-white tip on the end of its very pale brush. Its eyes are normal
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