Admiring black, bright amber and burgundy colours of an exotic-looking fox

A female fox with a dark-coloured belly, back and tail has been noticed at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka. 

Rangers Ilya Kudryashov and Anna Yeliseeva who patrol Kronotsko-Bogachevskaya tundra met the unusual looking animal two kilometers away from their base. 

Seeing this kind of fox is an incredibly rare. 

Zoologist Alexander Nikanorov who has been working with Kamchatka foxes for several decades have only seen such foxes twice before.

'Kamchatka peninsula doesn’t really have foxes with colour mutations. Typical for us is the Anadyr, or Red fox, which comes in a vivid ginger colour. Locals call it Fire fox because of the bright-colored fur. We haven't seen the Silver fox for several decades, or the Cross type fox, which is the result of Red and Silver foxes mating’, explained Nikanorov.   

'This particular fox with the black belly is the next step, a transitional colour mutation phase from the Cross type fox to Silver fox.’

Kamchatka scientists and hunters have also mentioned seeing a Flower fox around the peninsula - a Red fox with down hair of very unusual rich shade of crimson. 

Alexander Nikanorov said that the Flower fox hasn’t been seen in Kamchatka for a long while. 

An automatic camera trap has been set up to help scientists watch the rare black belly fox. 

First pictures showed that the female started seeing a male Red fox. 

Should the two create a family, the Kronotsky Nature reserve will see some uniquely coloured cubs in May.