Occasionally some of these colour mutations are found in wild lowland populations, but it is unclear whether they arose naturally or represent animals that have escaped from fur farms. On their website, the Colorado-based Fur Commission mention 39 different colours and hues (I suspect there are more) most are the result of experimental breeding and thus exist only in captivity, but some populations (those living at high altitudes in Yellowstone, for example) exhibit some unique colouration. An orangey-red coat, with a white bib and belly with black "socks" and ear tips. At the time of writing I (November 2016) have 169 reports, varying in credibility, of unusually-coloured foxes from the UK spanning 1955 to 2016 – including 147 black, four cream/golden/pale and 15 white. Fairley also mentions that entirely black guard hairs may be found to a greater or lesser extent through the 'red' (banded) ones and are occasionally found in such number on the underside to render the chest and belly charcoal-coloured. The guard hairs on the belly and inner surfaces are white, while the underfur is grey. In An Irish Beast Book, James Fairley explains how fox guard hairs aren't a uniform colour: the tip 2mm or so is black, with a roughly 4mm band of red below that, and a 6mm band of yellow pigment below that the remaining 10-15mm down to the root again being black. Indeed, the colour of the fur comes from banding of pigment in the hairs. Season can also have an effect and when the fox moults during the summer the longer guard hairs are lost, making the underside appear darker and the back lighter. Some variation in fur colour can be attributed to habitat and, as well as smaller body size, Red foxes living in arid regions, such as in the Middle East and North Africa, tend to much paler coats than foxes from higher latitudes. Pelt colour is highly variable essentially ranging from white (although most commonly yellow-red) to black.
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