Smokey fox

Smokey foxes are developed from the European coal fox, which has a black belly and darker coat compared to the regular European red fox. The mutation is considered to be part of the group of red mutations which also includes Red, Gold and Cross. All these genes interact with eachother, making it hard to predict what shades a pairing will produce. From personal experience, Smokey x Smokey pairings produce very different shades of Smokey foxes than a Smokey x Silver pairing. One could call it the European version of the Cross fox, as the Cross fox did not originate from Europe and does not naturally occur there. Surprisingly, breeding a Smokey to a Silver fox does sometimes produce Silver Cross foxes depending on the genetics of the Silver fox.