Over the course of two months, photographer Sam Gaby gained the trust of a unique-looking fox in Newfoundland. Over time, they built a relationship that allowed the friendly photographer to capture some beautiful photographs of the wild creature in nature.

Cross foxes are a fairly common sight to those who live in northern North America, where they're more abundant. As a melanistic variant of the red fox, the beautiful creatures have an orange coat mixed with dark stripes that run down their back and intersect across their shoulders. They make up about 30% of the Canadian red fox population; and though they're more common than a silver fox variant, they're still a special sight to behold.

After first spying the fox in 2018, Gaby worked hard to gain the animal's trust. "Our first encounter was calculated, I was focused on how to not disturb this wild animal, but at the same time, I was trying to assure him that I was not a threat," Gaby tells My Modern Met. "He was unsure about my presence, each cautious step forward was followed by two steps back and our first encounter didn't last long, I moved slowly but by the time I prepared my camera and locked eyes with him he ran off."

Luckily, Gaby didn't give up and after repeated visits at sunset, the fox began to relax around the photographer and his camera. After the initial span of two months, Gaby returned several times during the summer and winter to check in on his new friend. During each visit, he was able to learn a bit more about this cross fox and its sibling, who can often be seen in Gaby's photographs as well.

"I am impressed with his beauty but also his level of intelligence," Gaby confesses. "I've witnessed him hunting, hiding and retrieving food stores, and interacting with other foxes. He was extremely playful, especially with his sibling, I gave them both names; Mat and Pat." While in Newfoundland, photographer Sam Gaby came across a cross fox. While technically the name "cross fox" is correct here, it's not because this is a cross of two species.

This is actually the (confusing) name of this red fox color morph. It gets this name because the dark color forms a cross over the fox's shoulders. Cross foxes are slightly more common in the wild than the red fox's other color morph, the silver fox.

Red is the most common colour morph, although there are many hues, varying from reddish-yellow to very dark red/orange, with varying amounts of black interspersed. The coat colour comes from pigments called melanins that are deposited in the hair as it grows; the ratio of light (phaeomelanin) to dark (eumelanin) pigment and the order in which they're laid down in the hair determines the exact colour. Guard hairs have bands of black, yellowy-brown and white (no pigment) present at varying concentrations across the body, causing blended colouration. In his Wild Guide, Simon King notes that many of the red guard hairs have a red base, dark centre and a red (or occasionally creamy white) tip. Red foxes have varying amounts of black fur around their eyes, the side of the muzzle, on the back of their ears and on their lower legs (often called 'socks'). A darker patch of hair near the base of the tail is also evident in many individuals; this area lacks underfur, having only guard hairs with thick white ends and black tips.

A white 'bib' that extends up to cover the bottom jaw and lower half of the muzzle is common, while the lips and nose are generally brown. The fur on the belly ranges from white to slate grey and the tail is often less colourful than the body. There are occasional reports of 'black-bellied' foxes—which have dark red backs and dark grey/black sides and belly—and, writing in 1954, Tarvo Oksala found that 18 (0.6%) of the 3,000 Finnish fox skins he examined were of this type. There are no equivalent data from Britain but, in his 1968 book Wild Fox, Roger Burrows mentioned that black-bellied animals have occasionally been caught by hunts here, including in Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire.

Cross foxes are very similar to the normal Red morph, but have a dark brown or black line that runs along the back to the base of the tail and a second line running across the shoulders and down the legs; this forms a cross pattern at the shoulder. Cross foxes are found throughout Europe (recall the subspecies crucigera, or 'cross-bearer', described from Germany) and common in North America, presumably testifying to the spread of foxes introduced from Europe by early settlers. The bulk of foxes (about 60%) fall into the Red colour morph, with Cross foxes accounting for about 25%. All images credit: Sam Gaby Instagram: keen.feed