Prof. Mumblebard claims: “The red fox is aptly named because its typical colouration is rufous or ochraceous.” (MISTAKEN)
Robin and the Honey Badger respond: “The red fox is poorly named for two reasons. Firstly, this species is remarkably colour-polymorphic, having such a bewildering variety of more than 10 patterns within each population that there seems to be no common theme to all the variations. Secondly, redness is certainly not a common theme, because the brightest hues are better-described as orange. If this species must be named for its colours, it would be better to call it the ‘protean fox’ or ‘orange fox’” (INSIGHTFUL)
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Photo © Ryzhkov Sergey · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
