Samson foxes are a strain of red foxes which have a recessive trait preventing long hair growth.
Transcript:
RUDY MANCKE:
Hi, this is Rudy Mancke from University of South Carolina for NatureNotes.
Jimmy Trout, a friend of mine from Spartanburg, and other people recently have noticed a strange animal in neighborhoods. It looks like a hairless dog or a coyote without any hair. The photograph he sent me had [an animal with] white hairs on the tip of the tail, but the rest of the body was just short hairs, kind of gray.
And it's a red fox. It's what's usually referred to as the Samson fox. It has a recessive trait that keeps the long hair growth from continuing, except toward the rear of the body.
And these are, these are voracious feeders. They've got a big appetite. They eat garbage. They put up with humans a lot.
Named "Samson foxes" because of the biblical notion of Samson and his hair being cut and losing his strength.
