Spore Foxes are actually two different creatures - a foxlike creature with pale fur that appears unrelated to actual foxes except distantly, and a fungial symbiont that grows in its fur. The foxes appear immune to the rather toxic fungus, and in turn the fungus adsorbs nutrients from the fox's skin.

Fungial infection appears to occur from parents. Spore Fox kits separated from their parents do not carry the fungus. Oddly, they seem to shed skin and fur excessively, and that is the likely nutrition the fungus uses.