To determine the genotype of the tan-coated female fox, we need to understand the inheritance of coat color in foxes. In this scenario, white coat (W) is dominant over tan coat (w).
When a white-coated male fox, which can either be homozygous (WW) or heterozygous (Ww), is mated with a tan-coated female fox (ww), the key details are:
- The tan-coated female must have the genotype ww because tan is recessive. A tan-coated fox cannot have a dominant allele (W) since that would result in a white coat.
Since the male foxes produce 100% white-coated offspring when mated with a tan-coated female, this means that he must be homozygous dominant (WW). If he were heterozygous (Ww), he would produce some tan-coated offspring (25% chance) when mated with a ww female.
Therefore, the genotype of the tan-coated female fox is:
D. ww