Now that Alola has introduced regional variations, this opens

When a Pokemon successfully jumps over a shark, its type is able to change.

The lore behind vulpix is that is born with white fur, but once it grows older it disappears. Maybe in alola, it doesnt because it depends on it so it can blend in to the environment.

>>27529973
Ayyyyy

The same way real animals do but simpler and more drastic because this is a children's game

>>27529757
I could have sworn that I read something that said Vulpix migrated there and then couldn't find an area to live that wasn't occupied so they moved up to the snowy mountains, but I could have just imagined that

And for sandlash/sandshrew, they dont like wet areas, so it can live anywhere dry, snowy/icy/sandy. The types change because it's environment, they adapted to the environment for centuries. but dont ask me about exeggcutor's typing...

>>27529973
+1

>>27530052
No it's on the site

>>27530052
The official site says something to the gist of that yes.

>>27530070
Or the thing the dex said happened happened

Isn't this kind of thing called evolution? How does that fit into a franchise where that word has a different meaning?

>>27530162
But how did it develop the ability to use Ice Beam?

>>27530285
H-he's fast!

>>27530052
Wouldn't a fire type do well in a cold environment though? They generate natural heat.

>>27530330
It never says they don't do well
It never says they have a problem living in the snow as fire-types

>>27530243
It's genetics, they're magical elementals, and much like mew is the supposed common ancestor, they exist in a blank slate to be adjusted as they're conceived. The sandslash that were living in the icecap mountain had sex and produced an offspring that had mutations that reflected the survival habits of the sandslash, in the normal world that's a larger beak, in the Pokemon world that means two claws go from being calcium based honey claws to steel clad spikes, the ice manipulation comes from the actual ice that developed covering the spikes, it means the internal temperature has changed in the species and they can now summon ice at will

>>27530468
then why would they become snow types?

>>27530671
Who knows?
Maybe they wanted to
Maybe being fire type was fucking with the environment
Maybe tons of shit

>>27530671
See >>27530503

>>27530671
Maybe their inner-fires calmed down