Pale Females, Dark Males

(Inspired by a page over at TV Tropes, the bane of my one-year-ago-self's schedule's existence.)

 When animators, et cetera, first started drawing critters, they realized that the sexual dimorphism between males and females of the non-human sort was not as great as it is in humans. A dog looks like a dog, basically, and there's no way to tell whether it's a bitch or a... whatever the heck you call boy dogs. Fortunately, they were not without historical precedent on the matter of distinguishing the sexes. Since males historically have worked outside in the hot sun, they have been depicted as being darker than females. Darkness is seen as being masculine and paleness feminine, almost universally. Examples of this trope can be spotted in Ancient  

Egyptian:

Via Wikipedia (link opens in new window)

Minoan:

Also via Wikipedia, but the public domain copyright says I don't have to acknowledge that  (this link too.)

and Aztec Cultures:

I'd like to think that the Aztecs enjoyed wacky sideline mascot high jinks just as much as we do today. Only with more human sacrifice. From Section III of the Codex Mendoza (link yadda yadda yadda.)

And, like I said, it continues into the animation of today:

Bawww.

Inspired by tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PaleFemalesDarkMales. This trope is not to be confused with, but somewhat comparable to Pantsless Males, Fully Dressed Females.