He’s beautiful. I love foxes. I saw a documentary a while back about some scientists who were breeding foxes for domestication. They had an entire barn of foxes and would only breed the ones who tolerated handling and human interaction. One of the results of the breeding stock were color changes. The friendliest foxes would have beautiful displays of white on their chests or sides, with fluffy black tails.
FROM BRAVE AI:
Soviet Fox Experiment
The Soviet fox experiment, also known as the Russian Farm-Fox Experiment, was initiated by Soviet scientist Dmitry Belyaev in the 1950s. The goal was to recreate the evolution of gray wolves into domesticated dogs, but in a much shorter timeframe using silver foxes.
Belyaev and his team selected foxes that showed the most curiosity and least aggression towards humans, breeding only the friendliest pups in each generation.
This selective breeding process resulted in foxes that were more tame and exhibited behaviors similar to domesticated dogs, such as wagging their tails when seeing people.
By 1996, after about 40 years and 45,000 foxes, the experimenters had a population of 100 foxes, the product of 30 to 35 generations of selection.
These foxes were notably more friendly and less aggressive compared to their wild ancestors.
However, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to funding issues, making it difficult to continue the research.
The experiment has been pivotal in understanding the genetic and behavioral changes associated with domestication. In a study published in 2018, scientists used genome sequencing to identify 103 stretches of the fox genome that appeared to have been altered by the breeding process, potentially revealing genes responsible for social behavior.
Some researchers have questioned the significance of the domestication syndrome in the fox experiment, suggesting that the conclusions drawn from it may have been overstated.
Nonetheless, the experiment remains a significant case study in the field of animal domestication.
In recent years, the domesticated foxes have been trained for various tasks, including scent detection for search and rescue operations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXgVW0ng2CA