Posted on 02/22/2005 8:43:05 AM PST by balrog666
Forget hounds - foxes could become man's newest best friend, as scientists have shown they can be tamed.
After 45 years of breeding, tame foxes that wag their tails, greet humans with excited barks and look cute have been born in Siberia.
The original foxes were all black, but the new critters have white patches, big floppy ears, and curly tails.
The new foxes are also more curious, better at understanding humans, and less frightened of new things.
The scientists bred about 45,000 foxes to get to the tame stage.
When breeding the animals, they only chose them on how well they responded to people.
But the physical changes came as well - making scientists think cuteness comes along with being tame.
lol That was my first thought too.
Over the years, other investigators and I have raised several fox pups in domestic conditions, either in the laboratory or at home as pets. They have shown themselves to be good-tempered creatures, as devoted as dogs but as independent as cats, capable of forming deep-rooted pair bond's with human beings-mutual bonds, as those of us who work with them know. If our experiment should continue, and if fox pups could be raised and trained the way dog puppies are now, there is no telling what sort of animal they might one day become.
interesting.
They will become fashionable and every half-wit moron will want one. More animals to be abused.
Why should the ones more inclined to be social be any more interested in food??
Totally unscientific observation but we have two blue crown conure juveniles obtained from different sources. The more social one of the two is the one who is decidedly more interested in food. I suspect that it's an adaptation response linked to appetite.
BTTT
Polar bears would also be interesting candidates for domestication.
Red flag right there.
My suspicion is that the cuter the animal, the more likely it is that people will judge it to be "responding well" to people.
Judge Roy Bean had the Watch Bear. I love that movie.
Half-wit moron checking in... Better a domesticated fox than what my wife wants. I will NOT spend time in the same house with a rat terrier.
I don't think that was their point. Both types, wild and domesticated, are probably equally interested in food. But the socialized one were much more skilled at picking up the non-verbal cues from humans, and therefore were able to locate the food. The wild foxes could not interpret what the humans were doing and just sat there in a confused or indifferent state.
This topic is getting neotenous.
Wolves can be cute, but they are not tame.
But can you say that a marginally cuter wolf would not be perceived by people as being marginally tamer than another wolf?
The problem with bears is not what they're willing to do, but what they're capable of doing. It's kind of like the story of the elephant yesterday that gored it's keeper to death. All it takes is one moment of anger, and you're singing a duet with Elvis.
The issue here is neoteny, the prolongation of juvenile traits. Humans and dogs are neotenous. Dogs and juvenile wolves bark and play. Adult dogs still bark and play.
Perception of cuteness is associated with jevenile traits, such as a larger head in proportion to height. Disney artists evolved Mickey mouse into a cuter and more juvenile form over time, probably using artists intuition rather than science.
The issue here is neoteny, the prolongation of juvenile traits. Humans and dogs are neotenous. Dogs and juvenile wolves bark and play. Adult dogs still bark and play.
Perception of cuteness is associated with jevenile traits, such as a larger head in proportion to height. Disney artists evolved Mickey mouse into a cuter and more juvenile form over time, probably using artists intuition rather than science.
Whoops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.