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Monday, May 2, 2011

Foxes can be domesticated, just like dogs.


Scientists in Siberia have domesticated Silver Foxes. It took 35 Generations, 45,000 foxes, and 50 years to do. The result is a friendly, house pet "As devoted as dogs but as independent as cats, capable of forming deep-rooted bonds with human beings." What’s amazing is that as the foxes get more domesticated through breeding they start to develop traits of domestic dogs, like floppy ears and curly tails. 

You can learn more about domesticated foxes on this website 

To clarify, this isn’t merely taming a wild animal. This is a concerted effort to breed a wild animal into a domesticated one, just as wolves and wild dogs were bred over thousands of years to create domesticated dogs. To learn more about how domestication works, check out this National Geographic article.

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