Did you ever wonder what it would be like if foxes were less vicious? And in less vicious I mean tame. Probably not, the fox isn’t a domesticated animal. But that is what Russian scientist Dmitri Belyaev set out to achieve in 1959.
Or at the very least an animal that was less dangerous for those working in the Russian fur industry at that time to handle. Dmitri, began by selecting only the tamest animals. Those that didn’t try to bite his hand when he held it out to them. The fox was then selectively bred.
Dmitri guessed that by only breeding the tamest foxes together, he would create one that was less aggressive. But what he found surprised him.
Within only 10 generations he saw noticeable changes in the animals levels of aggression, they were well behaved, playful animals that would wag their tails and bark like dogs. Their appearance also began to change, they became smaller, and their coat began to show large white patches of fur across much of their body. Another un-fox like trait was that some of the foxes were born with blue eyes.
Dmitri Belyaev began to study the changes the foxes were showing. What he found was a reduced level of adrenaline, which accounted for their lower level of aggression. What’s more, their melanin also sank, this is what was responsible for their change in coloration.
Here is an interesting video telling more about the domesticated foxes from Dmitri Belyaev.
