Foxes can be Domesticated: How Science Created Another Unusual Pet

Foxes are cute and playful animals, so many of us have probably wondered if these animals would make a good pet.

On the Internet you may have seen videos and photos of domestic foxes, but scientists from Russia say that these animals are nothing but tamed wild animals, who are accustomed to human presence.


But the only place, where one would get a fully domesticated fox species is located in Novosibirsk, the home of a unique 50-year-long experiment.



Scientists have long wondered how fast the process of domestication began and how animals started to show affection towards people on the early stages of this process. Back in the 20th century Soviet researches wanted to find out how as dogs, cows, horses became tame and domestic animals, so in order to test one of the hypotheses an evolutionary experiment was carried out.



It took half a century to reproduce a historical process, which involved a wild animal becoming a companion or a partner to a man. For this experiment scientists chose a fox for the main two reasons. First of all, it is a close relative to a dog – a man’s best friend, and secondly, at the beginning of the experiment Soviet scientists already had experience in breeding foxes in captivity, and the most of the selection has already been accomplished.



The research mission, which has been going on for over 50 years now in Novosibirsk, has selected animals based on their kindness and aggressiveness in order to pick the least aggressive for mating. Although the mission now is sometimes referred to as one that aimed to produce domesticated pet foxes, scientists from many counties of the world claim that the work of Novosibirsk Institute of Cytology and Genetics has proved to be valuable for the scientific world.



In over half a century the selective breeding of foxes turned a wild predatory animal into a cute human companion. Pet foxes generally enjoy company of people and show behavior, which is common to a pet dog – they wag their tail, lick owner’s hand and try to attract the attention of people in all possible ways.

To know more about these animals, take a look at this video presentation:



While the purpose for taming wild foxes remains controversial, the number of people, who would like to get a pet fox, only grows. Just like an average pet dog they can learn tricks, perform commands and be perfect companions for snuggling. But there are several obstacles every future fox owner will have to overcome.



First of all they are expensive. Getting one of these could send you back up to $8,000, not to mention the transportation costs from Siberia.

Second of all, the domestication only slightly eliminated the levels of aggression but the constant instinct for digging and running around remains the same.


And finally, many foxes are also excellent climbers, they regularly get on trees and roofs, hunting for birds and squirrels, so owners should remember what these animals are made for.

Image credits:

1) www.perunica.ru/priroda/6678-dobrye-lisicy-vyvedennye-v-sssr.html
2) www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/Red_Color_Russian_domesticated_Red_Fox.jpg
3) www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Georgian_white_Russian_domesticated_Red_Fox.jpg
4) www.a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/-/inline/2014/10/3037451-inline-i-3-pet-fox.jpg
5) www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Adisey_fox.JPG