Domestic Foxes

[stoutfellow]

Some time ago, pompe raised a question: what might have happened if foxes, instead of wolves, had been the first canid to be domesticated? In response, I mentioned an experiment in domesticating foxes I'd read about.

In an effort to maintain some of the housecleaning momentum from mbernardi's visit, I've been cleaning off the desk in my computer room. One of the unexpected items unearthed by this effort is the March-April 1999 issue of American Scientist, which contains an article on the experiment I mentioned. Without going into the details that I'd forgotten, I'd like to quote the following passage, which seems relevant to pompe's question.

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 bonds 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.

(It should be noted that the fox pups in question are the product of some thirty generations of selection for tameness; they are not wild foxes.)

Comments

[pompe.livejournal.com]

I was more thinking about foxes instead of cats, but this is certainly interesting.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Ah. :rereads original post: Well, in any case, it does suggest that foxes could fill a cat-like role - somewhat closer to their humans, but less so than wolf-derived dogs.