We met the world’s first domesticated foxes

We met the very cute and very bizarre result of an almost 60-year-long experiment: they’re foxes that have been specially bred for their dog-like friendliness toward people. We do a little behavior research of our own, and discover what scientists continue to learn from the world’s most famous experiment in domestication. The fox experiment continues under the supervision of Lyudmila Trut at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. Her book “How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)”, co-authored by Lee Alan Dugatkin, details the history and science behind the experiment.

Video by: William Poor, Alex Perkin, Cory Zapatka
Audio: Andrew Marino
Additional Reporting: Rachel Becker
Host: William Poor
Director of Audience Development: Ruben Salvadori
Social Media Manager: Dilpreet Kainth

[VergeScience]

Should we be domesticating wild animals?

[Introbulus]

Short bursts of affection and then they go do their own thing?

Sounds like a cat.

[lidette]

"They greet, they interact, and then they move on." --Me at parties

[Jorg]

I've started domesticating crocodiles, the results so far are promising, but It's hard to write it all down with one arm

[rich]

Turns out, friendliness is only one measure of if an animal is a good pet. It's the most critical one, but it's not everything. They also need to be easily trained, or at the very least, have non-destructive behaviors. These things have not been bred into these foxes yet.

[davids.]

I've had a wild fox come up to me in the woods once. It was soo curious and followed me everywhere. Definitely had some of those "nice" genes. I wish I could relive that experience.

[KingTesticus]

A fox is an animal running cat software on dog hardware..

[ottoes]

The fact that we humans who love petting animals, live in a world full of animals who love getting pet is amazing and tells something about the laws of nature.

[dreadpenguinlord]

Be mindful if picking one up for yourself. The older ones tend to come pre-assembled, but the newer models are in kit form.

[SuperMasterMonky]

The difference is that foxes are relatively solitary animals. Wolves are pack animals. So dogs have that pack mentality and want those relationships.

[rosered]

I love how we humans are so fixated on bonding with anything that's cute and fluffy that we obsess over it, collectively, for generations.

[Xianne]

Several decades ago I bought a wolf pup from a breeder. I naively expected it to become as domestic as any dog. Well, yes and no, just as this couple with the foxes explained. My wolf bonded with me as her mother. She was loving and very affectionate to my family. She was very playful with a silly doggie-like sense of humor. But she was skittish and frightened of any loud noises. She was destructive, chewing things up, digging hole and even - yes, a cave! - and rearranging the backyard to her liking.
She liked other dogs if they were more less her size. But she feared larger dogs, but literally wanted to eat toy breeds (had to be careful when out on the leash) and she killed my beloved cat.

It was simply no life for her in suburban backyard. I finally had to make the extremely painful decision to part with my beloved wolf and find her a more appropriate home with a couple who lived in the woods. This was devastating for both me and my wolf, who viewed me as her momma.

I am now very critical about people seeking out wild animals as pets. It's not a fair life for them to have to conform to a human world and comes with situations that you're often not prepared to deal with.

[trishhill]

I had a pet fox back in the 80's. It's Mom wouldn't feed it so I raised on a bottle. His name was Sampson. He was house trained & everything. I loved him 🥺

[HelloYersoGae]

My neighbor is from Germany and she feeds the bears to keep them from going through the neighborhood trashcans. It's been going on so long that the bears brought their mates and cubs and after a couple years those grown-cubs brought their own cubs. She's got grand-cubs. They all are well behaved and pretty well known in the area.

[theblackhorizons]

Imagine achieving "Elite" level in your friendliness stat

[siberiancupcakesjabcecc]

The JABCECC currently has 14 of the Russian domesticated foxes that people can come and interact We have some that are 11 years old (with no socialization), some 8 years old (with a little bit) and some 3 years old (with a slight amount more) - all behave very differently than our wild or captive bred foxes. The Belyaev foxes seek out human attention (from those they know and those they have never met). They haven't met a person they didn't like and are willing to get scratches and pets from anyone. While they each have different personalities, they all are less afraid of novel environments than their counterparts. They truly are if you are ever in San Diego, look us up and schedule an encounter.

[CH]

The person who made the closed captions completely gave up when they were supposed to put in a russian name and just typed *[speaks foreign language]* instead🤣🤣🤣

[_Rafael]

We should domesticate bears for the ultimate good boy

[danieljames]

Wild fox: "no."

Domesticated fox: "oh, hello there. Want to play? No? Okay then, I'll give you your space."

Dog: *"FRIEND"*

[HappyMatt]

I love the term "elite level of friendliness" also I know I'm not the only one who went and called their doggo whenever the part about doggos having an unusual willingness to bond with humans came on.