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How to Domesticate a Fox

Domestication characterizes the physical and psychological changes an animal species undergoes when it adapts to living with humans. Though a single fox can be tamed and grow accustomed to living with people, domestication is something that happens to a group of foxes. The Russian scientist Dmitri Belyaev is renowned for his pioneering studies on the domestication of the silver fox. His work made it clear that an animal must undergo genetic changes to be fully domesticated and, as a result, domesticated animals look different from their wild relatives.

Instructions

- 1
  Select foxes for breeding that show minimal fear of humans. Dmitri Belyaev demonstrated that the most significant factor in fox tameability and domestication is low flight distance. Flight distance is a measure of how close an animal will allow a human to get to it before fleeing. Choose the foxes that will allow humans to get the closest to them before running or showing signs of aggression.
- 2
  Raise the fox pups by hand. Bottle-feed them and handle them frequently. Allow them lots of opportunities to socialize with people and minimize their time spent with other foxes. This approach will help to further tame the fox pups. Though tameness as a result of hand-raising is not a genetic trait that can be passed on to the next generation, it will make the pups easier to handle and live with.
- 3
  Breed the hand-raised fox pups that show the lowest flight distance. Continue repeating this process with each subsequent generation of foxes. By the tenth generation, the appearance of pups will begin to change. They may develop spots, droopy ears and bigger eyes. This process is called neotenization and occurs along with domestication.

Animals & Science