Domesticated silver fox

Domesticated silver fox
A Russian Silver Fox, the kind used by scientist Dmitry Belyaev for genetics research in Novosibirsk.

The domesticated silver fox (marketed as the Siberian fox) is a domesticated form of the silver morph of the red fox. As a result of selective breeding, the new foxes became not only tamer, but more dog-like as well.

The result of over 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia, the breeding project was set up in 1959[1] by the Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev. It continues today at The Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, under the supervision of Lyudmila Trut.

The Russian researchers have partnered with the American company SibFox to distribute these foxes as pets internationally.[2]

Contents

Initial experimentation

The experiment was initiated by scientists who were interested in the topic of domestication and the process by which wolves became tame domesticated dogs. They saw some retention of juvenile traits by adult dogs, both morphological ones, such as skulls that were unusually broad for their length, and behavioral ones, such as whining, barking, and submission.

In a time when Lysenkoism was an official state doctrine, Belyaev's commitment to classical genetics had cost him his job as head of the Department of Fur Animal Breeding at the Central Research Laboratory of Fur Breeding in Moscow in 1948.[3] During the 1950s, he continued to conduct genetic research under the guise of studying animal physiology.

Belyaev believed that the key factor selected for in the domestication of dogs was not size or reproduction, but behavior; specifically, amenability to domestication, or tameability. He selected for low flight distance, that is, the distance one can approach the animal before it runs away. Selecting this behavior mimics the natural selection that must have occurred in the ancestral past of dogs. More than any other quality, Belyaev believed, tameability must have determined how well an animal would adapt to life among humans. Because behavior is rooted in biology, selecting for tameness and against aggression means selecting for physiological changes in the systems that govern the body's hormones and neurochemicals. Belyaev decided to test his theory by domesticating foxes; in particular, the silver fox, a dark color form of the red fox. He placed a population of them in the same process of domestication, and he decided to submit this population to strong selection pressure for inherent tameness.[4]

The result is that Russian scientists now have a number of domesticated foxes that are fundamentally different in temperament and behavior from their wild forebears. Some important changes in physiology and morphology are now visible, such as mottled or spotted colored fur. Many scientists believe that these changes related to selection for tameness are caused by lower adrenaline production in the new breed, causing physiological changes in very few generations and thus yielding genetic combinations not present in the original species. This indicates that selection for tameness (i.e. low flight distance) produces changes that are also influential on the emergence of other "dog-like" traits, such as raised tail and coming into heat every six months rather than annually.

The project also investigated breeding vicious foxes to study aggressive behavior. These foxes snap at humans and otherwise show no fear.

Current project status

Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the project has run into serious financial problems. In 1996, there were 700 domesticated foxes, but, in 1998, without enough funds for food and salaries, the project scientists had to cut the number to 100. Most of the project expenses are covered by selling the foxes as pets, but the project remains in a difficult situation and is looking for new sources of revenue from outside sources.

On November 22, 2005, the journal Current Biology published an article about the genetic differences between the two fox populations.[5] In this study, DNA microarrays were used to detect differential gene expression between domesticated foxes, non-domesticated foxes raised at the same farm as the tame foxes, and wild foxes. Forty genes were found to differ between the domesticated and non-domesticated farm-raised foxes, although about 2,700 genes differed between the wild foxes and either set of farm-raised foxes. The authors did not analyze the functional implications of the gene expression differences they observed.

On November 21, 2007, the journal Behavior Genetics published an article about continuing research using both the domesticated and non-domesticated foxes developed by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[6] In this paper, the authors identify a system of measuring fox behavior that is expected to be useful in QTL mapping to explore the genetic basis of tame and aggressive behavior in foxes.

See also

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tame Silver Fox — Taxobox name = Tame Silver Fox status = DOM |Two Russian tame foxes from the project. This group has only about one hundred specimens. image width = 230px regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Mammalia ordo = Carnivora familia = Canidae… …   Wikipedia

  • Fox — Taxobox name = Fox image caption = Red Fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Mammalia ordo = Carnivora familia = Canidae genus = Vulpes subdivision ranks = Species subdivision = Vulpes velox A fox is an animal… …   Wikipedia

  • List of domesticated animals — This is a list of animals that have been domesticated by humans.[1] The list includes species or larger formal and informal zoological categories that include at least some domesticated individuals. It includes livestock, poultry, companion… …   Wikipedia

  • Red fox — For other uses, see Red fox (disambiguation). Red fox Temporal range: Mid Pleistocene–Recent European red fox (V. v. crucigera) Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • Red Fox — Taxobox name = Red Fox status = LC status system = iucn3.1 status ref = IUCN2006|assessors = Macdonald, D.W. Reynolds, J.C. | year = 2004 | title = Vulpes vulpes | id = 23062 | downloaded = 2006 08 09 Database entry includes justification for why …   Wikipedia

  • Domestication — Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated Domestication (from Latin domesticus) or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and con …   Wikipedia

  • Fancy rat — This article is about pet brown rats. For pet Gambian pouched rats, see Gambian pouched rat. For pet black rats, see Black rat. A common hooded fancy rat The fancy rat is a domesticated brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), which is the most common type …   Wikipedia

  • List of Russian people — The Millennium of Russia monument in Veliky Novgorod, featuring the statues and reliefs of the most celebrated people in the first 1000 years of Russian history …   Wikipedia

  • List of Russian biologists — Biologists Aleksandr Oparin (right) and Andrei Kursanov (left) in the enzymology laboratory, 1938 This list of Russian biologists includes the famous biologists from the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire and other p …   Wikipedia

  • List of rabbit breeds — Rabbit breeds are notably different varieties of domestic rabbit created through selective breeding or natural selection. Breeds recognized by organizations such as the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) may be exhibited and judged in… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”