@BackFromTheDud don't worry - apparently they're in the process of domesticating themselves

The foxes in my back garden feel safe enough to sleep on their backs - enjoying the sun on their bellies

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#fox #wildlife #garden #animals

@rufustheduck I will never understand why we didn't try to domesticate the Fox.

They act very similarly to dogs. They chase each other, pretend to fight, and I've even seen them playing with balls and other things they can use as toys

3/4

#foxes #wildlife #animals

@BackFromTheDud @rufustheduck There is a Russian domesticated fox; the domestic silver fox. It took modern knowledge of genetics, animal husbandry and breeding facility arrangement to pull it off.

Two traits of animals that usually bode poorly for domestication is if they are solitary (because then you can't co-opt any natural instincts for trying to fit into a hierarchy to get the animal to follow orders - and often, solitary animals are also a lot more shy, because they don't have safety in numbers), and if they won't mate if they're confined or being watched. And, well, foxes tick both boxes. Wolves don't, so they were a lot easier for Paleolithic animal breeders to work with.

(Cats apparently self-domesticated. Human settlements attract cat prey and humans like having cats around to kill pests, so cats that tolerated human proximity had a selective advantage over cats that didn't.)

@rufustheduck

This is a Very nice series of posts/pics on foxes! I know nothing about them & it's kind of cute that they play/interact with one another like dogs. Thanks for sharing & Well Done

@BackFromTheDud @rufustheduck There is a Russian domesticated fox; the domestic silver fox. It took modern knowledge of genetics, animal husbandry and breeding facility arrangement to pull it off.

Two traits of animals that usually bode poorly for domestication is if they are solitary (because then you can't co-opt any natural instincts for trying to fit into a hierarchy to get the animal to follow orders - and often, solitary animals are also a lot more shy, because they don't have safety in numbers), and if they won't mate if they're confined or being watched. And, well, foxes tick both boxes. Wolves don't, so they were a lot easier for Paleolithic animal breeders to work with.

(Cats apparently self-domesticated. Human settlements attract cat prey and humans like having cats around to kill pests, so cats that tolerated human proximity had a selective advantage over cats that didn't.)

@TrueBlue4THREE I'm happy you enjoyed them. I feel very lucky to get to see this kind of behaviour from my window

@Nazani i must say Midsomer Murders is the reason i know what fox screaming sounds like 🫣

@rufustheduck

They're smart enough to be wary of humans, and when I go into my garden, they watch me cautiously.

If I appear to be moving in their direction, they disappear into the bushes

4/4

#fox #animals #nature #garden

The foxes in my back garden feel safe enough to sleep on their backs - enjoying the sun on their bellies

1/4

#fox #wildlife #garden #animals

The foxes in my back garden feel safe enough to sleep on their backs - enjoying the sun on their bellies

1/4

#fox #wildlife #garden #animals

@tsadiq @rufustheduck In real life it's more shrill, sometimes almost sounds like an animal being killed. Very unsettling to hear in the wee hours.

I took these pictures from my bedroom window. There are always foxes in the communal garden to our block, because people don't really use it so they feel safe

2/4

#fox #animals #nature #london

@rufustheduck In have read that there is a theory that foxes are in a kind of self domestication process right now and it looks like it to me

@BackFromTheDud @rufustheduck There is a Russian domesticated fox; the domestic silver fox. It took modern knowledge of genetics, animal husbandry and breeding facility arrangement to pull it off.

Two traits of animals that usually bode poorly for domestication is if they are solitary (because then you can't co-opt any natural instincts for trying to fit into a hierarchy to get the animal to follow orders - and often, solitary animals are also a lot more shy, because they don't have safety in numbers), and if they won't mate if they're confined or being watched. And, well, foxes tick both boxes. Wolves don't, so they were a lot easier for Paleolithic animal breeders to work with.

(Cats apparently self-domesticated. Human settlements attract cat prey and humans like having cats around to kill pests, so cats that tolerated human proximity had a selective advantage over cats that didn't.)

@Nazani @tsadiq @rufustheduck even moreso in a tent ️

@datarama @BackFromTheDud @rufustheduck I think I read once a piece about how "dogs" in some areas of South America were actually domestic foxes not wolves around time colonizers arrived, but it was found only later from archaeological evidence why they were so different from domestic wolves, and by then the domestic fox line had long been extinct. Just that I read it years ago and can't really remember where!

They act very similarly to dogs. They chase each other, pretend to fight, and I've even seen them playing with balls and other things they can use as toys

3/4

#foxes #wildlife #animals