Tame Silver Foxes are the results of an experiment to domesticate the silver fox, started many years ago in Russia. It was notable to see that they not only became more tame, but more dog-like as well: the new foxes lost their bad smell, became more friendly with humans, put their ears down (like dogs), and wagged their tails when happy. The breeding project was set up by Russian scientist Dmitri Belyaev, encouraged by the Communist Party of the time because of its link with the aim to control and improve the human condition. Domesticated animals, plants, and other organisms are those whose collective behavior, life cycle, or physiology has been altered as a result of their breeding and living conditions being under human control for multiple generations. ... This article is about the animal called the Red Fox. ... TAME is the abbrevisation of Teachers Association for Media Education, an association for teachers using media production as a mean of educating. ... Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris (Linnaeus, 1758) The dog is a mammal in the canine family of the Order Carnivora. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu  (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... Dmitri Belyaev (1917-1985) - a Russian scientist, academician. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

Initial experiment

Scientist were interested by the topic of domestication, and how wolves were able to change and "improve" to become tame, like 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 behavioural ones such as whining, barking and submissiveness. Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... Neotony is the mechanism by which there is retardation of somatic development with respect to the onset of reproductive activity. ... Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in organisms. ... Behavior (or behaviour in Commonwealth English) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ...

Belyaev believed that the key factor selected for domestication of dogs was not size or reproduction, but behaviour; specifically amenability to domestication, or tamability. More than any other quality, Belyaev believed, tamability must have determined how well an animal would adapt to life among human beings. 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. Biology is the branch of science dealing with the study of life. ... A hormone (from Greek horman - to set in motion) is a chemical messenger from one cell (or group of cells) to another. ... Neurochemistry is a branch of neuroscience that is heavily devoted to the study of neurochemicals and cheese. ...

Belyaev decided to test his theory by domesticating foxes; in particular the Russian Silver Fox. He placed a population of them in the same process of domestication, and he decide to submit this population to a strong selection pressure for tamability.

Now, Russian scientists have a number of tame foxes which are fundamentally different in temperament and behaviour from their wild forebears. Some important changes in physiology and morphology are now visible. In psychology, temperament is the general nature of an individuals personality, such as introversion or extraversion, it derives from the theory of the humours. ... Behavior (or behaviour in Commonwealth English) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. ... Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in organisms. ...

Project today

Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the project has run into serious financial problems. In 1996 there were 700 tame foxes, but in 1998, without enough funds for food and salaries, they had to cut the number to 100. Most of their expenses are covered by selling the pelts, but they remain in a difficult situation, looking for new sources of revenue from outside funding. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

On November 22, 2005, the journal Current Biology published an article about the genetic differences between the two fox populations: Jazin et al.: "Selection for tameness has changed brain gene expression in silver foxes." Current Biology, Vol. 15, R915-R916, November 22, 2005, DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2005.11.009

External links

• Taming Foxes article
• CBBC News Article
• Press release from Eurekalert.org