Posted on 04/10/2024 1:33:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Our ancestors may have kept foxes as pets long before domestic dogs came on the scene.
Archaeological evidence suggests ancient human societies in South America revered foxes to such an extent that they were buried next to them.
Scientists were surprised to find a fox buried in a human grave dating back 1,500 years in Patagonia, Argentina.
They think the most likely explanation is that the fox was a highly valued companion or pet.
DNA analysis shows the animal dined with prehistoric hunter gatherers and was part of the inner circle of the camp.
A fox of the same species was found in a much older grave in another part of Argentina nearly a decade ago. It may also have been a pet but its diet was not analysed.
"This is a very rare find of having this fox that appears to have had such a close bond with individuals from the hunter-gatherer society," said Dr Ophélie Lebrasseur of the University of Oxford.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
“I’m a Mox. Half-man, half-fox, I’m my own best friend.”
The Festrunk brothers want to know more.
Shouldn’t be a shocker: foxes are easier to tame than most wild animals. I had a bunch of pet foxes at the naval gunfire range off San Diego. Would feed them mess hall baloney by hand while we watched the ships fire.
Do the get covered by the VA?
Probably more responsively than the rest of us...
I have had fox come into the yard and want to play like a dog. Having said that folks should be aware that fox can carry rabies. The arctic foxes on the north slope can get absolutely crazy when rabid.
The Senator’s Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson kept one as a pet, until a neighbor (accidentally) shot it.
There is credibility to that speculation; keeping foxes as pets. Looking back, there is a famous painting showing a woman cuddling an ermine, sometimes called a ferret.
See Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” painted about 1489.
Cecilla Gallerani tenderly holds her pet.
Some say this work is ‘better than’ Da Vinci’s later work called The Mona Lisa. Both show elegant, though unreadable young women.
At some point his funding stopped so I don't know if he succeeded in achieving his goal.
I imagine he at least got as far as breeding foxes who were less dangerous than pit bulls.
It went extinct because the last one was eaten by Chupacabra!!! ;^)
Over the years, I’ve hand fed quite a few foxes at my place in NC.
I also read about people in Russia taming foxes. I believe they said it took 8 generations of breeding the tamest ofspring to end up with a tame fox. I think they also tried breeding in the more wild direction with success.
.. and here is the proof https://grimm.fandom.com/wiki/Chupacabra
What movie was that from?
1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
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