How to Tame a Fox

April 3, 2017 By John E. Riutta in Newly Noted Books Tags: Belyaev, book, chicago, dog, domestication, dugatkin, Fox, News, tame, trut, university

It has likely been a year or so since I first heard of Dmitri Belyaev’s and Lyudmila Trut’s project to determine if foxes could be domesticated. Begun in 1959, their research has since brought to light a host of discoveries about the process and effects of domestication, and as well has yielded fifty-six generations of domesticated Silver Fox.

Although Belyaev died in 1985, Trut has continued with the research, and with the publication by University of Chicago Press of How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution, co-authored with Lee Dugatkin, now tells the story of what she and Belyaev discovered through the decades of their fascinating research.

John E. Riutta

Founder and publisher of The Well-read Naturalist. Inveterate autodidact. Has repeatedly been found out standing in many fields. Plays well with otters.

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