Why I Chose the Silver Fox
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Unlike going off of the first animal that I saw on the internet I went around and asked some teachers what animal they thought was most interesting. A teacher introduced me to a silver fox and I fell in love immediately. The color was so different. When I looked into it I found out that their color wasn't originally like that and that they come from the red fox. When I started looking further into this animal I found out what kind of characteristics it had and it made me want to have one so bad. I wanted to learn more about it and share my knowledge with everybody else.
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Interesting Facts |
Species |
LocationSilver foxes may be found over much of the northern hemisphere and even in Austrailia. In America, they are found in the northwest. In Russia they are predominatly found in Siberia and in the Cauasus Mountain range. The Silver Fox lives in mainly the Temperate Forest Biome.
Food/DietSilver foxes mainly eat insects like, grasshoppers and crickets. They also eat smaller mammals, like birds, squirrels, and rabbits. Occaisonally they will eat larger birds like pheasents and ducks. Silver foxes will also eat berries and fruits, like apples, rassberries, blueberries and many more.
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The silver fox is one of the most domesticated foxes, all because of a man and his name is Dmitri Belyaev. He selectivley bred the silver foxes by choosing them based on tameness and low-aggresion. Belyaev and his collegues took silver foxes (a variant from the red fox and bred them.
Belyaev started testing the foxes within one month of age. He continued testing throughout infancy. The foxes were tested on their reactions when an experimentor would attempt to pet or handle the fox while offering food. They would also note whether the fox would hang out more with foxes or stick around humans more. When the fox reached sexual maturity they had their final test score. The foxes that were least fearful or aggressive were chosen for breeding. Belyaev bred a line of foxes with the opposite behavioral traits, to be fearful and aggressive. The result of this breeding program conducted over 40 generations of silver foxes that were group friendly. They were very domesticated. The silver foxes were more eager to hang out with humans than a wild fox would be. They would wag their tails when happy. When a new human would approach they wouldn't get very scared. They would go near it and just hang around it. |