From Wild to Mild: Friendly Foxes Show Changes in Brain Region

From wild to mild: Friendly foxes show changes in brain region

Scientists studying the neurology of tame foxes identified changes in a part of the brain that has previously been associated with aggression, according to a new paper that compared the brains of domesticated, aggressive and wild foxes. The changes occurred in an area at the base of the brain called the ventromedial hypothalamus, which is known to drive aggression, control decisions related to energy use and play an important role in maternal in…

Friendly foxes have fewer brain cells linked to aggression

Foxes bred to be friendly toward humans had fewer cells of a particular type in a brain region linked to aggression. The finding gives researchers a clue to what changed inside the brain as the animals became tamer. The work draws on a breeding experiment that began on silver fox farms in Siberia in the […]

Brain Circuit Pruned to Make Wild Foxes Friendly

How did wild foxes become cuddly companions in just generations? Researchers examining Belyaev's famous Siberian silver foxes discovered that domesticated foxes have fewer estrogen receptor alpha neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus—the brain's innate attack center.