Dmitry Belyaev

Decades of Fox Breeding Point to Brain Changes That May Explain Dog Domestication

A long-running Russian breeding experiment has found that foxes selectively bred for tameness developed measurable changes in brain regions tied to aggression, stress, and social behavior. The findings offer a rare biological window into how domestication may have reshaped wolves into dogs, with implications for understanding animal behavior, evolution, and the neural basis of friendliness.