There are over 30 different types of fox out there. They all look kind of like dogs, but nearly all of them are not suitable for being turned into pets. They’re wild animals and just don’t want to be tamed. Cute though they are, foxes really do belong in the forest, not in your home.
There is one breed of fox that’s an exception to this rule. Back in the late 1950s, a scientist in the Soviet Union was interested in finding out how wolves became dogs. He decided to see if he could use selective breeding to produce a fox that could be domesticated. This involved carefully sorting foxes based on innate traits, some were aggressive and unfriendly, others calmer but still unfriendly, and then there were some that were not too aggressive and showed signs of dog-like friendliness. These friendly foxes were “eager to establish human contact, whimpering to attract attention and sniffing and licking experimenters like dogs. They start displaying this kind of behavior before they are one month old.” After several decades of careful breeding, they succeeded in producing a breed of domestic fox.
Mr. Scamper de Fox is a very handsome silver fox with a bluish-black coat with white fur on the tip of his tail. He lost his original home and was far too tame to be released into the wild. Fortunately he was adopted into a loving new home. In the video we’ve posted below, you’ll see Mr. Scamper having a session on the couch, lying there clutching a toy chicken in his jaws while his belly gets tickled by one of his human parents. But the really incredible thing is the noise he makes. The fox literally sounds like he’s laughing. And it isn’t just a little chuckle: he goes on and on laughing like a maniac. You have to hear it for yourself to fully appreciate just how outrageously funny Mr. Scamper is.
Are you now wishing you had a laughing fox? Let us know in the comments at Facebook. Don’t forget to like and share!
