In South America, foxes were pets centuries ago, scientists report in the “Royal Society Open Science” magazine.
Archaeologists were very surprised when in Patagonia (Argentina) they discovered a burial in which a fox was buried next to a human. The grave is 1.5 thousand years old. years.
According to scientists, this proves that foxes were pets, accompanying humans, just like dogs.
Further research shows that foxes were fed with the food that humans ate and occupied a permanent place in the hunter-gatherer camp. The remains of a fox of the same species were discovered almost a decade ago in a burial in another part of Argentina.
This is a very rare find. It proves the close bonds between foxes and hunter-gatherers – describes Dr. Ophelie Lebrasseur from the University of Oxford (UK).
Wild fox teeth have previously been found in numerous burials in Argentina and Peru, suggesting that these animals were endowed with symbolic meanings. In this case, however, we are dealing with an almost complete fox skeleton.
The fox belongs to the species Dusicyon avus. It was of medium size and weighed approximately 10-15 kg. The species became extinct about 500 years ago, several hundred years after domesticated dogs arrived in Patagonia.
