What Does the (Pet) Fox Say?
Back
in 2013, a YouTube music video entitled “What Does the Fox Say?” went viral.
With 730 million views, you may say the animal certainly got its “15 minutes of
fame”. While the hype over this amusing song has died down, foxes do appear to
be making their way back into the spotlight once again. Imagine: you are
sitting at home on the couch watching a movie and curled up in your lap is your
cute, warm, cuddly companion…but instead of a dog, your furry friend is
actually a fox! Of course, many would not naturally consider foxes to be a
domesticated pet. However, current research may soon have us changing the way
we look at foxes.
A
recent study performed by researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
looked into fox domestication and the effects it has on gene activity in the
pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is a tiny, pea-sized organ found at the
base of the brain that produces hormones to regulate various bodily functions,
including the stress response. The first author of the study’s publication,
Jessica Hekman, explained that domesticated foxes are known to have a
significant reduction in fearfulness, which is closely linked to reductions in
blood levels of ACTH, a hormone released by the anterior pituitary gland that
drives the stress response. Previous research has found that ACTH levels in the
anterior pituitary do not differ between tame and aggressive foxes. This means
that differential expression of the ACTH gene may not be the cause of the
differences seen in blood levels of this hormone. Rather, some other mechanism
is likely reducing the ACTH in the bloodstream of tame foxes. The analysis of Hekman’s
study may shed some light on this elusive mechanism. At the Institute of
Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia, Hekman and her colleagues
compared six foxes selectively bred for tameness and six foxes selectively bred
for aggression. Their analysis suggests that the foxes’ pituitary glands may
produce the same amount of ACTH, but may simply be less efficient at getting
the hormone into the bloodstream. Simply put- the less ACTH released into the
bloodstream, the less stress felt by the fox. Hekman explains how these
findings could help explain why tame foxes do not get stressed as easily as undomesticated
foxes.
So
while I wouldn’t jump out of your chair and run to the nearest Petco to buy a
fox, I think it’s safe to say that additional research on the topic may further
explain the evolutionary processes associated with domestication. With such
information, perhaps we will one day be more apt at domesticating even more
species, foxes included. Who knows, maybe one day it will be commonplace to
have a pet fox curled up on your lap!
Sources:
ScienceDaily
Blog- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214145922.htm
Journal Reference- Jessica P. Hekman,
Jennifer L. Johnson, Whitney Edwards, Anastasiya V. Vladimirova, Rimma G.
Gulevich, Alexandra L. Ford, Anastasiya V. Kharlamova, Yuri Herbeck, Gregory M.
Acland, Lori T. Raetzman, Lyudmila N. Trut, Anna V. Kukekova. Anterior Pituitary Transcriptome Suggests
Differences in ACTH Release in Tame and Aggressive Foxes. G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics,
2018; g3.300508.2017 DOI: 10.1534/g3.117.300508
Posted by Nicole Ayres, (1)
Group 1, Week 1
Thurs. Feb 15, 2018.
That's interesting that the levels of the ACTH hormone do not differ between tame and wild foxes. Due to behavioral differences between the two, one would think that the amount of hormones would be a factor in causing these differences. I wonder what mechanisms are behind the efficiency of getting ATCH into the bloodstream. Perhaps, the number of receptors for ATCH also can play a role, but I'm just speculating. The article you found brings up a lot of interesting questions about domestication. Such as," is this mechanism for ATCH in other animals?", and "what other hormone differences are there between domestic animals and wild animals?"
ReplyDeletePosted by Angelina Weng (3)
Hi Angelina! I agree that the number of receptors is a very possible potential explanation for the differential efficiency of getting ATCH into the bloodstream. The paper also mentioned how the AVP gene codes for vasopressin, which is a protein known to potentiate ACTH release from the anterior pituitary. The researchers don't know the exact detailed mechanism for ACTH release, but they suggested looking more into the AVP gene in future research.
DeleteI also think the two questions you raised are interesting and would definitely make for some interesting future studies!
Posted by Nicole Ayres (1)
Since tame foxes and aggressive foxes have varying levels of the hormone ACTH that regulate aggressiveness would there also be other factors that contributed to this tameness? Something such as the physical attributes that foxes had, say different skull and jaw types. Would aggressive foxes have bodies better suited for aggression vs a tame fox having a body that reflects its tame nature such as smaller and narrower jaws?
ReplyDelete-Trung Le (2)
Hi Trung! Thanks for your comment, I think you raised some good questions. It's a small nuance, but to be clear, ACTH simply plays a role in the stress response, so it's not entirely accurate to say that ACTH regulates aggressiveness directly. Rather, ACTH amps up the stress response and the stress felt by the fox is one factor that could cause the fox to react in an aggressive manner! As for the skull and jaw types, the article didn't discuss that at all, but I think it's definitely worth researching further to see what other factors also differ between tame and aggressive foxes!
DeletePosted by Nicole Ayres (1)
I wonder if we looked at dog breeds would we see a similar result. If we look at wild African dogs and compared them to domesticated dog breeds that we have as pets what would the differences be? If we would also observe less ACTH in their blood system. It could also add to the theory if they used behavior observations to see if they correlate with stress ACTH levels. I am also curious if dog breeds that are generally thought of as aggressive exhibit smiler ACTH levels.
ReplyDeletePosted by Zane Ruehrwein (3)
Hi Zane! You bring up some really cool points. If I had to guess, I would assume we would observe similar ACTH trends in wild vs. domesticated dogs. Of course, there are many other factors that contribute to aggression/tameness, and I think the behavior observations you suggested would be a great addition to the study. As for the inter-species comparison of different dog breeds, I think it would be very interesting to see if dogs that are stereotypically thought to be aggressive, such as pit bulls or rottweilers, would have higher overall ACTH blood levels than breeds typically thought to be calm, such as a labradors or golden retrievers.
DeletePosted by Nicole Ayres (1)
I would love to have a pet fox ! I found it very interesting how the tame fox and the undomesticated fox have evolved separately. By examining the pituitary gland and the hormones being secreted, you can certainly tell a lot about an organism.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely interesting topic! I have been really interested in this since I've seen many social media influencers who are beginning to have "pet" foxes that were rescued from organizations that were breeding them for their fur in an inhumane manner.
ReplyDeleteIt is also very interesting that more domesticated foxes have lower levels of ACTH. Hormones and behavior have a bidirectional relationship in which they influence each other. I wonder where these decreased levels of ACTH are in part affected by the way they are treated by humans.