- Written by Helen Briggs
- environmental correspondent
image source, Getty Images
There are more than 10 species of foxes in South America, including the gray fox.
Our ancestors may have kept foxes as pets long before domestic dogs were introduced.
Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient human societies in South America respected foxes enough to bury them next to them.
Scientists were surprised to find a fox buried in a 1,500-year-old human grave in Patagonia, Argentina.
They think the most likely explanation is that the fox was a highly valued companion or pet.
DNA analysis revealed that the animal ate with prehistoric hunter-gatherers and was part of the camp's entourage.
The same species of fox was discovered nearly a decade ago in a much older grave in another part of Argentina. It may have been a pet, but its diet has not been analyzed.
“Foxes that appear to have had such a close relationship with hunter-gatherer populations are extremely rare,” said Dr Ophelie LeBlasser from the University of Oxford.
“I think it wasn’t just symbolic, it was a real friendship.”
The fox was discovered in a burial site in Cañada Seca, Argentina, once inhabited by a group of hunter-gatherers.
image source, Francisco Prevosti
Examination of the animal's bones revealed that it belonged to a species known as Dusicyon avus, which went extinct about 500 years ago.
Wild fox teeth have been found in ancient human burial sites in Argentina and Peru, suggesting the animal had symbolic meaning.
However, the discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of a fox in a human grave is extremely rare in the world's archaeological record.
The fox, which is called by its scientific name, Dusillon Aves was medium sized, weighing 10-15 kg. They went extinct about 500 years ago, several hundred years after domestic dogs arrived in Patagonia.
The study was carried out in collaboration with Dr Cynthia Abona of the Evolution Institute in Mendoza, Argentina, and was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
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