Fox 'may have been prehistoric man's best friend'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:43 AM on 28th January 2011

Early man may have preferred the fox as a pet rather than dogs, new findings suggest. Researchers analysing remains at a prehistoric burial ground in Jordan have uncovered a grave in which a fox was buried with a human, dated thousands of years before dogs were kept as companions.

The University of Cambridge-led team believes that the unprecedented case - in which the remains of the animal and the man were then partially transferred to an adjacent grave - points to some kind of emotional link between human and fox.  Their research suggests that the fox may have been kept as a pet and was being buried to accompany its master, or mistress, to the afterlife. If so, it marks the first known burial of its kind and suggests that long before man hunted foxes using dogs, our ancestors were keeping them as pets.

The cemetery, at Uyun-al-Hammam, in northern Jordan, is about 16,500 years old, which makes the grave 4,000 years older than the earliest known human-dog burial. However, the close relationship between man and fox was probably short-lived. Writing in the journal, PLoS One, published today, the researchers say it is unlikely foxes were ever fully domesticated and, despite their early head start, humans took to the more companionable dog for pets as time went on.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1351182/Fox-prehistoric-mans-best-friend.html#ixzz1CKXZFIlf

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-fox-prehistoric-friend.html