What Breed Is That Fox?
"Breed - a stock of animals or plants within a species having a distinctive appearance and typically having been developed by deliberate selection." Some may laugh at such a question or article. As foxes come in species and subspecies, not breeds. A fennec, arctic fox and red fox are all different species, with different diets, habitats and behaviours. Therefore, they cannot be considered different breeds of the same species. Until you get to the North American red fox (Vulpes fulva) that is... Which, you could argue, comes in a wild type and a domesticated type, with the latter available in least 2 distinct lineages or "breeds" (with their own governing bodies/associations that regulate breeding); 1) Farm line (developed commercially for physical traits) 2) Experimental line (developed scientifically for behavioural traits) Coincidentally; "The word breed has no biological meaning; it is bandied about by different classes of men in different places in the world without uniform regard to either type or kinship of the animals referred to. Its whole meaning is entirely dependent on the action of the rules committee of the breed association. A breed is whatever the breeders want to call it, there are no natural boundaries, and no arbitrary ones that are universally accepted. A breed is a group of domestic animals, termed such by common consent of the breeder"
