Dmitry Belyayev’s fox experiment is well known today. Launched in 1952 in Novosibirsk with 130 silver foxes rescued from fur farms, the objective was to determine whether the animals could be domesticated. Forty breeding generations later, the project had produced a cohort that was fully tame, if rather messy. But while tameness was the principal objective, other traits had also become evident: floppier ears, spotted faces, and a curiosity for sniffing and licking humans, among others.

Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave (of Wingspan fame) and Jeff Fraser, The Fox Experiment replicates Belyayev’s domestication project. It’s about as tame — and as messy — as that experiment’s descendants.

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