In 1974, Lyudmila decided to raise the experiment’s stakes by living with the foxes in the same house. To start, she chose a friendly fox called Pushinka. One evening, Lyudmila was sitting on a bench outside her home with Pushinka relaxing next to her as usual. Suddenly, Pushinka got up as if she had heard something and started barking. It turned out to be the night guard, and Pushinka stopped her aggressive posturing and barking when she realized that the guard posed no imminent danger to Lyudmila. This guard-dog-like behavior—rushing to protect a human from a potential threat—had never been
...more
