Scientists from the Vavilov Institute of Basic Genetics RAS have detected a group of males from among the blue foxes that are reared at the Pushkinsky Farm, in the descendants of which predominantly male offspring have been born.


This phenomenon has interested geneticists both from a scientific and from a practical point of view. This is because the specific nature of fur farming requires that predominantly males are reared, where the coat is larger and the fur itself is longer.

The scientists studied the correlation of sexes in the litters of many families of the veiled breed of blue foxes. Cubs were born on average 55% male, but among the foxes there were 23 males, the descendents of which were always over 60% male. The scientists began to study these “eminent” fathers further. It transpired that many of them are related to each other on the male line. The gene responsible for the prevalence of the male sex in descendents is located, evidently, in the Y-chromosome, which is why it should be inherited by all the sons of the “eminent” male father, although far from all of them delight the fur farmers with an abundance of newborn male cubs. The geneticists believe that the appearance or non-appearance of this sign depends on the genotype of the female.