Looking Foxy

If you've looked at the current issue of The Economist, or listen to the outstanding public radio science program, Radiolab, then you might have heard of a an absolutely fascinating story about the relationship between beauty, personality and friendly foxes.

Now, you don't have to be one of Southern California's best plastic surgeons to know that a person or animal who looks nice won't necessarily act nice, and a person or animal who looks less attractive might be well be the biggest sweetheart on the planet. We all know that we shouldn't judge the proverbial book by its cover but, of course, most of us still do. Indeed, most of us assume intellectually that appearance and personality are completely unrelated matters, even if we find ourselves routinely favoring the attractive over the unattractive and having strong feelings about plastic surgery before and after
pictures.

Well, a study that began way back in 1959 -- one that won't make geneticist Dmitry Belyaev any friends among the animal rights community -- tells us otherwise. In an attempt to breed foxes that were easier to raise (and kill) for their fur, Belyaev starting breeding foxes who were more dog-like, less afraid of the humans who were raising them (and killing them) and less agressive. The more aggressive foxes became coats.

As if transformed by the finest board certified plastic surgeons, the friendlier foxes appearance changed, as per The Economist...

...the animals’ coats developed patches of colour; their ears became floppy; their skulls became rounded and foreshortened; their faces flattened; their noses got stubbier; and their jaws shortened, thus crowding their teeth.

The really fascinating part is that all these changes not only make the foxes look somewhat cuter to us, they also appear to  roughly parallel what makes us humans more attractive to each other.

Fortunately, unlike these less than fortunate foxes, people don't have to wait for generations of selective breeding to become more attractive. For more information on what the outstanding plastic surgeons of We Know Beauty can do for you, please call us at 310-300-1500.