The Evolution of the Red Fox: Scientists Trace Paternal Line of the Most Widely Distributed Land Carnivore

Scientists are learning a bit more about the evolutionary history of the red fox. They've managed to trace back the red fox's ancestry across its genome, including the Y chromosome, or paternal line. The new study sheds some light on the origins, journey and evolution of the red fox.

"The genome and the information it contains about our ancestry and evolution is huge," said Mark Statham, lead author of the new study, in a news release. "If you're only looking at what your mother's mother's mother did, you're only getting a small portion of the story."

Previous research using only the maternal line held that red foxes of Eurasia and North America composed a single, interconnected population across the Bering land bridge between Asia and Alaska. The new research, though, reveals that red foxes of North America and Eurasia have been almost entirely reproductively isolated from one another for about 400,000 years. During this time, the North American red fox evolved into a new species that's distinct from its Old World ancestors.

"That small group that got across the Bering Strait went on to colonize a whole continent and are on their own evolutionary path," said Statham.

The researchers also found how geography influenced the red fox's evolution. Ice sheet formation, fluctuating temperatures and sea levels offered periods of isolation and reconnections. This, in particular, impacted the global distribution of the red fox.

The findings reveal a bit more about the evolutionary history of the red fox, the world's most widely distributed land carnivore. This, in turn, can tell researchers a bit more about how species can be distributed over large areas.

The findings are published in the journal Molecular Ecology.