[b: Fox|1902241|The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #1)|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388715600s/1902241.jpg|1903936], while a good and interesting book, did not delve deeply enough into the actual natural history of the fox to please me. While the first section was very interesting - and the ultimate conclusion drawn from it telling - there wasn't enough attention paid to it throughout the rest of the book. Too much of the book was anthropocentric - what the fox means to us, and how we deal with that. There wasn't nearly enough as to why the fox means what it does to us, beyond a flirting interest in Aristotle and deep unease.

And wouldn't we like to know more about the taxonomic mysteries? The way the grey fox and red fox differ, not to mention the arctic fox. Were red foxes introduced for hunting, and grey foxes native to North America? Too much of those sorts of issues were not mentioned, while the bulk of the book focused upon fox hunting and its shift from an aristocratic sport to a middle class one. It disappointed me further that no real mention was made of fox penning as it still happens in North America, and there wasn't nearly enough focus on the loopholes that exist to allow fox hunting to continue in Britain - something [b: The Fox Book|28950785|Siege (Fox Book 4)|Adam Hardy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454820853s/28950785.jpg|49175343] helpfully went into.

Nonetheless, this book does do a good job of explaining what we talk about when we talk about foxes. How they are derided and hated, but simultaneously held up to be symbols of rakishness, of upending social mores, of sensuality and desire. The fox is liminal, loved as fur but hated as an animal - and then even their fur is sold and deemed fake. We love them in our yards, but we think little of their destruction.

Little was also mentioned about people who keep pet foxes, and the Russian fox experiments that have allowed that to be possible. It may have been that the idea of foxes teaching us more about domestication itself was deemed inconvenient, as so much of this book depends upon the fox being unreachable. But domesticated foxes do exist, and are continuing to be developed. Their natural musk and marking behavior declines over generations, they gain interesting coat colors, their tails at times curl, their ears turn floppy... None of this was mentioned in this book, although the information was readily available when the book was published.

Even grey foxes and arctic foxes have successfully been bred in this manner, with grey foxes being deemed fairly good house pets for exotic animal owners.

They're odd - it would be nice to delve more into their habits, their haunts, why they have developed to be the "catlike canine." I hope to learn more about it in time.

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