from pointed to rounded.
After more than 50 years, scientists are still searching for the genes that make an animal either domestic or wild. Of course, it may take a lot longer.
But another of the original goals was to see if it was possible to train a fox like a dog. And that's where Irina and Viliya come in.
Back in her apartment, Irina cuts up some cheese and starts issuing commands.
Viliya circles in front of Irina, waiting for a command. Irina tells Viliya to sit. The fox sits. Stand. Viliya stands.
The fox walks backwards on command. Irina makes a circle with her arms and Viliya jumps through it. Irina hides a piece of cheese behind a dresser and commands Viliya to search. Viliya finds it.
So, a tamed fox can be trained. Even so, Irina says Viliya's not fully domesticated. She explains that the foxes have been selected for 50 years for the sole quality of whether or not they were kind to humans.
Irina stresses that even though a fox can obey commands, it doesn't have the concentration of a dog.
The city makes Viliya nervous. The fox can't be left alone in the apartment. She is disobedient and not totally house-trained. Irina plans to breed Viliya and study her offspring. She wants to see how the pups will grow up, especially around dogs and people.
And it's important work because tame foxes are slowly becoming popular pets around the world. Research costs are expensive in Russia and government funding is not always easy to get, so every year, the institute sells a few of the foxes.
On her walks, Irina says people occasionally chide her for having a wild animal on a leash. But, she explains to them, Viliya is not a wild animal.
Once, on a walk, Viliya ran off and got lost. But she didn't run to the forest. Viliya went straight to a nearby house. A family let her in and Viliya began playing with their pet dog. They returned the fox to Irina.
As Irina finishes her tea, on the other side of the closed kitchen door, Viliya lies half asleep, waiting for Irina.
One quick look and you would swear she was a dog.
Reporter Ashley Cleek traveled to Russia on a Social Expertise Exchange fellowship provided by the Eurasia Foundation.