Foxes are very interesting animals that you probably don't know much about. After all, a red fox is the only thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "fox". In fact, this is a very diverse and adaptive genus of animals, all of whose representatives are perfectly adapted to living in the environment where they are. And, believe me, there are a lot of foxes all over the world and not all of them are red!

1. Fenech

These foxes live in North Africa and the Sahara desert. They are distinguished by their huge ears, which serve to dissipate heat from their body. With such ears, they have such good hearing that they can hear their prey moving under the sand. Their cream fur helps them radiate heat during the day and keep them warm at night.

2. Red fox

The red fox is the largest, most common and, as a result, the most diverse species of fox. They can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere and even in Australia. They are very agile hunters and have been known to easily jump over 2m fences.

3. Arctic marbled fox

The "Arctic marbled fox" is a subspecies of the red fox, and its coloration cannot be considered natural, since these animals were bred by people for luxurious furs.

4. Gray fox

The gray fox, which lives in North America, has a delightful salt and pepper color on its back and a tail with a black stripe. This fox is one of the few canines that can climb trees.

5. Silver fox

The silver fox also belongs to the red fox species, differing only in the pigmentation variant. In addition, this fox is one of the most valuable species of furry foxes. They are still bred and bred for their magnificent fur.

6. Polar fox or arctic fox

Everyone loves cats, but we, as always, decided to go outside the box and introduce you to the most beautiful and amazing types of foxes. Seals have become boring and predictable, but foxes are very interesting animals, which you probably don’t know much about. After all, a red fox is the only thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "fox". In fact, this is a very diverse and adaptive genus of animals, all of whose representatives are beautifully adapted to living in the very environment where they are. And, believe me, there are a lot of foxes all over the world and not all of them are red!

fenech

These foxes live in North Africa and the Sahara desert. They are distinguished by their huge ears, which serve to dissipate heat from their body. With such ears, they have such good hearing that they can hear their prey moving under the sand. Their creamy fur helps them radiate heat during the day and keep them warm at night.

red fox

The red fox is the largest, most common and, as a result, the most diverse species of fox. They can be found throughout the northern hemisphere and even in Australia. These foxes are very agile hunters and have been known to easily jump over 2m fences.

Arctic marbled fox

The Arctic marbled fox is a subspecies of the red fox, and its coloration cannot be considered natural, since these animals were bred by people for luxurious furs.

gray fox

The gray fox, which lives in North America, has a delightful salt and pepper color on its back and a tail with a black stripe. This fox is one of the few canines that can climb trees.

silver fox

The silver fox also belongs to the red fox species, differing only in the pigmentation variant. In addition, this fox is one of the most valuable species of furry foxes. They are still bred and bred for their magnificent fur.

Polar fox or arctic fox

Arctic fox can be found throughout the Arctic Circle. Its thick fur does not allow it to freeze even at very low temperatures, reaching -70°C. These foxes have relatively short legs and muzzles, which reduces body surface area and allows them to retain heat.

cross fox

The cross fox is another variant of the red fox. It is most common in North America.

Thanks to these important finds, new pages were opened in the history of our country. So, are you ready to find out what shocked archaeologists, and behind them, the entire scientific world last year? Read!

1. Unexplored Tauris.

A huge amount of archaeological research in 2017 was carried out in preparation for the construction of the Tavrida highway. The highway will connect the Crimean bridge, Kerch, Simferopol and Sevastopol, and will become the main transport artery of the Crimean peninsula.

Archaeologists are seizing the moment and studying what the earth has been hiding for centuries. Hundreds of discoveries have been made. Let's briefly list.

• god head

Before the start of the construction of the Kerch bridge, archaeologists examined the bottom of the strait separating the Crimea from the mainland. Many finds were raised to the surface, but the most interesting was the head of a large terracotta sculpture. It is true to size and very well preserved. The head belonged to a statue of an ancient hero or god. According to the manufacturing technology, the find was dated to the 5th century BC. According to archaeologists, it was made in one of the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Now leading experts in ancient Greek art are trying to unravel the history of the find.

• Roman manor

For decades, this unremarkable hill stood on the 11th kilometer at the edge of the road that connected the two urban areas of Kerch. Now it has been excavated, and it turned out that a rural estate of Roman times was hidden in its bowels, where representatives of the middle class of the Bosporan kingdom lived in the middle of the 1st century AD. Since the family was not prosperous, the finds were as follows: many fragments of ceramics, fragments of terracotta figurines, a series of bronze figured pendants, jewelry - rings and rings, bronze brooches, pendants and linings, glass beads.

• old bridge

In October 2017, scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) discovered the oldest engineering structure in Crimea. It turned out to be a small stone bridge, which was found in the Belogorsk region, near the village of Nekrasovo. An arched single-span bridge was built across the Ashil stream, which flowed in this place, but by the end of the 19th century it had completely dried up. The length of the structure is about 30 meters, the width is about 8 meters, the width of the arch is no more than 2 meters. Archaeologists believe that the construction of the bridge was timed to coincide with the journey of Empress Catherine II to the southern regions of the Russian Empire.

• Kubrick and the steamer

In November, on the Malakhov Hill in Sevastopol, road builders accidentally found the crew quarters of battery number 111 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alexei Matyukhin, who held the defense of the slopes of the Sevastopol Bay during the Great Patriotic War. Four quarters, two large cellars, as well as three positions of anti-aircraft DShK (mounted heavy machine gun) and two 45-mm guns in pillboxes were found in the vicinity. And earlier, in April, off the coast of Crimea, the ship Boy Federsen (formerly Kharkiv), which sank during the Great Patriotic War, was discovered, which, presumably, was exporting valuables from the peninsula occupied by the German army.

In just a year, 80 archaeological discoveries were made in the vicinity of the future Tavrida highway alone. Experts say Crimea is experiencing a golden age of archaeological research.

2. Moscow treasures.

In Moscow, in December 2017, the main work under the My Street program was completed. Of course, the main goal was the improvement of 118 streets of the capital or city squares. But in the course of the excavations, the workers now and then stumbled upon treasures. A total of 6,000 artifacts were raised.

• Stone Age. Tiny silicon tools fell into the hands of the researchers - it turned out that this was the Stone Age. The first people appeared on the territory of modern Moscow 27 thousand years ago!
• Chamber of Secrets. A special room at the base of the Kitaigorod wall, opposite the Church of St. John the Evangelist under the Elm. When the defenders of the fortress from the time of Ivan the Terrible were in the ear, they could follow the enemy on the other side of the wall. Near the secret room, stone cannonballs were found - a warehouse of ammunition for medieval artillerymen.
• Relics of the 12th century. On a hundred square meters of Birzhevaya Square this summer, archaeologists and builders have removed from the ground half a thousand objects dating back to the 12th century. The discovered objects testify that already in the 12th century Moscow was a large trading city with extensive connections.

Treasure of silver coins of the 15th - 17th centuries.

• Hoards. At the exhibition at the Museum of Moscow, you can also see treasures, as well as copper coins, ceramics and everyday life items of Muscovites of different times. Treasures of silver coins were found more than three, copper - in the form of purses and individual coins - much more. Even a "squeak" was found - a coin with a pointed edge, which was wielded by a pickpocket in the 18th century.

3. Church of the Annunciation in Veliky Novgorod.

In 2017, the excavations of the Church of the Annunciation on Gorodische in Veliky Novgorod were completed. This is the second oldest stone Orthodox church in the north of Russia. The church was built in 1103 by Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir Monomakh, and destroyed in the 14th century, then rebuilt and once again destroyed during the war.

Church before restoration.

During two years of excavations, scientists completely uncovered the temple of the beginning of the 12th century, the architecture of which was unknown to us. The remains of walls, floors, bases of dome pillars have been cleared, numerous fragments of frescoes of the 12th century have been collected in the rubble of the destroyed building. But the most remarkable finds are fragments of plaster with graffiti inscriptions. Among them are records of the death of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, he is one of the brightest figures in Russian history of the XII century.

The museumification of the remains of the Church of the Annunciation on Gorodische, the arrangement of “archaeological windows” here will make it possible to exhibit the remains of a building from the beginning of the 12th century and will be the next step in the development of a network of similar open-air archaeological expositions in our country.

The temple is preparing to receive tourists. Autumn 2017.

4. Mysterious Aleyka.

The object that was in the spotlight in 2017 is the Aleika-7 burial ground in the Kaliningrad region. This is a necropolis with 800 burials of the 4th-7th centuries, that is, the era of the migration of peoples and the very beginning of the Middle Ages.

Vicinities of Aleyka, Kaliningrad region.

On Aleyka, several burials were discovered containing items of very high artistic quality. These are horse equipment, weapons, the pommel of a drinking horn with a bird's head. Similar things in this era accompanied the burials of the military elite. They are found in different parts of Europe and reflect the very high mobility of this elite. Exactly the same horn pommel was found in the barrow Sutton Hoo (Satten-Khu), in England, in one of the most famous necropolises of the Anglo-Saxon nobility.

Golden pommel of the horn.

These finds indicate that the elite of the Aestians, the Baltic people who inhabited the Sambian Peninsula, experienced a noticeable Germanic influence during this period. These are completely new pages of world history, because the monuments of this time in the Kaliningrad region were little studied, and the undisturbed burials of the military elite of that time were not excavated.

5. Sword-treasurer.

Gnezdovo is a microdistrict on the outskirts of Smolensk. There were about 4.5 thousand burials of the 9th-11th centuries underground here. This forgotten necropolis was discovered by accident in 1867 during the construction of the Oryol-Vitebsk railway, since then excavations have been going on here.

In 2017, a surprise awaited archaeologists - a sword, presumably dating back to the 10th century. Such finds, as scientists note, have not been here for 30 years.

Melee weapons, which have lain in the ground for more than a thousand years, are well preserved and promise to tell researchers something new about medieval Russia.

To be continued…