Departures of note

Lyudmila Trut oversaw one of the longest-running experiments in evolutionary biology: the domestication of silver foxes at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk. Starting in the 1950s, she and her colleague Dmitry Belyayev selectively bred only the tamest foxes in each generation. Over nearly 60 generations, the foxes not only became friendlier toward humans but also developed physical traits resembling domestic dogs, such as mottled fur and floppy ears. The experiment, which continued until her death, provided a striking demonstration of how selection for behavior alone can drive rapid changes in morphology and physiology.

Trut grew up in Kirzhach, in the Soviet Union, and graduated with honors from Moscow State University in 1958 with a degree in biology. She joined the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, where she earned her Candidate of Sciences degree in 1966 for a thesis on the correlation between behavior and reproductive function in fur-bearing canids, and later a Doctor of Sciences degree in 1981 for her work on the behavior of domesticated silver foxes. She rose from senior researcher to head of the Laboratory for Evolutionary Genetics, and in 2003 became a professor of genetics at the institute.

Beyond her research, Trut coordinated educational activities at the experimental fox farm and received several honors, including the Prize of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR named after N.I. Vavilov in 1985, the Order of the Badge of Honor in 1986, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020. She died in Novosibirsk on 9 October 2024, at the age of 90.