Our ancestors may have kept foxes as pets long before domestic dogs, archaeological evidence...
There are more than 10 species of South American fox, including the grey fox.
Scientists were surprised to find a fox buried in a human grave dating back 1,500 years in Patagonia, Argentina.
They think the most likely explanation is that the fox was a highly valued companion or pet.
A fox of the same species was found in a much older grave in another part of Argentina nearly a decade ago.
"This is a very rare find of having this fox that appears to have had such a close bond with individuals from the hunter-gatherer society," said Dr Ophélie Lebrasseur of the University of Oxford.
The fox was found at the burial site of Cañada Seca in Argentina, which was once inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers.
Teeth of wild foxes have been found in ancient human burial sites across Argentina and Peru, suggesting the animal had symbolic significance.
The discovery of a near-complete skeleton of a fox in a human grave is extremely rare in the worldwide archaeological record.
The fox, which goes by the scientific name, Dusicyon avus, was of a medium size weighing 10-15 kg.
It went extinct around 500 years ago, a few hundred years after domestic dogs arrived in Patagonia.