Dec 11, 2019 07:08 PM
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opini...nged-66817
EXCERPT: A paper published [...] in Trends in Ecology and Evolution criticizes a famous experiment on fox taming and casts doubt on domestication syndrome, the idea that a variety of physical traits change when an animal goes from wild to tame. In the 1950s, geneticist Dmitri Belyaev conducted a well-known ... experiment ... in which he tamed silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) by selectively breeding the friendliest ones. Within 10 generations, the foxes showed dog-like behaviors ... Their appearance also changed—they developed tails that curled up, spotted coats, and floppy ears similar in appearance to other domesticated animals ... This led ... researchers to suggest ... a phenomenon that came to be known as domestication syndrome.
But Belyaev’s foxes weren’t wild to begin with, say the authors of the new study [...] And Belyaev started his experiment with a relatively small population of 130 foxes, which could have made traits such as spots spread more quickly. Researchers had already raised questions about the foxes’ tameness in the past. [...] “The paper provides the final nail in the coffin to the idea of a universal set of traits characterizing all domesticated animals,” Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra ... Additionally [...there was no...] conclusive evidence that dogs hold their tails differently from wild species of foxes or wolves, and found limited evidence that it happens in other mammals.
“Our main point is not that domestication syndrome doesn’t exist, but just that we don’t think there is enough evidence to be confident it does exist...” (MORE - details)
EXCERPT: A paper published [...] in Trends in Ecology and Evolution criticizes a famous experiment on fox taming and casts doubt on domestication syndrome, the idea that a variety of physical traits change when an animal goes from wild to tame. In the 1950s, geneticist Dmitri Belyaev conducted a well-known ... experiment ... in which he tamed silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) by selectively breeding the friendliest ones. Within 10 generations, the foxes showed dog-like behaviors ... Their appearance also changed—they developed tails that curled up, spotted coats, and floppy ears similar in appearance to other domesticated animals ... This led ... researchers to suggest ... a phenomenon that came to be known as domestication syndrome.
But Belyaev’s foxes weren’t wild to begin with, say the authors of the new study [...] And Belyaev started his experiment with a relatively small population of 130 foxes, which could have made traits such as spots spread more quickly. Researchers had already raised questions about the foxes’ tameness in the past. [...] “The paper provides the final nail in the coffin to the idea of a universal set of traits characterizing all domesticated animals,” Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra ... Additionally [...there was no...] conclusive evidence that dogs hold their tails differently from wild species of foxes or wolves, and found limited evidence that it happens in other mammals.
“Our main point is not that domestication syndrome doesn’t exist, but just that we don’t think there is enough evidence to be confident it does exist...” (MORE - details)