Man's new best friend? Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment (40 year fast track evolution)
source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=mans-new-best-friend-a-forgotten-ru-2010-...
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http://www.hum.utah.edu/~bbenham/2510%20Spring%2009/Behavior%20Genetics/Farm-Fox...
Foxes bred for tamability in a 40-year experiment exhibit remarkable transformations
that suggest an interplay between behavioral genetics and development
When scientists ponder how animals came to be domesticated, they almost inevitably wind up thinking about dogs. The dog was probably the first domestic animal, and it is the one in which domestication has progressed the furthest - far enough to turn Canis lupus into Canis familiaris.
How it started
While some believe that domestication of foxes was part of a breeding program in foxes for fur, it was actually part of an ongoing experiment conducted by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics at the Russian Academy of Sciences. This experiment began in the 1960's and aimed to uncover how wild wolves became domesticated dogs - an idea which stumped Russian scientists at the time.
How it was done
While seemingly simple now, the method of domestication through breeding was astounding at the time of its inception. In this case, foxes were taken either from the fur trade or from the wild and bred. The kits from these litters were then assessed for behavior - those which presented as calm or "tame" individuals were re instituted into the breeding program for domestication. This process was repeated for over 50 generations and the results are outstanding.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/807641/posts
Foxes bred for tamability in a 40-year experiment exhibit remarkable transformations
that suggest an interplay between behavioral genetics and development
When scientists ponder how animals came to be domesticated, they almost inevitably wind up thinking about dogs. The dog was probably the first domestic animal, and it is the one in which domestication has progressed the furthest - far enough to turn Canis lupus into Canis familiaris.
How it started
While some believe that domestication of foxes was part of a breeding program in foxes for fur, it was actually part of an ongoing experiment conducted by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics at the Russian Academy of Sciences. This experiment began in the 1960's and aimed to uncover how wild wolves became domesticated dogs - an idea which stumped Russian scientists at the time.
How it was done
While seemingly simple now, the method of domestication through breeding was astounding at the time of its inception. In this case, foxes were taken either from the fur trade or from the wild and bred. The kits from these litters were then assessed for behavior - those which presented as calm or "tame" individuals were re instituted into the breeding program for domestication. This process was repeated for over 50 generations and the results are outstanding.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/807641/posts
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