DOMESTICATION SYNDROME
Why is it that so many domesticated animals look so far removed from their wild ancestors? The answer lies in a phenomenon called domestication syndrome. When you look at any domesticated animal, you’ll notice a lot of them share common physical and behavioural traits, including floppy ears, tameness and changes in their tails. Scientists have been studying this since Charles Darwin proposed it in 1868. Russian scientist Dmitry Belyaev conducted an experiment where silver foxes were selectively bred for tameness. After 45 generations of selecting for this behaviour, the foxes had become more like dogs, with wagging tails and floppy ears. The syndrome remains largely a mystery, but some scientists have suggested that selecting for tameness affects cell development during an animal’s embryonic stage.