From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Tue May 11 2004 - 00:02:54 MDT
[Blunderov] Thanks Eva; this was fascinating. I have read that the
psychology behind pets is that they are regarded by their owners as
surrogate children. It all seems to fit.
Best Regards
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com] On Behalf Of
Eva-Lise Carlstrom
Sent: 11 May 2004 03:34 AM
To: virus@lucifer.com; ivo@haunted.seanet.com
Subject: virus: Neoteny (response to Transhumanism thread)
Youthful attributes are always selected for in the
process of domestication (breeding a species for
tameness), because animals that retain youthful mental
characteristics remain pliable and can be trained. In
the process of selecting for youthful mental
characteristics, we also drag in youthful physical
characteristics--for instance, in canines, along with
tameness, we get spots, floppy ears, and barking, all
puppy/cub attributes. And when we domesticate
ourselves, by selectively breeding with socialized
(tame) individuals? We end up with us...
house apes.
Below is an excerpt from
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm, describing
some highly relevant breeding research that was done
with foxes.
--Eva
Belyaev's silver foxes: The most famous example of
white pigmentation and docility are Belyaev's silver
foxes (Belyaev and Trut 1975, Belyaev 1978, Trut
1999). Belyaev brought wild silver foxes into
captivity and bred them specifically for tame
behavior. Experimenters tested the animals'
temperaments by reaching into the cages of young foxes
and trying to touch them, stroke them, and give them
food. Foxes were also placed in a large enclosure with
human. The most docile foxes were retained for
breeding, foxes that reacted with more fear and
aggression were not bred.
The experiment lasted for over forty years and tested
more than ten thousand foxes. The results were
striking. Through this process of breeding exclusively
for tameness, Belyaev obtained foxes that eagerly
approached humans and licked their hands and faces.
They even tried to attract human attention by whining
and wagging their tails.
But these behavioral differences weren't the only
changes that Belyaev obtained in his tame foxes. These
foxes also differed morphologically and
physiologically from their wild counterparts. The tame
foxes had floppy ears, curly tails, and domed skulls.
The females went into heat twice a year (like domestic
dogs) instead of once a year (like wild foxes). And
instead of having a solid silvery black coat, many had
white patches of fur. The percentage of foxes with
white patches went up from 0.71% to 12.4% of the
population, an increase of 1646% over forty years
(Trut 1999).
By selecting for tamability, Belyaev selected for
physiological changes in the systems that govern the
body's hormones and neurochemicals. Those changes had
far-reaching effects on the animals' behavior and
development, and ultimately on their morphology and
physiology.
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