The Russian Fox Experiment (and its implications)

Are Humans Just Chibi Apes?

Back in the 1950s, Russian scientist Dmitri Belyaev initiated a breeding experiment with silver foxes, selecting only the most tame individuals for breeding.  After several generations of this selecting for tameness, the resulting offspring showed not only behavioral, but morphological changes associated with a state of "arrested development".  These changes are echoed in all other types of domestic animals. 

The popular press has recently picked up on this story, concluding with implications regarding human evolution.  This theory has been proposed by the science community for years -- but only now has technology become available to study and compare the genes associated with this process.

For readers unschooled in evolutionary theory, this entry is not to imply that the "domestication" process immediately creates brand-new species.  What it does imply is how physiological and behavioral traits are altered within a species (and fits in with certain themes of this blog).  The implications here are that past hominids might have lived a wilder and more primitive existence and have since been supplanted with their brainier and more creative counterparts -- and we are continuing to move more towards that direction. 

And considering that economic success in modern society has depended more and more on cooperation, subordination, and other traits of "tameness", does this imply that populations in more advanced nations are evolving more in the direction of a state of "arrested development?"  Hmmm... :-) 

Regardless of the answer, I'm betting those tame Russian foxes will be on the wish list of many Americans willing to shell out some major capital for the next big pet fad. 

Further reading:

Neoteny and Human Evolution

Social Cognitive Evolution in Captive Foxes Is a Correlated By-Product of Experimental Domestication

Genetic Effects of Domestication

[update]:

Video clips:

Belyaev Experiment:  Docile Foxes

NOVA clip from "Dogs and More Dogs"

Comments

[Erin]

It's wrong! to do this to the foxes and you guys know it you should just let the Silver and all the other foxes be before they go extintce like all the other animals did. :(

[Yahooey]

They need to do way instain siantist. > becuse these foxxes cant frigth back?

[evolutionary christian]

This is an amazing experiment and was done to understand/explain the evolution of domestic dogs from that of the Canus lupus (wolf). This similarly explains how cattle have been bred from originally being wild to their current domestic state. Humans have also been thought to have done this as we have grown a tolerance for lactose (in milk) and wheat, among many others. for further readings and clarifications of this thought read " the ancestors tale"- Richard Dawkins 2004.

[Caroline]

Erin, I'm sorry but I'd have to disagree with your statement. They are doing this for educational purposes only. Silver foxes are not an endangered species. I doubt this experiment would cause the foxes to die out.

[Nyx]

I agree with Caroline, I do not think that they are harming the foxes. They are not even "experimenting" on them as you might see it. They just bread the ones who were most friendly to humans. Over several generations there are unexpected effects, but it is just selective breeding. It is the same thing dog and cat breeders do... as well as breeders of any domesticated animal.
It is an interesting experiment that could further our understanding of evolution and life.