Self-domesticating
Encyclopedia
Self-domestication refers to the process of adaptation of wild animals to humans, without direct human selective breeding of the animals. The term is also used to refer to biological processes in the evolution of humans and human culture.
Tolerating or even enjoying the close approach of humans in order to feed near them, and a lessening of natural adult aggression, are two aspects of tameness. An environment that supports the survival of tame animals can lead to other changes in behaviour and appearance as well.
Smaller skulls on tame animals have been noticed in other species. Noticing that a dog's skull looks like that of a juvenile wolf, Richard Wrangham goes on to say that "this leads to the thought that species can self-domesticate." Other characteristics that are associated with juvenility – barking and meowing (sounds used by wolf cubs and kittens of large felines, respectively, to communicate with their parents), more playful and less aggressive, and more eager to learn – are seen in tame animals.
as being in an environment where lessening of aggression was beneficial for survival. As grain plants and livestock became domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent
, wild cat
s adapted to living with humans, hunting rodents in grain stores and "abandoning their aggressive wild-born behaviors", which led to today's house cats.
s. Biologist Raymond Coppinger, in work with wild wolves, finds that directly taming a wild wolf is very difficult, and must begin before the animal is nineteen days old. He finds it far more likely that "the wolves domesticated themselves" (self-domesticated) into dogs over time, when wolves that could tolerate the closeness of humans were better able to find food in human village waste, and therefore those wolves' survival was enhanced.
selectively bred
only for tameness revealed that a whole range of other physical and behaviourial features, such as neoteny
, also appeared along with the tameness, characteristics that were not specifically the result of selective breeding by humans. White spots on their fur, floppy ears, rolled tails and smaller skulls were seen in the tame foxes, and the foxes were also described as "incredibly endearing."
Belyaev and his successors also selectively bred
wild rats for tameness, with similar results. These results with selective breeding
suggest that the natural process
of self-domestication can occur within a single human generation.
which, according to psychiatrist Martin Brüne in an article "On human self-domestication", developed from the idea that humans could perfect themselves biologically.
"Contemporary reproductive technologies such as selective abortion and genetic screening are typical examples where our self-domestication is most directly apparent," writes philosopher Masahiro Morioka
, who also says that "Through domesticating ourselves like cattle, people began civilization."
Gregory Stock
, director of the UCLA School of Medicine's Program of Medicine, Technology and Society, describes self-domestication as a process which "... mirrors our domestication [of animals] ... we have transformed ourselves through a similar process of self-selection ... our transformation has been primarily cultural, but it has almost certainly had a biological component."
In animals
Wild animals may self-domesticate when tame behaviour enhances their survival near humans.Tolerating or even enjoying the close approach of humans in order to feed near them, and a lessening of natural adult aggression, are two aspects of tameness. An environment that supports the survival of tame animals can lead to other changes in behaviour and appearance as well.
Smaller skulls on tame animals have been noticed in other species. Noticing that a dog's skull looks like that of a juvenile wolf, Richard Wrangham goes on to say that "this leads to the thought that species can self-domesticate." Other characteristics that are associated with juvenility – barking and meowing (sounds used by wolf cubs and kittens of large felines, respectively, to communicate with their parents), more playful and less aggressive, and more eager to learn – are seen in tame animals.
Cats
Self-domestication is described by biological anthropologist Richard WranghamRichard Wrangham
Richard W. Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and his research group is now part of the newly established Department of Human Evolutionary Biology....
as being in an environment where lessening of aggression was beneficial for survival. As grain plants and livestock became domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
, wild cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s adapted to living with humans, hunting rodents in grain stores and "abandoning their aggressive wild-born behaviors", which led to today's house cats.
Dogs
The distance an animal will allow a human to approach before it runs away, or "flight distance", is a measure of tameness. Wild wolves are both aggressive and quick to flee from humans, but they are the ancestors of dogDog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s. Biologist Raymond Coppinger, in work with wild wolves, finds that directly taming a wild wolf is very difficult, and must begin before the animal is nineteen days old. He finds it far more likely that "the wolves domesticated themselves" (self-domesticated) into dogs over time, when wolves that could tolerate the closeness of humans were better able to find food in human village waste, and therefore those wolves' survival was enhanced.
Foxes
Research done beginning in 1959 by the Soviet geneticist Dmitri Belyaev on silver foxesTame Silver Fox
The domesticated silver fox is a domesticated form of the silver morph of the red fox. As a result of selective breeding, the new foxes became not only tamer, but more dog-like as well....
selectively bred
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
only for tameness revealed that a whole range of other physical and behaviourial features, such as neoteny
Neoteny
Neoteny , also called juvenilization , is one of the two ways by which paedomorphism can arise. Paedomorphism is the retention by adults of traits previously seen only in juveniles, and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological development of an...
, also appeared along with the tameness, characteristics that were not specifically the result of selective breeding by humans. White spots on their fur, floppy ears, rolled tails and smaller skulls were seen in the tame foxes, and the foxes were also described as "incredibly endearing."
Belyaev and his successors also selectively bred
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
wild rats for tameness, with similar results. These results with selective breeding
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
suggest that the natural process
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
of self-domestication can occur within a single human generation.
In humans
Self-domestication describes theories of how humans developed and evolved. The idea of self-domestication was used by early Social DarwinismSocial Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
which, according to psychiatrist Martin Brüne in an article "On human self-domestication", developed from the idea that humans could perfect themselves biologically.
"Contemporary reproductive technologies such as selective abortion and genetic screening are typical examples where our self-domestication is most directly apparent," writes philosopher Masahiro Morioka
Masahiro Morioka
Masahiro Morioka is a Japanese philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of philosophy of life, bioethics, gender studies, media theory, and civilization studies. He is a professor of philosophy and ethics at Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan...
, who also says that "Through domesticating ourselves like cattle, people began civilization."
Gregory Stock
Gregory Stock
Gregory Stock is a biophysicist, best-selling author, biotech entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA’s School of Medicine...
, director of the UCLA School of Medicine's Program of Medicine, Technology and Society, describes self-domestication as a process which "... mirrors our domestication [of animals] ... we have transformed ourselves through a similar process of self-selection ... our transformation has been primarily cultural, but it has almost certainly had a biological component."
See also
- DomesticationDomesticationDomestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
- LandraceLandraceA landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard...
- EthologyEthologyEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
- SociobiologySociobiologySociobiology is a field of scientific study which is based on the assumption that social behavior has resulted from evolution and attempts to explain and examine social behavior within that context. Often considered a branch of biology and sociology, it also draws from ethology, anthropology,...
- Evolutionary psychologyEvolutionary psychologyEvolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional...