
Domesticated animals are ingrained in every society in the
world to the point where their names and sounds of their names are among the
first things that children learn. But the curious thing about these creatures
is why there aren’t more of them. Given that animals have proven so useful to
people (and vice versa), why, out of the millions of species that exist, are
there only eight real cornerstone species of human society? What is so special
about cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, horses, cats, and dogs?
In his enormously popular book Guns, Germs and Steel, biologist Jared Diamond lays out six
criteria that determine if a species is eligible for domestication. Many
animals demonstrate a few of these traits, but all six are required to turn
beast into buddy. The rarity of finding all of them in the same animal goes a
long way to beginning to solve the mystery of domestication. They are:
- Easygoing eating habits – domesticated animals have to be able to live off food they can forage and scavenge in and around human settlements.
- Fast growth (relative to humans) – an animal isn’t much use if it takes a decade of care to become big enough to pull a plow.
- Willingness to breed in captivity – you can’t be shy if you live and love in a barn.
- Docility – cows are a lot calmer by nature than water buffalo.
- They don’t panic and flee when startled – or they have a stronger instinct to stay in a herd than run off on their own.
- They conform to social hierarchy – they follow a leader like… well, sheep.
As awesome as it would be to have a grizzly bear bounce at your night club, they are severely lacking in trait number 4. A lack of docility also
explains why horses have provided transportation for millennia, while the more
aggressive zebra is left to graze the savannah in peace. Elephants have been
tamed here and there, but have never achieved true domestication because they
take 15 years to reach their adult size. These criteria matter.
When humans have identified and latched onto these six
characteristics, we have been able to form some amazing partnerships, but as
interesting as what we have been able to achieve is, there are the unintended consequences
of selectively breeding for desired traits; what evolutionary biologists have
dubbed “domestication
syndrome.”
As it turns out, when you take a wild animal and domesticate
it, there are a set of physical changes that occur that have little to do with
any of the six criteria, but seem to go along with them anyway. Domesticated
animals – when compared to their wild cousins – general have smaller brains, shorter
faces, smaller teeth, weaker muscles, floppy ears, and blotchy coats.
The reason for these changes has long been a mystery, but
recent research into the genes responsible for some of them has provided some clues
as to why domestication syndrome is a thing. Apparently, selective breeding has
tapped into a set of cells called the neural crest which, during the
development of a fetus, shapes many of the features that change when animals
are domesticated. Interestingly, changes to the genes that control the growth
of these cells have also been connected to calmer, friendlier dispositions.
There is even a human condition called Williams Syndrome, which manifests as a mild variation in facial
development and unusual levels of friendliness. In other words, friendliness
and floppy ears are genetically linked.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about the features of
domestication syndrome is that a lot of them can also be found in people. We
may have big brains but our teeth, muscles, faces, and general physical
presence pale in comparison to a below average chimpanzee. As we have
domesticated animals, society has domesticated us. Something to remember next
time you start to suffer from human superiority syndrome.
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