Posted on 01/26/2020 10:50:14 PM PST by blam
Called BAZ1B, it may also help explain why domesticated animals look cuter than their wild kin
Domestic animals cuteness and humans relatively flat faces may be the work of a gene that controls some important developmental cells, a study of lab-grown human cells suggests.
Some scientists are touting the finding as the first real genetic evidence for two theories about domestication. One of those ideas is that humans domesticated themselves over many generations, by weeding out hotheads in favor of the friendly and cooperative (SN: 7/6/17). As people supposedly selected among themselves for tameness traits, other genetic changes occurred that resulted in humans, like other domesticated animals, having a different appearance than their predecessors. Human faces are smaller, flatter and have less prominent brow ridges than Neandertal faces did, for instance.
Domesticated animals look different from their wild counterparts as well. Shorter snouts, curly tails, floppy ears and spotted coats are all traits that tend to pop up in domesticated animals. But until recently, no one had an explanation for this domestication syndrome.
Then in 2014, three scientists proposed that as people selected animals for tameness, they also happened to select for genetic changes that slightly hamper movement of some developmentally important cells (SN: 7/14/14). These neural crest cells are present early in embryonic development and migrate to different parts of the embryo where they give rise to many tissues, including bones and cartilage in the face, smooth muscles, adrenal glands, pigment cells and parts of the nervous system. The researchers idea was that mild genetic changes might produce neural crest cells that dont move as well, leading to domestic animals cuddlier look.
Both of those big domestication ideas have been just that, with not much hard evidence for or against either.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
GGG
Thanks blam. Looks like yet another iteration of the "gracile anatomically modern humans" Replacement master race theory, btw.
Any other species self-domesticated ?
So what explains Shifty Schiff?
He’s feral. No doubt.
Is “cuddlier” an example of scientific terminology?
In my neighborhood coyotes eat feral. One coyote even showed up at a neighbors door with a dead feral cat asking if they had any Gray Poupon.... jk
Do I get a treat?
Lol!!
Cats disagree.
This could help to explain the apparent development of modern humans in several regions as protohumans settled in areas with abundant water and potential for agricultural and herding. Such settlement would provide ready and abundant opportunities for self-selection for greater sociability.
Opinion: We Didnt Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.
National Geographic News | March 3, 2013 | Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
Posted on 03/03/2013 4:02:35 PM PST by nickcarraway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/653864/posts
Dogs Make Us Human
Australian Museum | 3-25-2002 | Heidi De Wald
Posted on 03/26/2002 10:29:27 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/653864/posts
Another theory that explains our look is neoteny. Thats the retention of juvenile traits in adults. This theory posits that the same genes responsible for our large brains and the length of time it takes to grow them, are also responsible for our hairlessness, weak nails and teeth and thin skins. I suppose our having puppy faces compared to other species in Homo goes along with that.
So there is hope for the New Communist Man...
Clapper looks pretty tame... floppy ears, flat face....
Cuter and tamer isn't always best.
Domesticated animals look different from their wild counterparts as well. Shorter snouts, curly tails, floppy ears and spotted coats are all traits that tend to pop up in domesticated animals. But until recently, no one had an explanation for this domestication syndrome.
...
I thought we already knew that it’s a selection of juvenile traits.
There was a Russian experiment done with wild foxes kept in captivity, within a few generations they developed floppier ears, spots and curled tails in correlation with reduced cortisol levels as they became more acclimated to humans.
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