A mystery in black and white: Domesticated animals look - and act - differently ...

The Boston Globe ^ | 1/28/2003 | Cynthia Mills

[Prolixus]

Domesticated animals look - and act - differently from than their wild counterparts. Why?

The experiment was derived out of a discussion student Brian Hare had with his adviser, Michael Tomasello, an expert in primate behavior at Emory University. They were talking about how bad chimpanzees were at understanding human social cues. Despite being the heavyweights of animal intelligence, chimps were insensitive to what seemed to be obvious hints: They failed to pick up a cup hiding food even when the experimenter stared at it, pointed to it, and even tapped it. Tomasello wanted to talk about what this meant about the limits of nonhuman intelligence. Hare, a pet owner, had a down-to-Earth response: ''My dogs can do this.''

[Prolixus]

... a new way to look at how genetic change affects development.

[patriciaruth]

Interesting. Thanks. I love new ways of looking at things.

[bvw]

Spotted and striped sheep!

[EggsAckley]

I always wondered if my tubby little black and white spotted terrier mutt had some Holstein in her.

[FormerLib]

Belyaev linked coat spots to the gene for a molecule called L-dopa. L-dopa is a building block for melanin, the pigment molecule. L-dopa is also necessary for the production of adrenaline, the hormone that turns on our flight-or-fight response. If activation of the L-dopa gene was delayed, the animal would have less melanin and less adrenaline. With less melanin, there would be white patches on the animal's coat. Less adrenaline would dampen the urge to fight or flee.

Some folks were attempting to cite these studies as proof of evolution when they clearly just prove the existence of recessive genetic traits.

[r9etb]

Interesting. Thanks. I love new ways of looking at things.

Heck, this is nothing new. Animal breeders have known about this stuff since forever.

For example, this is what dogbreedinfo.com has to say about the "Labradoodle": FAULTS: Yappy, highly strung, dominance/aggression, fearful/timid, aggressive toward other animals. Dogs showing any of these behaviors should not be bred.

IOW, you assume that the personality traits are inherited, and you take animals with bad traits out of the gene pool.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Lots of interesting stuff here. But I'm dubious about their conclusions re the chimp vs. dog picking up on "human cues" about the cup of food. It's not clear that human cues had anything to do with the dogs' success. Dogs have a sense of smell that is many, many times keener than that of chimps (ever heard of a bomb-sniffing chimp?), and would have little need for human cues to locate a cup of food in the same room, even if it's in a sealed container. Assuming they were well-trained dogs, I'll bet the only role of the human cues was to convince the dogs that they were allowed to go chow down the food, the existence and precise location of which they had known from the second they were brought into the garage. Silly humans, fooled by the doggies :)

[centurion316]

ping

[M. Thatcher]

Does not hold true across the board. I have two black and white cats; one is sweet, demure, and passive. The other, whose markings are totally "cow-like," we call Osama. If any of your appendages come within 6 inches of her, they will be flayed.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Interesting article. I've read some theories that domestic dogs have, in effect, arrested development, and exhibit adolescent behavior through their adult life. Wolf cubs will play and romp, but they soon get over it as they go about the business of being grown-up preditors. Domestic dogs, however, will "play" into their old age, no doubt because such behavior is reinforced by humans who find it appealing, and because dogs exhibiting such behavior are more likely to be bred.

[Post Toasties]

Is the world ready for spotted chimps?

[JoeFromSidney]

I used to have a friend who was attempting to breed friendly rats. Her procedure was to pick the friendliest out of each litter, and breed them. The rest she got rid of (she told me she had a friend who raised snakes). The surprising thing was that the friendly rats had spotted coats, just like the friendly foxes. She had no detailed explanation, other than that the friendliness trait was somehow linked to fur color.

[Prolixus]

Is the world ready for spotted chimps?

Do mean domesticated chimps? Cool!

Bonzo, get me a beer!

Bonzo, get me my slippers!

[Snowy]

I enjoyed your post! Thank you.

[eno_]

"How many monkey butlers will there be?"

[twinzmommy]

I love the weimar pic!

We have a seven-week old weimar pup right now. . who definitely likes to play. And a nine-year old maltese who is no better behaved than the weim.

[KarlInOhio]

Do mean domesticated chimps? Cool!

Bonzo, get me a beer!

Bonzo, get me my slippers!

You will be the first against the wall when the chimp revolution comes!

[Junior]

Ping

[Britton J Wingfield]

Fennec foxes make good pets, if raised from birth.