How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) by Lee Alan Dugatkin

Writing a simple, straightforward narrative suitable for lay readers, Dugatkin and Trut spin complex genetic science into a fascinating story about adorable foxes. How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution - Ebook written by Lee Alan Dugatkin, Lyudmila Trut. The researchers discovered that, rather than creating new genetic mutations, changes in hormones related to tameness affected the timing for turning existing genetic traits on and off, which Belyaev called “destabilizing selection.” The authors weave other charming histories of other scientific studies and events throughout the book, including the discovery of hormones, pedigree analysis, animal communication, human evolution, and Belyaev’s travels in international scientific circles. Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are courtesy of Lyudmila Trut and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. In contrast, untamed foxes will cower or actively attack humans.

Within only a few generations (an astonishingly short time by genetic measures), they began to see domestication traits in the foxes, such as wagging tails, floppy ears, piebald coloration, loyalty, and puppy behaviors lasting longer. Foxes bred for tamability will seek out human contact and try to attract attention by whimpering, licking, and sniffing. In How to Tame a Fox, Dugatkin and Trut take us inside this path-breaking experiment in the midst of the brutal winters of Siberia to reveal how scientific. Jefferson and the Giant Moose: Natural History in Early America, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press. His books include The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness and Mr. They used silver foxes, close genetic cousins of wolves, and selected for tameness. Lee Alan Dugatkin is an evolutionary biologist and historian of science in the department of biology at the University of Louisville. In 1959, Trut and Russian geneticist Dmitri Belyaev studied the mechanisms of domestication by attempting to breed the perfect dog from scratch. Biologist Dugatkin ( The Altruism Equation) and Siberian geneticist Trut, one of the lead scientists of the famous Siberian fox farm experiment, summarize one of the world’s longest ongoing studies in animal behavior in a cheerful, easy-to-read account that expounds upon the wonders of scientific achievement.

How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) by Lee Alan Dugatkin