Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World

by Richard C. Francis

Overview

Without domestication, civilization as we know it would not exist.

Since that fateful day when the first wolf decided to stay close to human hunters, humans and their various animal companions have thrived far beyond nearly all wild species on earth. Tameness is the key trait in the domestication of cats, dogs, horses, cows, and other mammals, from rats to reindeer. Surprisingly, with selection for tameness comes a suite of seemingly unrelated alterations, including floppy ears, skeletal and coloration changes, and sex differences. It’s a package deal known as the domestication syndrome, elements of which are also found in humans. Our highly social nature—one of the keys to our evolutionary success—is due to our own tameness. In Domesticated, Richard C. Francis weaves history and anthropology with cutting-edge ideas in genomics and evo devo to tell the story of how we domesticated the world, and ourselves in the process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393246513
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/18/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	496
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Richard C. Francis is a science journalist with a PhD in neurobiology from Stony Brook University. He is the author of the acclaimed books Domesticated, Epigenetics, and Why Men Won’t Ask for Directions.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Chapter 1 House Fox 7

Chapter 2 Dogs 23

Chapter 3 Cats 53

Chapter 4 Other Predators 78

Chapter 5 Evolutionary Interlude 96

Chapter 6 Pigs 107

Chapter 7 Cattle 127

Chapter 8 Sheep and Goats 146

Chapter 9 Reindeer 172

Chapter 10 Camels 192

Chapter 11 Horses 209

Chapter 12 Rodents 234

Chapter 13 Humans -Part I: Evolution 256

Chapter 14 Humans - Part II: Sociality 278

Chapter 15 The Anthropocene 298

Epilogue 319

Appendices

Appendix A to Chapter 5 From the Modern Synthesis to an Extended Synthesis? 323

Appendix B to Chapter 5 Genomics and the Tree of Life 327

Appendix to Chapter 7 From Landraces to Breeds 330

Appendix to Chapter 10 What's in a Gait 335

Appendix A to Chapter 11 Horse Evolution 337

Appendix B to Chapter 11 Genealogy of Horse Breeds 340

Appendix to Chapter 12 The Epigenetic Dimension 344

Appendix to Chapter 14 Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Anthropology, and Evolutionary Psychology 347

Appendix to Chapter 15 The Control of Fire and Its Consequences 350

Acknowledgments 353

Notes and References 355

Index 459

Editorial Reviews

03/02/2015
With encyclopedic detail, Francis (Epigenetics) investigates the nature of domestication, focusing mostly on the biological rather than anthropological factors responsible for a wide array of human/animal partnerships. He ranges widely across species, including house pets, livestock, and pack animals, discussing the types of genetic changes that commonly occur during the process of domestication and the developmental implications such changes have. Francis describes how tameness, tolerance of human contact, and increased in-group sociality are frequent precursors to domestication and are often allied with the retention of juvenile traits in adults. Offering an effective primer on molecular genetics and the field of evolutionary development, he also demonstrates how conservative evolution can be, even while documenting some of the amazing changes species have undergone in relatively short periods of time due to strong selection imposed by humans. In his exploration of human evolution, he asks whether our species has experienced, via “self-domestication,” some of the same physical and cultural changes as have our domesticated companions; he concludes that the available data are not yet robust enough to form a firm conclusion about the self-domestication hypothesis, but suggests that our success as a species could be largely due to our enhanced sociality. Though the details can be overwhelming, Francis’s ability to weave in interesting asides keeps the text thought provoking. Illus. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"A scientific, fascinating look at the domestication of animals."

Kansas City Star

"Francis goes wide and deep in this wonderful, well-written book."

Christine Kenneally

"Intriguing…Our self-domestication, [Francis] avers, has driven the cultural dynamism that has made us what we are."

Nature

"Intriguing…Our self-domestication, [Francis] avers, has driven the cultural dynamism that has made us what we are."

Nature Lib

★ 04/01/2015
This engaging book on the domestication of mammals by science journalist Francis (Epigenetics) is a pleasing mix of research in history, archaeology, genetics, behavior, developmental biology, and psychology. The history and genetics of the domestication of dogs, cats, horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs all contribute to our understanding of the changes brought about in animals by man-made environments. Some of the creatures covered—camels, rodents, ferrets, and reindeer—might not be the usual mammals people consider when they think of domestication, but theirs are compelling stories. Raccoons and foxes are included in the book to provide information on intermediary steps in domestication. The final chapters describing the theory of self-domestication of Homo sapiens are exciting. While other books cover some species and some aspects of domestication, this book provides up-to-date information on many mammals and includes genetic studies of changes in mammal genomes. While a degree of understanding of genetics is assumed, extensive notes and references allow the reader to find the science behind the theories. VERDICT An excellent book for those interested in human-animal interactions, domestication, or evolution.—Margaret Henderson, Midlothian, VA

Library Journal

★ 2015-03-11
"The human population explosion has been bad for most other living things, but not so for those lucky enough to warrant domestication," writes science journalist Francis (Epigenetics: The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance, 2011, etc.) in this provocative account of the latest developments in the field of evolutionary biology. "In an evolutionary sense," writes the author, "it pays to be domesticated." Not only do humans breed animals for our own purposes—pets, horses, and cattle—but we have been an "unconscious evolutionary force." Francis cites the famous 1959 experiment by the Russian scientist Dmitry Belyaev, who explored the domestication of foxes by selecting for tameness. By the sixth generation, they developed physical and behavioral characteristics normally associated with dogs. The author suggests that the driver in this case—also exemplified in the descents of dogs from wolves and humans from primates—was natural selection of those animals best able to tolerate the social stress of life in the vicinity of human habitations. Selection for tameness was related to "a general dampening of stress responses," and over several generations, stress hormones decreased. In the author's view, a similar process of self-domestication occurred in the evolution of humans from their primate forebears. Francis astutely substantiates this thesis with fossil evidence from a variety of mammal species, including cats, dogs, raccoons, mice, and more. As the author writes, the concept of survival of the fittest was not based solely on competition for resources, nor initially on transformations in the brain, but rather on "parallel neuroendocrine alterations in humans (and bonobos) on the one hand, and dogs, cats, rats, and other domestic creatures on the other." This leads him to the novel conclusion that rather than just human intelligence, the extraordinary evolutionary success of our species has depended on our "hypersociality and unprecedented capacity for cooperative behavior." A highly illuminating look at the cross-species biological basis for human culture and sociability.

Kirkus Reviews