a Pete B snip followed by > my comment...  
His next project will re-examine the domestication of other plants and animals that our society relies upon, and will challenge whether humans intentionally set animal domestication in motion, or if it was more a natural consequence of something else.

We really have trouble appreciating slow, continuous change over long periods of time, even though that’s how most change happens. Our narrative structures work much better if you have a eureka moment.

> I cannot put my hands on the reference right now (more in line with my wife's interest* than my own) Pete but there is has been some interesting stuff come out of Russia concerning 'wild' fox and what appears to be a part of the process in the domestication of dogs. Basically the distinguishing feature in the selection process is between the friendly and the unfriendly kind (my words not the articles), breeding the friendly to the friendly and witnessing the physical changes that takes place (tail and ear changes from your standard wild fox). This all happens in a time line much shorter than I would have thought possible < so I would question your assumption about 'period of time' although in most cases I suspect that yes the time period is longer than most folks can appreciate.

I perhaps should add here that my wife is a well know expert on wolves which is why the article on fox crossed my desk... so the article was not exactly a fluff piece...

Happy New Year to all... 

Gene in Central Texas...
       

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