"The researchers conclude that the domestic ferrets’ social-cognitive skills are a result of domestication, and are therefore related to genetic differences between domestic ferrets and their wild cousins, rather than differences in experience. This lends further support to the “syndrome” hypothesis of domestication, which holds that selection for one trait (such as tameness, or tolerance for humans in close proximity) can result in a wide variety of correlated by-products that also emerge as a result of that selection, including behavioral and cognitive traits as well as anatomical and physiological ones. “The fact that domestic ferrets seem to be more ‘dog-like’ than ‘wild ferret-like’ regarding their social-affiliative behaviors and responsiveness to human [gestures],” they write, “strongly supports the notion that (at least some of the) domestic species have acquired a set of social skills that improve their chances to survive in human communities.”"
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 16:44:41 +0000
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