Posted on 07/20/2017 8:06:05 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
When it comes to sheer friendliness, few humans can match the average dog. But people with Williams syndrome may come close, their unusual genetics granting them a puppyish zeal for social interaction. Now, scientists have found that extreme friendliness in both species may share common genetic roots.
A friendly condition
Williams syndrome, also known as Williams-Beuren syndrome, occurs when people are missing of a chunk of DNA containing about 27 genes. The syndrome affects about one in 10,000 people, and it is associated with a suite of mental and physical traits, including bubbly, extroverted personalities, a broad forehead, full cheeks, heart defects, intellectual disability and an affinity for music
(Excerpt) Read more at insidescience.org ...
I wonder if the gene described in this study is responsible for some of these traits as well. The key to domestication seems to be keeping animals in a state of arrested infancy.
They selected foxes that maintained youthful traits into adulthood.
Otherwise known as a neighbor who won’t leave.
My dog isn’t friendly. He’s a big, oversized Sheltie and everybody wants to pet him because he’s so beautiful. But he’ll have none of it. He retreats from every hand that comes his way, and barks his head off if anyone tries to pet him. He’s indifferent to all blandishments, including food.
” intellectual disability and an affinity for music”
Just another evidence that musicians are full blown tards.
There’s a lot of variation among and within dog breeds when it comes to being friendly and sociable. Some breeds are more aloof - and there’s a good chance that the gene described in the study may account for some of the differences.
Yorkies must must be missing those genes in spades. Although mine is really smart as well as friendly. But I haven’t noticed any affinity for music. Other than sirens :-)
In the book “A Troublesome Inheritance”, the author makes the case that selection on youthful traits is responsible not only for domestication in animals but civilization in humans. City life forces us to be a lot less territorial and violent towards non-family members than when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers wandering wide open spaces.
That must explain why Chicago is such a happy go lucky place but rural areas are virtual battlegrounds.
Ok, I admit, that was a wee bit snarky.
Musician all my life, not as an avocation but a passion none the less. Way above average IQ and Type A quick resolution master
Maybe people who post like yours are self identifying just what you are
My first thought was how I would worry if I had a child so trusting.
That genetic disorder is called Hunger. Same thing works with humans.
Selective breeding resulted in the wild dog lines becoming docile.
He’s been butt hurt ever since his girlfriend ran off with a musician.
Actually, much of the urban violence that we see in places like Chicago or Detroit proves Nicholas Wade's point. If you take Aboriginal hunter gatherers or other tribal people with no history of urban life and force them into a city, they really can't function emotionally or culturally in such an environment. In contrast, cities that are populated by people with a long history of civilization and urban life tend to be no more violent than rural areas (i.e. most east Asian cities, most European cities before the mass influx if Middle Eastern and African tribal peoples).
For selective breeding to work, you need to have the mutations in place to select on. The point of this study is to discover what those genes were.
IIRC, that was the first modern incident of otherwise considered “non domesticate-able” animals becoming domesticated.
Lots of wild animals are hungry. Only some have the temperament to be domesticated. Most others try to satisfy their hunger through aggression or by sneaking meals from our trash while we sleep, not by getting friendly with us.
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