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To: djone

I seem to recall a Sci-Am article from years ago where urban dogs were studied. It seems that even purebred in urban settings soon end up breeding after a couple generations, something that quickly resembled a very generic, feral dog.

The Russians did the opposite with wild foxes. After selective breeding, observation, and lots of human contact, after 10-15 generations of foxes, the resultant animals are as domesticated as your average poodle.


9 posted on 08/05/2012 11:01:24 AM PDT by djf (The barbarian hordes will ALWAYS outnumber the clean-shaven. And they vote.)
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To: djf

It does seem to me (if I remember the article—the fox one— it’s been quite awhile since I read it) that the coats ended up spotted or mismarked tho, and unsuitable for fur. What I remember from the breeding experiment was that the gist was that dogs (and the foxes) never get past the juvenile state. Is this the same article? It was fascinating.


20 posted on 08/05/2012 1:09:39 PM PDT by brytlea (An ounce of chocolate is worth a pound of cure)
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