Editing Domestication (section)

=== Desirable traits ===

{{further|Domestication of vertebrates}}

[[File:Unnatural selection, 2 heads, one species.jpg|thumb |Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; many have other [[domestication syndrome]] traits like shorter muzzles.<ref name="Frantz Bradley Larson 2020" /> Skulls of [[grey wolf]] (left), [[Chihuahua (dog)|chihuahua dog]] (right) ]]

The domestication of vertebrate animals is the relationship between non-human vertebrates and humans who have an influence on their care and reproduction.<ref name="zeder2015" /> In his 1868 book ''[[The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication]]'', [[Charles Darwin]] recognized the small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors. He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious [[selective breeding]] in which humans directly select for desirable traits and unconscious selection, in which traits evolve as a by-product of [[natural selection]] or from selection on other traits.<ref name="darwin1868">{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Darwin |date=1868 |title=The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication |location=London |publisher=John Murray |oclc=156100686|title-link=The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication}}</ref>{{sfn|Diamond|2005|p=130}}<ref name="Larson Piperno Allaby 2014">{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.1323964111 |title=Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=111 |issue=17 |pages=6139–6146 |date=2014 |last1=Larson |first1=G. |last2=Piperno |first2=D. R. |last3=Allaby |first3=R. G. |last4=Purugganan |first4=M. D. |last5=Andersson |first5=L. |last6=Arroyo-Kalin |first6=M. |last7=Barton |first7=L. |last8=Climer Vigueira |first8=C. |last9=Denham |first9=T. |last10=Dobney |first10=K. |last11=Doust |first11=A. N. |last12=Gepts |first12=P. |last13=Gilbert |first13=M. T. P. |last14=Gremillion |first14=K. J. |last15=Lucas |first15=L. |last16=Lukens |first16=L. |last17=Marshall |first17=F. B. |last18=Olsen |first18=K. M. |last19=Pires |first19=J. C. |last20=Richerson |first20=P. J. |last21=Rubio De Casas |first21=R. |last22=Sanjur |first22=O. I. |last23=Thomas |first23=M. G. |last24=Fuller |first24=D. Q. |display-authors=5 |pmid=24757054 |pmc=4035915 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6139L |doi-access=free}}</ref>

There is a difference between domestic and wild populations; some of these differences constitute the [[Domestication syndrome#In animals|domestication syndrome]], traits presumed essential in the early stages of domestication, while others represent later improvement traits.<ref name="Olsen Wendel 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Olsen |first1=K. M. |last2=Wendel |first2=J. F. |s2cid=727983 |date=2013 |title=A bountiful harvest: genomic insights into crop domestication phenotypes |journal=[[Annual Review of Plant Biology]] |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=47–70 |doi=10.1146/annurev-arplant-050312-120048 |pmid=23451788|bibcode=2013AnRPB..64...47O }}</ref><ref name="Doust Lukens Olsen 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Doust |first1=A. N. |last2=Lukens |first2=L. |last3=Olsen |first3=K. M. |last4=Mauro-Herrera |first4=M. |last5=Meyer |first5=A. |last6=Rogers |first6=K. |title=Beyond the single gene: How epistasis and gene-by-environment effects influence crop domestication |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=111 |issue=17 |pages=6178–6183 |date=2014 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1308940110 |pmid=24753598 |pmc=4035984 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6178D |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="larson2014" /> Domesticated mammals in particular tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; other common traits are floppy ears, a smaller brain, and a shorter muzzle.<ref name="Frantz Bradley Larson 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Frantz |first1=Laurent A. F. |last2=Bradley |first2=Daniel G. |last3=Larson |first3=Greger |last4=Orlando |first4=Ludovic |title=Animal domestication in the era of ancient genomics |date=2020 |journal=[[Nature Reviews Genetics]] |volume=21 |issue=8 |pages=449–460 |doi=10.1038/s41576-020-0225-0 |pmid=32265525 |s2cid=214809393 |url=https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/66726}}</ref> Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates, and were selected during the initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant, whereas improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or [[Landrace|regional populations]].<ref name="Doust Lukens Olsen 2014"/><ref name="larson2014"/><ref name="meyer2013">{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nrg3605 |pmid=24240513 |title=Evolution of crop species: Genetics of domestication and diversification |journal=[[Nature Reviews Genetics]] |volume=14 |issue=12 |pages=840–852 |date=2013 |last1=Meyer |first1=Rachel S. |last2=Purugganan |first2=Michael D. |s2cid=529535}}</ref>

Certain animal species, and certain individuals within those species, make better candidates for domestication because of their behavioral characteristics:<ref name="zeder2012">{{cite journal |last=Zeder |first=Melinda A. |author-link=Melinda A. Zeder |date=2012 |title=The domestication of animals |journal=[[Journal of Anthropological Research]] |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=161–190 |doi=10.3998/jar.0521004.0068.201 |s2cid=85348232}}</ref><!--Fig 1--><ref name="hale1969">{{cite book |last=Hale |first=E. B. |date=1969 |chapter=Domestication and the evolution of behavior |title=The Behavior of Domestic Animals |edition=2nd |editor-first=E. S. E. |editor-last=Hafez |pages=22–42 |location=London |publisher=Bailliere, Tindall, and Cassell}}</ref><ref name="price1984">{{cite journal |last1=Price |first1=Edward O. |date=1984 |title=Behavioral aspects of animal domestication |journal=[[Quarterly Review of Biology]] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |jstor=2827868 |doi=10.1086/413673 |s2cid=83908518}}</ref><ref name="price2002">{{cite book |last=Price |first=Edward O. |date=2002 |title=Animal Domestication and Behavior |location=Wallingford, UK |publisher=[[CABI Publishing]] |url=http://www.uesc.br/cursos/pos_graduacao/mestrado/animal/bibliografia2012/selene_artigo1_animal.pdf |access-date=February 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517133013/http://www.uesc.br/cursos/pos_graduacao/mestrado/animal/bibliografia2012/selene_artigo1_animal.pdf |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

# The size and organization of their social structure<ref name="zeder2012"/>
# The availability and the degree of selectivity in their choice of mates<ref name="zeder2012"/>
# The ease and speed with which the parents bond with their young, and the maturity and mobility of the young at birth<ref name="zeder2012"/>
# The degree of flexibility in diet and habitat tolerance<ref name="zeder2012"/>
# Responses to humans and new environments, including reduced flight response and reactivity to external stimuli.<ref name="zeder2012"/>