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Chapter 2
Domestication Defined
Since this book is about the captive rearing and domestication of animals, it is
important at the outset to seek an acceptable definition for domestication. A
review of the literature reveals some common denominators and some differences
in the way domestication is viewed.
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Domestication Defined 11
certain experiences, there are many adaptations to the captive environment that
can be best explained by genetic changes accompanying the domestication
process.
In response to claims that animal domestication was solely an experiential
phenomenon, Price and King (1968) and Bartlett (1993) proposed that domestica-
tion is an evolutionary process involving the genotypic adaptation of animals to
the captive environment. Ratner and Boice (1975) took a more ontogenetic
approach by acknowledging the contributions of both genetic change and experi-
ence in the development of the domestic phenotype. More recently, Lickliter and
Ness (1990) proposed a ‘developmental systems’ approach to domestication. In
their view, domestic phenotypes are not transmitted in the genes nor contained in
features of captive environments but are constructed by the ‘coaction of organic,
organismic, and environmental factors during ontogeny’.
Domestication Defined
It is difficult to formulate a definition of domestication that is general enough to
account for the many factors contributing to the domestication process yet specific
enough to be meaningful in terms of the evolutionary and biological processes
involved. For the purpose of this book, domestication is defined as ‘that process
by which a population of animals becomes adapted to man and to the captive
environment by some combination of genetic changes occurring over generations
and environmentally induced developmental events recurring during each
generation’ (Price, 1984). This rather simplified definition of domestication does
not assume that genes and the environment operate as independent factors which
additively combine to produce the domestic phenotype. Neither does it assume
that one can be understood in isolation from the other. As Lickliter and Ness
(1990) point out, development of the domestic phenotype can only be understood
in terms of the complex interplay of organic, organismic and environmental
factors during ontogeny.
This definition is meant to apply to domestication in general. It assumes that
the captive environment is different from the ancestral wild environment of the
species. It also assumes that certain general animal management and housing
practices are consistently applied over time in rearing and maintaining each
species in captivity. These are reasonable assumptions even for species which are
highly pre-adapted for life in captivity. Differences between the ancestral wild and
captive environments of a population allow evolutionary mechanisms to bring
about directed changes in the gene pool (i.e. mostly through changes in gene
frequencies) as the population adapts to captivity over generations. Consistently
applied animal management and housing practices allow certain environmentally
induced developmental events to contribute to the domestic phenotype in a
reoccurring manner in each generation. For example, research will be cited later
in this book showing that reduced fear of humans, an important component of the
domestic phenotype, is attained in certain captive rodents by rearing in traditional
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12 Chapter 2
Conclusions
For many persons, animals are domesticated when they come under man’s
control. While this is a necessary prerequisite for domestication, there is much
more. First, domestication is a process involving both genetic changes occurring
over generations and experiences associated with living in captivity which
typically recur in each generation. Domestication is about adaptation to man
and the environment he provides. Phenotypic adaptations to the captive environ-
ment will occur based on the same evolutionary processes that enable free-living
populations to adapt to changes in their environment. The major difference is that
in captivity, man can accelerate phenotypic changes, that would otherwise not
appear or persist in nature, through artificial selection (and now gene transfer).
Many of these latter changes are initiated post-domestication.
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