This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: "Why haven't farm animals evolved to protect themselves against humans?—Sarang, age 15, Latur, Maharashtra, India" Have you ever wondered why dogs get the zoomies or wag their tails? One answer comes from a rather unexpected source: foxes.
A team of scientists bred captured silver foxes for tameness, choosing the least fearful and aggressive animals to become parents. They repeated this process with each litter of pups, avoiding any training and limiting their exposure to people. Within six generations, the foxes began to show some familiar, doglike behaviors.
Some wagged their tails as people approached, licked their hands and even liked to be petted. These silver foxes are a remarkable example of selective breeding, where people choose animals with particular traits to produce the next generation of animals. Selective breeding is the driving force behind domestication: the process through which animal populations adapted to life alongside people over many generations.
Dogs are considered the first animals that humans domesticated, originally descending from wolves. Another team of scientists studied the genes of ancient animals to understand how domestication has shaped farm animals over time. They examined the genetics of a wide range of traits, from coat color in goats and horses to aggression and egg production in chickens.
Farmers might selectively breed chickens for more eggs, or cows for more milk. They may also favor calmer animals because they are easier to handle. Because animals with these traits are chosen more frequently by farmers for breeding, their genes have a better chance of reaching the next generation.
This process is domestication in action: Inherited traits such as tameness, producing more food or having a coat color preferred by people become common over generations. Farm animals that are aggressive or don't produce much food may be less useful to humans, thereby "protecting" themselves from being used by people. But with people in charge, these animals will also likely be excluded from breeding and have less of a chance of passing their genes on.
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