Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
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- AbdiWahab252
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Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Very interesting study. I wonder why there are more tame native animals originating in Asia than in Africa. Why were Zebras not domesticated ? Why aren't African elephants tamed while Asian ones are ?
Genetic Difference Found in Wild vs. Tame Animals
Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com jeanna Bryner
senior Writer
livescience.com – Wed Jun 10, 8:17 am ET
A study of nasty and nice lab rats has scientists on the verge of knowing the genes that separate wild animals like lions and wolves from their tame cousins, cats and dogs.
Unlike their wild ancestors, house pets and other domesticated animals share the trait of tameness, meaning they tolerate or even seek out human presence. New research, which is published in the June issue of the journal Genetics and involved the interbreeding of friendly and aggressive rats, reveals gene regions that influence the opposing behaviors.
"I hope our study will ultimately lead to a detailed understanding of the genetics and biology of tameness," said researcher Frank Albert of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Maybe we'll then be able to domesticate a few of those species where humans have historically not been successful like the wild African Buffalo."
And we can possibly understand more about the furry creatures in our homes.
"If you think about dogs, they are such amazing animals. When you compare a dog with a wild wolf, a wolf has no interest in communicating [with] or tolerating humans," Albert told LiveScience. "If you're lucky a wolf in the wild wouldn't care about you. But a dog does care and they even seek human presence."
He added, "Dogs were all wolves at some point. How did they become these animals that need humans to exist?"
Breeding rats
The roots of this study date back to 1972 when researchers in Novosibirsk, in what is now Russia, caught a large group of wild rats around the city. Back at the lab, the researchers arbitrarily separated the rats into two groups. In one group, called the tame rats, the scientists then mated the friendliest rats, those that tolerated humans, with one another, and in the other group they mated the most aggressive rats with each other.
Demeanor in rats is tested with the glove test, in which a human hand protected by a metal glove approaches a caged rat. The tame rats tolerate the hand and even sometimes toddle across it. Aggressive rats try to escape, scream, attack and bite the person's hand. The rats even perform boxing moves, standing on their hind legs while sort of punching the human hand away.
The experiment is going on to this day, with two generations bred each year, resulting in a team of extremely tame rats and a team of very aggressive ones.
Nice genes
To figure out the genes behind the rat behaviors, Albert and his colleagues interbred a few of the tamest rats with a few of the aggressive rats and then interbred the resulting pups. That way, the rats would have a mix of genes from both types of parents.
So if two rats had matching genes in one region of their genomes but differing tameness behaviors, the researchers could rule out this genetic region as responsible for the behaviors. The inverse is also true.
First, behavior tests teased out which rats were naughty and which were nice. Then, the researchers ran genetic tests. While the results don't reveal specific tameness genes, the researchers have pinpointed sets of genes responsible for tameness.
Further breeding and testing will hopefully uncover the exact genes linked with certain rat behaviors.
Genetic Difference Found in Wild vs. Tame Animals
Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com jeanna Bryner
senior Writer
livescience.com – Wed Jun 10, 8:17 am ET
A study of nasty and nice lab rats has scientists on the verge of knowing the genes that separate wild animals like lions and wolves from their tame cousins, cats and dogs.
Unlike their wild ancestors, house pets and other domesticated animals share the trait of tameness, meaning they tolerate or even seek out human presence. New research, which is published in the June issue of the journal Genetics and involved the interbreeding of friendly and aggressive rats, reveals gene regions that influence the opposing behaviors.
"I hope our study will ultimately lead to a detailed understanding of the genetics and biology of tameness," said researcher Frank Albert of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Maybe we'll then be able to domesticate a few of those species where humans have historically not been successful like the wild African Buffalo."
And we can possibly understand more about the furry creatures in our homes.
"If you think about dogs, they are such amazing animals. When you compare a dog with a wild wolf, a wolf has no interest in communicating [with] or tolerating humans," Albert told LiveScience. "If you're lucky a wolf in the wild wouldn't care about you. But a dog does care and they even seek human presence."
He added, "Dogs were all wolves at some point. How did they become these animals that need humans to exist?"
Breeding rats
The roots of this study date back to 1972 when researchers in Novosibirsk, in what is now Russia, caught a large group of wild rats around the city. Back at the lab, the researchers arbitrarily separated the rats into two groups. In one group, called the tame rats, the scientists then mated the friendliest rats, those that tolerated humans, with one another, and in the other group they mated the most aggressive rats with each other.
Demeanor in rats is tested with the glove test, in which a human hand protected by a metal glove approaches a caged rat. The tame rats tolerate the hand and even sometimes toddle across it. Aggressive rats try to escape, scream, attack and bite the person's hand. The rats even perform boxing moves, standing on their hind legs while sort of punching the human hand away.
The experiment is going on to this day, with two generations bred each year, resulting in a team of extremely tame rats and a team of very aggressive ones.
Nice genes
To figure out the genes behind the rat behaviors, Albert and his colleagues interbred a few of the tamest rats with a few of the aggressive rats and then interbred the resulting pups. That way, the rats would have a mix of genes from both types of parents.
So if two rats had matching genes in one region of their genomes but differing tameness behaviors, the researchers could rule out this genetic region as responsible for the behaviors. The inverse is also true.
First, behavior tests teased out which rats were naughty and which were nice. Then, the researchers ran genetic tests. While the results don't reveal specific tameness genes, the researchers have pinpointed sets of genes responsible for tameness.
Further breeding and testing will hopefully uncover the exact genes linked with certain rat behaviors.
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
For a sec I thought u were talking about xalimos
- AbdiWahab252
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
SDM,
I do have an intellectual side saxiib. Btw, name one native domestic animal from Africa ?
I do have an intellectual side saxiib. Btw, name one native domestic animal from Africa ?
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Goats, sheep - I know they were first domesticated in Syria?/Somewhere in Arabia but they are there in Africa and they are domestic.AbdiWahab252 wrote:SDM,
I do have an intellectual side saxiib. Btw, name one native domestic animal from Africa ?
Cows also.
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Black,
Those are not native species from Africa but from the Middle East.
There is one but keep guessing
Those are not native species from Africa but from the Middle East.
There is one but keep guessing
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
AbdiWahab252 wrote:SDM,
I do have an intellectual side saxiib. Btw, name one native domestic animal from Africa ?


Even some xalimos need real taming
- black velvet
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Dog?AbdiWahab252 wrote:Black,
Those are not native species from Africa but from the Middle East.
There is one but keep guessing
Demeanor in rats is tested with the glove test, in which a human hand protected by a metal glove approaches a caged rat. The tame rats tolerate the hand and even sometimes toddle across it. Aggressive rats try to escape, scream, attack and bite the person's hand. The rats even perform boxing moves, standing on their hind legs while sort of punching the human hand away.

Rat?
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Black,
Its the Guinea Fowl.

Africa's own chicken
Its the Guinea Fowl.
Africa's own chicken

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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
What about Geel? Somalia has the most Geel in the world
- AbdiWahab252
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
FAH,
They are not a native species and were imported into Africa
They are not a native species and were imported into Africa
- black velvet
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
AbdiWahab252 wrote:Black,
Its the Guinea Fowl.
Africa's own chicken
I would have probably said chicken next but not "Guinea Fowl" never seen one of those
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Re: Wild Vs. Tame Animals: Its Genetics
Black Velvet,
They are tasty and more suited for Africa than chickens
They are tasty and more suited for Africa than chickens

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