On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, Ray Audette wrote:

        I believe that this shows us something about the process
        of neoteny and how neotinized traits become dominante
        within a species only when enviromental conditions change
        to provide a strong advantage for such traits.

The theory that neoteny drives domestication is still highly
conjectural, and there are some lines of evidence against it.

First, if neoteny is the result of mutations then it is very
unlikely that it would be quickly reversible.  And yet, as Darwin
observed, domesticated animals revert to "wild type" in a
relatively small number of generations, even without a wild
population to interbreed with.

Second, the recent success in breeding domesticated foxes in 40
generations involved no change in environmental conditions at
all.  It involved only mating the most docile foxes with each
other but not isolating the offspring or changing their food
supply or anything else.  Interestingly, the domesticated foxes
were different from the others in many characteristics that had
nothing to do with their docility.  Most of those characteristics
had nothing to do with neoteny either, with the possible
exception of their having juvenile-looking faces.

Todd Moody
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