----- Original Message -----
From: Todd Moody
> On Wed, 29 Dec 1999, Ray Audette wrote:
>
> > Common mutations found among
> > stressed populations would include gracile forms and neotinized forms of
> > Pleistocene megafauna.  Some of these are todays domestic animals.
>
> Note that the recent research with foxes, which we discussed last
> year, showed that domesticated foxes could be bred in a
> relatively short time *with no stresses whatsoever*, just careful
> selection.

A Siberian Fur Farm Collective (where these experiments were done) is a very
stressful place for foxes.  Imagine the most overcrowded puppy mill you've
ever seen multiplied by about 100.  These animals are also fed the worst
food you can feed a fox and still expect it to live.  Crossbreeding would
also lead to genetic stress similar to that found in a genetically
constricted animal population trapped in a geographical "bottleneck".

This environment would also be very stressful to those not being selected
for breeding as they would be made into coats upon maturity.  Just as in
Nature there would have to be considerable stress on "normal" animals to
give neotinized ones an advantage.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
http://www.neanderthin.com