WEBVTT

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We all grew up believing it
would take long periods of time,

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a slow process of evolution, in
order to involve,

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in order to transform a wolf
into a dog.

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But, boy, from the
archaeological records or
whatever,

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it was an instant of
time.

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How could it be possible for one
species to evolve suddenly into another.

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Clues were to emerge
unexpectedly from

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an experiment conducted in the
old Soviet Union.

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I really think that the Belyaev
experiments was one of the most

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significant experiments in

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evolution that took place in the
twentieth century,

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and it affected my life and my
thinking in so many ways.

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The experiment was begun in the
1950s at a fox farm in Siberia.

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The foxes were being bred
for their fur,

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but they were wild animals that
were hard to handle and

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often too stressed to breed.

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Dmitry Belyaev, a geneticist,
was taken on to see if he could

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develop foxes that would be
easier to keep.

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He began his experiment by
breeding together those

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foxes with the least excitable
temperaments.

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Belyaev selected foxes by a
simple method.

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He extended a gloved hand into
each animal's cage.

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The foxes that attacked,
cowered,

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or bit him were excluded from breeding.

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But those that showed tolerance

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or curiosity were mated together.

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In effect, Belyaev was selecting
the foxes for their flight distance.

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The subsequent results were
staggering.

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The new generations of foxes
were transformed,

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not just in behavior but in
their appearance.

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Within just ten years, the
selected foxes showed new

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variety in their color.

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Some were born with mottled
coats or black

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and white patches.

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Their ears became floppy.

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They started to bark, vocalize.

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They became highly playful even
into adulthood and were no

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longer afraid of people.

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Some of the foxes even began to
answer to their names.

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Belyaev had stumbled across the
discovery that selecting for the

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quality of tameness alone could

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set off a cascade of other changes.

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We can still see evidence of
this quantum leap at the same

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research center today.

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Up to that point, we all kind of
believed Darwin,

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and Darwin said nature does not
go in leaps.

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Things don't happen fast.

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They happen gradually.

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And the answer was with Belyaev
experiment - he was wrong.

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They do go in leaps and
sometimes big leaps.

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Things that you wouldn't expect.

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The theory is here that we're
dealing with some underlying

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structure.

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When we're dealing with
tameness,

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we're dealing with a set of
genetics that is producing a

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characteristic response.

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It is not a coincidence that
many domesticated animals are

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black and white.

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When selection is made for
tameness,

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it impacts on the entire makeup
of the animal.

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Scientists have determined that
adrenalin,

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the fight or flight hormone, and
melanin, the skin and fur
pigment,

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are chemically connected, so
they change together,

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as are the neurotransmitters
dopamine and noradrenaline which

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control behaviors.

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Affect one system, and there is
a domino effect from color to behaviors.

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Koppenja's scavenging wolves
may have undergone a similar

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transformation.

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When all of a sudden
Belyaev's experiments...

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It changed the way a lot
of us began to think about dogs.

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People talked about...

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Why did people select dogs to
have this coat color or

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that coat color and so on?

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Why did people select dogs to
bark?

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And then all of a sudden we
realized those were a bunch of

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really silly questions,

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because we could get all of that
just by selecting for tameness.

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Belyaev created foxes that
looked and behaved like dogs.

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His experiment suggested that
the transformation of the wild

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wolf into the dog could have
happened in the blink of an

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evolutionary eye.

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The stage was set for the
development of the dog

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into the incredible
variety we have today.