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Preface

My appreciation for domestic animals started very early in life since I was born
into a lineage of New Jersey dairy farmers. In addition to our 60-plus Guernsey
cows, I had a dog, a pony, sheep, goats and rabbits to care for as I was growing up.
Each cow had a formal name (they were registered) and some had nicknames.
One of my many chores on the farm was to teach the newborn calves to drink
from a bucket. Watching each animal grow into an adult, I observed the
behavioral and physical differences between individuals. Each animal had its
own characteristic temperament, which we sometimes had to account for in our
handling and care-giving. Our animals lived a good life by most animal standards.
Yet, they were still animals. Every few days, a new calf was born and an older cow
was retired and sent to slaughter. The cycle of life I observed in our domestic
animals helped me to understand the less predictable life and death struggle affect-
ing the wild deer, rabbits, pheasants, woodchucks and other wild creatures living
on our farm.
One day while working in the fields, I heard the cries of an animal in the
nearby woods. I quietly approached the sounds and, to my surprise, found a
young puppy (dog) trying to keep up with its mother (a feral animal), who raced off
when I came in sight. I caught the pup, took it home and we raised it to adulthood.
In spite of our care, it never became fully socialized to humans. At that time I
knew very little about ‘sensitive periods’ for socialization and ‘imprinting’ but it
was clear that this dog was different in the way it responded to people. I couldn’t
help but think its early experience in the woods had something to do with the
development of such persistent timidity toward humans. I was impressed with the
contrast between this part-wild dog and the behavior of domestic dogs I had
known. On another occasion, I captured a young red fox from a woodchuck den
and kept it in our basement, where it was free to roam about. I conscientiously fed
it meat and tried to coax it to approach me. It remained very fearful. Eventually, I
let it go on the farm after accepting the fact that it did not want to share my world.

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viii Preface

In retrospect, I can see how these experiences with the feral dog pup and the wild
fox cub contributed to my interest in animal behavior and domestication.
My interest in domestication was rekindled in graduate school. Dr John King,
my major professor at Michigan State University, maintained a research colony
of various species of deermice (Peromyscus) and I was hired to assist in his research
on behavioral development. I quickly became interested in these animals and
chose to study them for my Masters and PhD dissertation research. My research
involved a comparison of the behaviors of prairie deermice (Peromyscus maniculatus
bairdii) from three populations, namely wild-caught, first-generation laboratory-
reared and a stock that had been bred in captivity for approximately 15 genera-
tions. After finishing my degrees, I took a professorial position in the Department
of Zoology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science
and Forestry in Syracuse. My research during the 10 years with SUNY involved
the effects of domestication on the behavior of the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus).
Much of this work was a comparison of wild-caught and first-generation
laboratory-reared wild rats with various strains of domestic rats. My ultimate goal
was to take a population of wild rats and monitor the generation-by-generation
changes in their behavior and reproductive success. Unfortunately, funds for such
a long-term project did not become available. I subsequently took a position with
the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis to
develop a program of teaching and research on the behavior of domestic livestock.
Concentrating on reproductive behaviors, my empirical research on domestica-
tion effects came to an end. However, my interest in domestication as a biological
phenomenon persisted and I continued to search the literature for studies on this
topic. This book is the culmination of a career-long search for information on the
process of domestication and its biological effect on captive animals.
The book is conveniently divided into six parts. The first part, titled ‘General
Aspects’, discusses when and reasons why certain species were first domesticated,
definitions of domestication, approaches to the study of domestication and
pre-adaptations for life in captivity. Historical accounts of domestication are very
brief. There are many other writings on this topic (see text for references), which
deal with the voluminous and sometimes contradictory literature on this topic
in a much more scholarly way than I could have. The second part, ‘Genetic
Mechanisms Influencing Domestication’, provides an overview of the mecha-
nisms influencing changes in the gene pool during domestication. Part III,
‘Variation Under Domestication’, discusses the effects of domestication on genetic
variability and phenotypic variation in behavior, structural traits and physiology.
Part IV, ‘Adaptation to the Biological Environment’, concerns the many ways
captive animals adapt to provision of food and water, the lack of predation, infec-
tious diseases and parasites, the presence of humans and other animals. Part V,
‘Adaptation to the Physical Environment’, discusses the adaptations of animals
to selected physical aspects of their captive environment, namely temperature,
provision or absence of shelter and their use of space, which is sometimes severely
limited. The last part deals with aspects of behavioral development in the captive
environment not discussed in Parts IV and V, and how certain developmental

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Preface ix

processes influence their ability to survive and reproduce, both in captivity and
when reintroduced into nature. The book ends with an overview of how the
welfare of animals is affected by domestication and selected management
techniques associated with captive animal husbandry. Ethical issues associated
with the husbandry of captive animals is also discussed.
Since publishing my ‘Behavioral aspects of animal domestication’ paper in
1984 there has been a noticeable increase in the number of published papers deal-
ing with the husbandry of aquatic species, particularly fish. Much of this work
focuses on the nutritional and environmental requirements of rearing larval fishes,
factors influencing reproductive infertility in captivity and the genetic implications
of farming fish for release in nature. Many species of fish are currently being
considered for domestication as part of a global expansion of interest in
aquaculture. As a consequence, this book frequently uses studies with fish to
illustrate certain points.
The book is basically a review of the literature on the topic of domestication
and rearing animals in captivity. Personal opinions are sometimes expressed
but usually only after attempting to present the facts surrounding an issue in an
objective manner. The title of the book, Animal Domestication and Behavior, may seem
a bit misleading to some readers, since so much of the book is devoted to the topic
of the management of captive animals, whether domesticated or not. This title
makes more sense when one considers that the domestication process is difficult to
avoid when animals are brought into captivity. Most captive-reared wild animals
will express certain aspects of the domestic phenotype simply by being reared in
captivity. The application of artificial selection together with the effects of natural
selection in captivity can greatly accelerate the domestication process.

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