Taming the Wild

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/featurehub

           The article "Taming the Wild" by Evan Ratliff in National Geographic is fascinating. The article is about the evolution of more "tame" animals, including sheep, goats, pigs, cats, dogs, chickens, and most memorably foxes. The article details how it has become possible for humans to make different animals more tame by selective breeding. For example, over 50 years ago an out of work geneticist in Russia began experiments to create more tame foxes for easier fur harvests. After several generations of selective breeding of the most tame, the foxes began wagging their tales, barking, and even seeking human contact. This came as a surprise to scientists, who began more carefully selecting the foxes and recording findings. Related to the domestication of foxes, the article details how chickens, cows, and other mammals have become tamed. Scientists are now asking whether the animals domesticated today approached us first, or vice versa. To determine what causes domestic traits in animals, scientists are using genome sequencing to determine the genes and their functions.
 
         The reason this article is important to science is because domesticated animals have changed humans irreversibly. Of over 700 mammals, only about 20 have been domesticated, and have changed the way humans farm, eat, and treat animals. This article is important because the link between domestic traits and genetics will give provide useful information in the future, for identifying specific genes and their functions in animal genomes.
 
          The article was very well written, informative, interesting, and even included aesthetically pleasing diagrams and additional photos. The article did a good job of meshing scientific facts and diction into a pleasant learning experience, and the subject matter was interesting and unexpected.