Domesticated Animals

Over thousands of years, humans have domesticated animals for various reasons. Among these domesticated species companion animals hold multiple questions, from why do humans have companion animals to how certain desired behavioral traits developed. When observing closely related species or species with a common ancestor one can clearly see the difference along with similarities among a variety of traits. Behavior, just like any other trait, can also be observed and related to closely related species or species with common ancestors. The main focus of this research is to understand these similarities and differences among closely related species or species with a common ancestor at a genetic level. The connection between genetics and behavior

Now let's think about when an animal is truly considered domesticated. There is no concrete definition for domestication due to the fact that domestication is a continuous transition, attributes differ by species as well as genes and environment that interact to produce selectable characters that may vary with circumstance. However there is an interconnective and characteristic suite of modifiable traits involving physiology, morphology and behavior that is often associated with domesticated animals. Critically all domesticated animals manifest a remarkable tolerance of proximity to, or even an outright lack of fear for humans. Domestication behaviorally is not a single trait but a suite of traits so praising elements affecting: mood, emotion, agonistic and affiliative behavior, and social communication that is all modified in some way. It is important to understand the distinction between taming and domestication. Taming is conditioned behavioral modifications of an individual, whereas domestication is permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to, among other, a heritable predisposition toward human association. Trade marks of tameness is a decrease in flight behavior and in increase in social

New technology, techniques and tools also make it easier to study the genetics of behavior, morphology and complex disease in domesticated animals that could easily be related to humans. Some of these tools include readily available information on gnomes, not only for different species but for different breeds within a species. Some technique using the genomes involves looking at the entire genome and locating the “causative” haplotype block, followed by fine-mapping focusing on a specific region across different breeds, therefore providing a better knowledge on the genotypic information. The next step would be to measure and classify behaviors such as herding, pointing and that “indefinable character” so treasured by