How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)
Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution
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How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)
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Narrated by:
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Joe Hempel
About this listen
Tucked away in Siberia, there are furry, four-legged creatures with wagging tails and floppy ears that are as docile and friendly as any lapdog. But, despite appearances, these are not dogs - they are foxes. They are the result of the most astonishing experiment in breeding ever undertaken - imagine speeding up thousands of years of evolution into a few decades. In 1959, biologists Dmitri Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut set out to do just that, by starting with a few dozen silver foxes from fox farms in the USSR and attempting to recreate the evolution of wolves into dogs in real time in order to witness the process of domestication.
Most accounts of the natural evolution of wolves place it over a span of about 15,000 years, but within a decade, Belyaev and Trut's fox breeding experiments had resulted in puppy-like foxes with floppy ears, piebald spots, and curly tails. Along with these physical changes came genetic and behavioral changes, as well. The foxes were bred using selection criteria for tameness, and with each generation, they became increasingly interested in human companionship. Trut has been the lead scientist on this work since Belyaev's death in 1985, and with Lee Dugatkin, biologist and science writer, she tells the story of the adventure, science, politics, and love behind it all.
©2017 Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut (P)2017 TantorCritic Reviews
What listeners say about How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dean
- 17-03-2024
really good book for 'the layman'
this is a great story about domestication and animal genetics
it is easy to understand and has equal parts narrative and scientific report
a really great read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Monica
- 22-03-2019
Captivating and thought provoking
Sad when I reached the end of the book. Wanted to hear more about this amazing project, hope to be able to follow ongoing research.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- barnaby sullivan
- 06-11-2018
Science is facinating, politics is too personal
Science is interesting but ignores the the reasons for opposition to certain genetic research that occurred following the fall of the Nazis by painting those that opposed the research as Luddites and opportunists. Hero worship without a lot of nuance is also prevalent, but this is a thoroughly good story. Would be better written if it didn't feel so editorialized by the people that where at the coal face but once again, its a good primary/secondary resource
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1 person found this helpful