I got interested in the references in the domestication article and
looked up Dmitri Belyaev, and found some interesting links.  in
particular, there were/are experiments on domesticating a few species,
silver fox, gray rat, mink, river otter at the Institute of Cytology and
Genetics in Russia.  the link below about fox domestication is a very
interesting read.
 
   Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment
   http://www.floridalupine.org/publications/PDF/trut-fox-study.pdf
 
they start off with 130 foxes and repeatedly bred the ones that were
the most tame, and end up with domestic foxes that are great human
companions.  I'm curious about would be how much health problems these
guys have (inbreeding co-efficient is very low).  and in case you can't
guess, I was wondering if people can do this with polecats, i.e.
domesticate wild polecats and see if we get ferrets back, that have
fewer health problems and so on... just a random thought...
 
I wasn't able to find as much info on the mink or otter, but here is a
page that have some otters with crazy coloured fur.  I think they are
very pretty and all that, but I do wonder if they have health problems as
well, as they remind me so much of ferrets.
 
   http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/booklet/Engl/EnglLabaratories/
   LabGeneticsSelectionFurAnimalsEngl.html
 
I guess the sad part of this research is the connection to fur farms.
 
// ***************************************
// Selina, Sprite, Sand, Bear, Dart & Clef
// in spirit - Birch, Dief & Storm
// http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~ssiu
[Posted in FML issue 4044]