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Magic of Transforming a Fox Into a Dog! BOOK REVIEW Magic of Transforming a most loyal friend. The fox is solitary while the dog is social. The fox is a wild animal that Fox Into a Dog! stays away from humans as much as possible while the dog is a domesticated, beloved pet Sujata Deshpande who sits in your living room resting its head on your knees. But the domesticated dog was once a wild animal, known to have descended from wolf ancestors. Our ancestors domesti- cated those wolves into dogs over a period of thousands of years. Dmitri Belyaev wanted to mimic this process, with the silver fox, in order to understand the process of domestica- tion. He was especially interested in the ini- tial part of the process – how domestication of a wild animal began. He chose the silver How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) fox – a close genetic cousin of the wolf – for Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale this experiment. Dmitri Belyaev’s experiment of Jump-Started Evolution started in the early 1950s and it continues till Authors: Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila today, even after his death in 1985, having Trut gone through fifty-seven generations of do- Published by: University of Chicago Press, mesticated, tamed silver foxes to date. Some 2017 of these foxes have become household pets! Pages: 240 (clothbound) This is one of the longest run experiments in Price: USD 26 (clothbound) biology, but perhaps a short one for evolution. Other formats: E-book USD 18.00 The book is written by Lee Alan Dugatkin (The book will be available in paperback for who is an evolutionary biologist and historian USD 18 in October 2018) of science in the Department of Biology at the University of Louisville, along with Lyudmila Trut, Professor of Genetics at the Institute of This book tells the story of the Russian geneti- Cytology and Genetics in Siberia who has cist Dmitri Belyaev’s idea. In his own words, been associated with the fox-taming project the idea was ‘to make a dog out a fox’. My since 1959. Together, the author duo describes very first question upon getting the book in the evolution of this experiment right from its my hands was – why would anyone want to inception. They delve into the science behind do this? The two animals are perceived to it – evolution, animal behaviour, animal do- be opposites. The fox is labeled as the most mestication and biology of the fox. They also cunning animal while the dog is a human’s RESONANCE | August 2018 925 BOOK REVIEW outline the history and politics of the USSR pressive political conditions imposed by Josef (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and how Stalin and Trofim Lysenko (who vehemently it affected the science and the scientists of that opposed Mendelian genetics and geneticists time. The picture of the effect of history and practising it). Therefore, Belyaev asked an Es- politics appears black. However, silver rays tonian colleague, Nina Sorokina, to start the penetrate this dark cloud in the form of brave experiment under a different pretext in 1952. scientists who strove to do their science, to Over the next few years, political conditions stand up against political hindrance, and to en- started becoming less unfavourable. Belyaev sure that their country would not lose the rich became the Head of the Institute of Cytology scientific heritage it once had. They risked ev- and Genetics. By then, the foxes with his erything, sometimes lost their careers, were Estonian colleague were also showing subtle locked behind bars, lost their loved ones, or behavioural and morphological changes. En- even lost their own lives. Dmitri Belyaev couraged by these events, Belyaev decided to emerges as a charismatic person, a visionary expand the experiment and looked for a person scientist, a skilled administrator, and a brave highly trained in animal behaviour. Now, this soldier. He suffered many personal losses but is quite interesting and I would like to draw the remained a warm-hearted individual, always attention of undergraduate students. Lyudmila thoughtful of the people associated with him. Trut (yes!the co-author of the book) was that He wanted to learn from the experts all over highly trained person and she was just about the world and went out of his way to contact to finish her undergraduate studies! The book them. describes in detail how Lyudmila Trut got the job and I do not want to break the suspense. I The story of the fox domestication experiment urge undergraduate students and their teachers can easily fit into a thrilling science fiction. to read the book! Belyaev wanted to select foxes for their tame- ness and breed them over generations hoping Lyudmila Trut decided to work on the fox- to get glimpses of the early stages of domes- domestication project by going to the institute tication. He was a trained geneticist, how- that was being newly formed. The institute ever, when he began his career he was pro- was being set up in a city called Novosibirsk in hibited from doing research in genetics. His Siberia, more than three thousand kilometers job as a lead scientist in Russia’s state-owned away from Moscow where Lyudmila and her fur industry was to help mass breeders of family were located. Lyudmila had just mar- foxes and minks to produce more beautiful ried and had a baby girl. However, when she furs. He accepted the job so that he could decided to go, her husband whole-heartedly carry out his studies under the cover of the supported her by agreeing to go along with job. Even then, he could not start his own her and finding a job in the new location. Her fox domestication experiment under the op- mother too joined them soon afterwards to 926 RESONANCE | August 2018 BOOK REVIEW look after the baby. This was happening in the describes this extended experiment in detail late 1950s and this is the kind of family sup- and provides a good number of references. port many women scientists even today dream The book is not for undergraduate students about; luckily, the number of those who get alone. It demands attention of the experts in this support is slowly increasing. the fields like evolutionary biology, genetics, developmental biology, history of science, an- This is a slim book of about two hundred thropology and perhaps animal ethics. And pages with a photograph of a cute fox on this book is for you if you are an animal lover! the cover. It is written lucidly and it car- ries the reader with the flow of events which get more and more interesting, and some very heart-warming. Even before I realized it, the book was over and I wished it just went on! Sujata Deshpande The experiment started with behavioural ob- Assistant Professor servations of the foxes but went on to inves- Department of Zoology, tigate changes in fur colouration, facial fea- St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), tures, hormones, reproductive cycle and dif- 5 - Mahapalika Marg, ferential gene expression. These changes were Mumbai 400 001, India. all associated with domestication. The book Email: [email protected] RESONANCE | August 2018 927.
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