Wolf Puppies Are Adorable, Then Comes the Call of the Wild
> <i>something is deeply different in dog genes, or in how and when those genes become active, and scientists are trying to determine exactly what it is</i><p>Darwin famously observed in the first chapter of <i>On the Origin of Species</i> that <i>not one of our domestic animals can be named which has not in some country drooping ears</i>.<p>Darwin himself attributed it to "muscle misuse", the rationale being that domestic animals are not frequently enough on high alert, but genetic causes are more likely.<p>The bizarre (and still running) experiment of Dmitry Belyaev who has been raising wild silver foxes for over 60 years to turn them into a domestic species by selecting the friendliest individuals at each generation seems to show that domestic characteristics, including droopy ears, appear "naturally" during this process, hinting at a genetic cause.<p>Which genes is a tough question, but there are several programs looking for them.