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Biology and Medical
A Brain Shrinking Domestication Event
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[QUOTE="BillTre, post: 6501729, member: 581757"] Domesticated cattle (cows or steers) evolved, under domestication, into a variety of different lines (or strains), from aurochs ([I]Bos primigenius,[/I], now extinct) about 10,000 years ago. [URL='https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/tamer-cow-smaller-brain?utm_campaign=news_daily_2021-06-08&et_rid=295682744&et_cid=3802087']Science mag news article here[/URL]. Ana Balcarcel of the University of Zurich and colleagues scanned the skulls of museum specimens, corrected for body size, and determined their relative sizes. Domesticated strains had about 25% less brain volume on average. It is thought that the animals were selected for docility in order for humans to be able to work with them. The closer interaction with humans, the greater the difference for the wild aurochs. Other vertebrate animals (pigs, dogs, sheep, cats) have similar patterns. Some of the cattle strains have only been around for ~200 years, so the changes may have happened rapidly. However, that kind of conclusion would depend upon what those newer strains started from, already selected to be smaller or not. [/QUOTE]
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