Domestication & Evolution
How can we understand an animal without first understanding how it became what it is? To truly comprehend the nature of anything, we must know the process that got it here, and with dogs, that story is quite extraordinary.
First, we delve into evolutionary psychology, what it is, the language that is entrenched within this paradigm, as well as some of the key theories from within the canine and animal application: evolutionary ethology. We take in the taxonomic view of our dogs and then take a deep dive into the known history of the dog—when, where and why they have developed, and a population snapshot of who, what and where the dog population is made up of today. From this foundation, we delve into theories of canine evolution and begin to question whether we can call the process one of domestication at all?
This verse is much more than a history lesson and includes a behind the scenes interview with a man who has lived the last 22 years with wolves. It gives our students a telescope into how artificial selective pressures have impacted the breeding of our pet dogs and inquires how morphology may impact both temperament and behaviour.
Students will leave this verse with the ability to see dogs through the filter of their history with us and recognise how many choices they make are far from free will.
The course covers
- Basic taxonomy
- Basic canine geography and population counts
- The competing theories for when and where dogs were domesticated as well as looking at the evidence for each
- Principles of evolution including adaptations and mutations
- The various main constructs in evolutionary science including theories of evolution
- Game theory and how it applies to social behaviour
- A deep dive into the behaviour of wild dogs and wolves and what that tells us about domestication theory
- How evolution and domestication applied to modern dogs
- An in depth interview and case shadow with Daniel Weigend who has spent the last 22 years raising and living with wolves at Lobo Park
- An exploration into what fox domestication might tell us about dog domestication
