PublishedNorton, June 2015 |
ISBN9780393064605 |
FormatHardcover, 496 pages |
Dimensions24.4cm × 16.8cm × 4.1cm |
The wolf evolved into the Pekingese, the wildcat into the tabby cat and the auroch into the milk-producing cow. This happened through the process called "domestication". Domesticated creatures have served us well- without them, civilisation as we know it would not exist.
Richard C. Francis weaves history, archaeology and anthropology, while seamlessly integrating the most cutting-edge ideas in twenty-first-century biology, to create a fascinating narrative. Each domesticated species is a case study in evolution, and two key themes emerge: that domestication often results in the retention of juvenile traits and that evolution remains fundamentally a conservative process. Francis also explores the ways in which these themes apply to human evolution.
