The expensive-tissue hypothesis may help explain brain-size reduction during domestication

Title (en)
The expensive-tissue hypothesis may help explain brain-size reduction during domestication
Language
English
Description (en)
Morphological traits, such as white patches, floppy ears and curly tails, are ubiquitous in domestic animals and are referred to as the 'domestication syndrome'. A commonly discussed hypothesis that has the potential to provide a unifying explanation for these traits is the 'neural crest/domestication syndrome hypothesis'. Although this hypothesis has the potential to explain most traits of the domestication syndrome, it only has an indirect connection to the reduction of brain size, which is a typical trait of domestic animals. We discuss how the expensive-tissue hypothesis might help explain brain-size reduction in domestication.
Keywords (en)
Brain size; cranial volume; gut; intestine; neural crest
DOI
10.1080/19420889.2022.2101196
Author of the digital object
Raffaela Lesch  (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)
Alexander Kotrschal  (Wageningen University and Research)
W Tecumseh Fitch  (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)
Kurt Kotrschal  (University of Vienna)
Andrew C. Kitchener  (National Museums Scotland)
Licence Selected
CC BY 4.0 International
Type of publication
Article
Name of Publication (en)
Communicative and Integrative Biology
Pages or Volume
4
Volume
15
Number
1
From Page
190
To Page
192
Publisher
Landes Bioscience
Publication Date
2022