Genetics: Using animal behavior like dogs that are bred to be good sheep dogs or retrievers and birds building?
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on Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 3:27 am and is filed under Zoology.
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Genetics have a role. You can selectively breed animals to carry the desired genes. But these genes then have to be expressed correctly in the adult, and it has to have the neccessary eniroment to not alter this behavior.
So using you dog. You have a cattle dog, selectively breed for generations to be a great herder. Non of these genes are expressed during the developmental stages, and as an adult, it has absolutely no herding instinct. Or on the other hand, another pup has successful gene expression, but it is never expossed to another animal besides its human owners. the first time it sees a herd of sheep, it goes crazy and rips a ewes throat out. So behavior is a result of genes, expression, and enviroment.