Before viewing

(Class or group discussion.)

Students may find it useful to pool their existing knowledge of:

• some of the factors that have influenced human evolution
• the nature of the relationship between humans and dogs

(Students may find it helpful to jot down key words while watching the programme, as a basis for a discussion of the programme’s underlying ideas (see ‘Background’ section).)

(Class or group discussion.)

Discuss what the programme reveals about:

• the way the scientific establishment treats controversial new hypotheses
• the importance of evidence from different disciplines in supporting new hypotheses
• factors and processes that confer evolutionary advantage to a species
• the possibility for scientific experiments to replicate long-term evolutionary processes

(Group activity. It may be halpful to review the section of the programme about the Russian experiment with silver foxes.)

Dr Liudmilla Trut and her team condensed the domestication of a species from 100,000 years to just 40 years. The team took wild silver foxes and over forty generations have produced ‘domesticated’ silver foxes which show many of the same behavioural characteristics as domestic dogs.

The essential features of the experiment were:

• For the first few generations, to breed from silver foxes that did not bite humans.
• After three or four generations, to breed from foxes which had positive reactions to humans.
• To breed only from the progeny of foxes from a specific female silver fox. The initial progeny had dog-like reactions to humans, which were reinforced in subsequent generations. The end result is a silver fox with arrested development — one which remains playful and does not become fearful.

Evaluate the methodology and outcome of this experiment. Among the perspectives you might take are those of:

• an evolutionary scientist
• a person concerned with animal welfare
• a silver fox

Create a poster showing the outcome of your evaluation.

(Class discussion or individual activity.)

What is your view of the idea of the ‘invisible paw’ as a major factor in the evolution of Homo sapiens? In addition to information given in the programme, you may find the following websites useful:

http://www.magna.com.au/~gclarke/carla/pact.html<
Brief review of The Pact for Survival by Dr Jonica Newby.

http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/dogs_061397.html
US news report: ‘Man found dog 100,000 years ago’.

http://www.dickinson.edu/~colflesh/index.html
The genetic connection between dogs and their ancestors.

http://www.i5ive.com/article.cfm/about_dogs/12072
Another article about the evolution of dogs.