Hi, I'm Mackin, this is species. Thanks to our generous donors, I'm going to give you guys a little something extra.

Today, we're going to talk about domesticated animals, why they have floppy ears,

which is actually a super old scientific mystery that has befuddled scientists since Darwin,

like the mid-1800s. But today, today I'm going to give you the answer, and it's an awesome one.

For those of you who are new around here, this is a bonus episode where I talk about an animal-related

topic that's either too specific or too general to get

through a regular species episode. I hope you enjoy.

Okay. cows, pigs, skinny pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, dogs, all of these creatures, in captivity,

tend to have floppy ears, at least depending on the individual. They also often have blotchy spots on their bodies,

and many of them have shorter snouts and lighter fur than their wild counterparts.

But other than appearance, the only things these creatures all have in common is that they're mammals and they're domesticated.

So what the heck's going on here?

Why do they all have these strange traits?

Have humans

been breeding animals for these characteristics, perhaps without even realizing it? I mean, this is

plausible if it seems a little crazy. I mean, I think floppy ears are cute. Perhaps ancient farmers

felt the same way. And when they were deciding which animals they wanted to breed, they

unconsciously selected the ones

who they really liked the look of. Even if that's unlikely, it seems possible. But there's one problem.

I've got a story to tell that throws a wrench in that theory. This story is from Siberia,

and it's an ongoing story that started in the late 1950s.

Russian geneticist Dmitri K. Believ decided he wanted to create a tame fox population.

...