A wholly different approach to reconstructing the evolution of certain behaviours involves the attempt to “re-create” history by imposing an artificial selection regime on a species that is closely related to the one showing the behaviour of interest. The selection that is imposed is designed to mimic what might have occurred in a past environment of the species exhibiting the focal behaviour. For instance, to show how dogs may have acquired their domesticated traits, Russian geneticist Dimitry Belyaev imposed artificial selection on a closely related but undomesticated species, the silver fox, a colour morph of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). After capturing a group of wild foxes, he bred them in captivity. Once a month, starting when each pup was one month old, he offered food and tried to approach and pet it. When the foxes were seven to eight months old, only those that were enthusiastic about human contact were selected as breeding stock. After 40 years of this strong and consistent artificial selection for tameness, the farmed foxes behaved like house dogs, whimpering to attract attention, wagging their tails, licking handlers, and sitting in their handlers’ laps. Interestingly, in addition to behavioral changes there were changes in morphology as well, including floppy ears, shortened legs and tails, tails curved upward, underbites and overbites, and novel coat patterns and colours.

Belyaev’s analyses indicated that the ontogeny of the farmed foxes’ social behaviour had changed: their eyes opened earlier and their fear response was initiated later, widening the window of time for social bonding. As the behaviour of the foxes evolved, changes took place in the mechanisms that regulated development, leading to shifts in the rates and timing of developmental processes such as socialization. Floppy ears, recurved tails, and bizarre colours probably are genetically correlated traits, meaning that their development is affected by the same genes that result in tameness. It is possible that the fox experiment re-created the process by which wolves (Canis lupus) became domesticated into house dogs 10,000–15,000 years ago. Moreover, the striking similarities of many of the behaviours and physical attributes of domesticated swine (Sus domesticus), horses (Equus caballus), cows (Bos taurus), and cats (Felis catus) to those of the foxes suggest that the behaviour of all those animals followed a similar evolutionary trajectory. Domestication of those animals was the result of selection imposed by humans for tameness.

The comparative approach

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The fourth approach to reconstructing the history of a behaviour involves studying its fitness consequences today. If a behaviour currently provides higher fitness than its alternatives, it is inferred that natural selection acting in similar antecedent environments caused its initial spread. This approach assumes that present selective pressures are similar to those that operated in the past. This assumption is reasonable because the physical and biotic environments of many organisms have remained similar for hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of years. Even if certain aspects of the environment of a species have changed recently, other aspects may have remained the same. For this approach to succeed, the only environmental aspects that matter are those to which the focal behaviour is a response.

For example, the European (or common) starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the English (or house) sparrow (Passer domesticus) were imported to the United States during the second half of the 19th century. Certain aspects of their new environment—such as types of food and predator species—were different, whereas other environmental aspects—such as nesting sites and the birds’ social environment—did not change (the latter is a product of the birds’ tendencies to group with members of the same species). As a result, the birds’ reproductive and communicative behaviours closely resemble those of starlings and sparrows living in Europe today. Therefore, studies of current fitness in the new, nonnative environment would still be relevant to reconstructing the history of starling and sparrow nesting and social behaviours (such as mate choice and parental care) although perhaps not relevant for inferring the history of the birds’ foraging or antipredator behaviours.

The current fitness approach has been used to reconstruct the history of human social behaviours. This is largely because the other three approaches are precluded. Societies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), the closest phylogenetic relatives to human beings (Homo sapiens sapiens) are so different from human societies that character mapping of behaviours is of limited usefulness, and selection experiments on humans are considered unethical. There exist, however, alternative forms of many human social behaviours, and these alternative forms may well give rise to fitness differences among individuals. Although there are vast differences between certain aspects of today’s environments and those experienced by humanity’s ancestors (as a result of technological advances), other aspects have changed very little (such as the dangers of parasites and infectious diseases, the desirability of attracting a mate, family-based social units, parental behaviours, nepotism, and reciprocity). Therefore, the approach of studying current fitness consequences is suitable for humans.

The match between ancestral and modern environments can sometimes be improved by studying the behaviour of humans living in societies without advanced technologies. These so-called traditional societies may offer a window into the evolutionary past since it is almost certain that ancestral Homo sapiens were hunters and gatherers. Thus, by examining modern hunting and gathering societies, insights can be gained into the conditions confronted by ancestral humans and the behaviour patterns they used to survive and reproduce. Such analyses have revealed many differences in the behaviours of humans living in various traditional societies, as well as those living in highly technological societies, suggesting that humans have evolved capacities to adjust behaviour in different environments to benefit themselves and their kin. At the same time, commonalities have emerged both within and between traditional and highly technological societies. These commonalities occur in behaviours (such as mate choice and patterns of nepotism and reciprocity) and in parental roles. For example, greater parental solicitude toward one’s own offspring than toward unrelated children, along with the avoidance of incest, is universal. A sexual division of labour in foraging also appears to be common. In many societies, women gather vegetable foods and men hunt; however, in a few other societies labour is shared or roles are reversed. Sexual differences in mate-choice criteria are also universally widespread. Women of most societies prefer older, wealthy men of high social status, whereas men in most societies prefer younger, healthy, fecund women. The implication of these commonalities is that these similarities and differences are evolutionarily ancient.

Comparative studies can yield hypotheses about the origins of behaviours that can sometimes be tested indirectly with fossil evidence. For example, if a certain behaviour is associated with a particular morphological structure, such as an elongated tail, the appearance in the fossil record of that structure confirms the time of origin of the associated behaviour. In this manner, the approach used to develop the hypothesis regarding the evolutionary history of that behaviour is also validated.

In conclusion, there are several different ways to tackle the knotty problem of evolutionary history, but none is completely satisfying. Indeed, it seems impossible to achieve complete certainty about a behaviour’s origin and evolutionary trajectory. Without rock-solid fossil evidence, the best attempts to reconstruct behavioral evolution will yield valid references, but they will not produce strong conclusions.