From Dave Aslin, Bargate, Derbyshire, UK
It is proposed that the exact process of the domestication of wolves by our species isn’t clear, so here’s my take on how it might have gone(9 August, p 34).
Any tribe consists not only of adults, but children too, and they have a propensity to like small, fluffy things. A young wolf cub adopted from the wild would be fascinating to them, and children would have time to play with it, habituating it.
Children are notorious for their pester power. (“If Johnny has a wolf cub, why can’t I have one?”) Multiple cubs may then grow up within a tribe. As cubs mature faster than children, they would then mate and cubs would be born entirely within that tribe. This, I argue, would quickly bring about wolves that knew of no other existence.
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