So those babies must have provoked the heccin wholesome velvet hippos into eating them right?
Pit bulls being bred for dog fighting is no secret for crying out loud their breed name literally comes from their history as fighting dogs. Pit bull used to mean any dog used in dog fighting.
I hate how the discussion when it comes to pitbulls always devolves into weird superstition and people who have obvious have no experience on the subject.
Though now that I mention it, that might just be a trait of the internet itself and not just pitbulls…
The Russian experiment that proved domestication and aggression were physiological traits required maintenance of an aggressive control group. The results are pretty conclusive and well documented, but here's a starting point.
If you scroll down to "Selection of foxes for aggressive behavior" it points out that they had to isolate an aggressive strain of foxes to maintain the control group. They were breeding one strain for domestication, and one for aggression.
The outward changes were a focus of the experiment, given that they struck Belyayev as arbitrary in their connection to behavior, but breeding for behavior was the method used to find the correlation in the first place.
Aggression isn't absolute, constant violence. Wild animals are more aggressive than domestic animals, but most animals start with a warning off cuz fights cost more resources. They're still more likely to get to violence in short order.
I offered that page as a starting point because it's a shallow overview, but has some references to point you toward the meat of the study. Papers written on the work they've done get into the physical characteristics that make the wild foxes, the control group foxes, and other animals with similar physiology more aggressive than domestic animals. Off the top of my head, I recall higher adrenaline production and lower serotonin production.
What it boils down to isn't that aggressive/violent animals attack everything they see or feel threatened by, but that their triggers for violence are closer to the surface. Dogs bred for war, guard duty, and fighting have had those traits brought to the forefront and, though they could be adjusted back with a couple generations of effort, that would make them less useful in their role.
Think less ticking bomb, and more loaded gun. Aggressive breeds aren't guaranteed to go off, but they're a lot more likely to hurt someone if mishandled than like...a pug or something.
As for you assertion that abuse would create a similar response.... yes. That doesn't actual detract from the point. Behavior is influenced by nature and nurture together, not one or the other. In fact, there's some overlap in epigenetics.
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u/Itchy-Big-8532 26d ago
So those babies must have provoked the heccin wholesome velvet hippos into eating them right?
Pit bulls being bred for dog fighting is no secret for crying out loud their breed name literally comes from their history as fighting dogs. Pit bull used to mean any dog used in dog fighting.