Reading this article, I puzzled over the statement that “domestication diverges from a standard model of evolution. . . .” Darwin’s primary evidence for The Origin of Species included observations of domesticated pigeons and other species, and even Mendel worked with garden peas. Yet hybridization and artificial selection have been considered evil or dirty for reasons that I have yet to fathom. Is selection by Homo sapiens for a red, sugary crabapple different from that by a bird?
Arthur O. Tucker Camden, Del.
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