Importance of Observation in Science
Have you ever seen a comet flashing across the sky at night? Or been burned by a hot beverage. Or you may have perhaps chocked because of fumes at one point or another. Such actions are part of our day to day experiences where we are aware of the world around us and interact with it through sight, smell, hearing, tasting, or touching. This is what is known as observation, and it forms part of the scientific process of collecting data. Through experiments generated either naturally and in the laboratory, scientists have been able to collect a huge deal of evidence that they use to develop theories and laws as well as making scientific discoveries. Taking the case of the silver fox experiments, observation was a key component of determining whether the adaptation for tameness that is highly likely to have occurred in domestic dogs is a characteristic that could be repeated in silver foxes. The brainchild of the experiment was Dmitri Belyaev. He wanted to establish whether tameness was as a result of exposure to humans or it was purely from genetic selection. In this experiment, observation was a key to recognize the traits for tameness such as behavioral changes, morphological changes, and physiological changes. It, therefore, suffices to say that good science always includes observation.
The conscious selection of silver foxes through observable behavioral, morphological, and physiological traits accelerated phenotypic variations between foxes in the control group and those in the experimental group. The resulting animals were docile, friendly, and able to communicate with people, including the capacity to follow the human gaze. According to Dugatkin (2018), through selection for tameness, the number of tame silver foxes grew from a small proportion of the entire sample of silver foxes in the experiment to they currently constituting the vast majority. As such, observations recorded in the experiment allowed scientists to deduce that a similar process of mostly unconscious selection of dogs, horses, and other species, for tameness and friendliness to humans occurred over the centuries to produce the domesticated animals.
Observations are easy to use as opposed to genetic and molecular genetic mechanisms that involve complex tools and techniques. The findings of the silver fox experiment were so compelling that the experimenters observed how an individual fox reacted when a human approached them as the only criterion for determining whether it would be allowed to breed. Since the foxes were only allowed a short time to interact with their experimenters and caretakers, Belyaev was able to prove that tameness could be genetically passed down to offspring and was, therefore, not an acquired characteristic (Dugatkin, 2018). The domesticated foxes wagged their tails when they a human approached, showing that they were happy or excited. They also had longer reproductive periods as compared to the control group, which is also a characteristic of domesticated animals.
While observations are easy to use, more research is needed to establish the development and genetic mechanisms underlying the changes in the behavioral and morphological traits of domesticated silver foxes. Moreover, the foxes Belyaev used were originally from fur farms in Canada, which means they were not totally wild, to begin with. As such, there is a need to have a well-defined term for domestication since different scientists choose different traits to define the term domestication.
Observation is a key component of good science as it has been a catalyst for scientific investigations and is easy to use. As such, observation is an active process of acquiring information that can be used in scientific models such as the silver fox experiment. However, there is a need to complement observation with underlying development and genetic mechanisms so as to better understand the reason behind tameness and domestication. Needless to say, good science is a product of accurate observation. The silver fox project is still ongoing and has contributed profoundly to understanding the science that underlies the transition of animals from wild to tame.