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Back in 1868 Charles Darwin published "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication". Among selectively introduced traits he also noticed a peculiar rare in wild that seemed common across different domesticated species for no apparent reason – piebaldism, white spots.
The trait appeared to be correlated also to floppy ears, neoteny (babyface with smaller jaw, etc.), as well as overall more docile behaviour. Interestingly, when Belyayev ran an experiment on domestication of foxes, they also showed the same traits, without deliberate selection…
This is not even limited to mammals – it's present in domestic chicken and was also introduced to other domesticated birds!
Most commonly such discolouration occurs on the forehead and on the legs, also in animals that don't have spots elsewhere. They're generally irregular in shape but they occur in a somewhat regular pattern of spreading.
The most accepted theory states piebaldism inadvertently selected for when animals are bred for increased docility, since the two seem to co-occur. Indeed, modern genetic studies imply the two are caused by same defect in foetal neural crest development… https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140714100122.htm
There is ample evidence that development of civilisation can be understood as self-domestication of humans. The same shift that was imposed onto domestic animals by humans was also imposed onto themselves – to a lesser degree (often with a warrior elite that retained wild type).
This is also supported by genetic studies –both phenotypical and genetic changes observed in civilised men seem to correlate to those observed in domesticated animals. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185306
Which leads us to a question: has piebaldism also been observed in humans?
Yes, in a strikingly similar patterns to domesticated mammals!
Yes, in a strikingly similar patterns to domesticated mammals!
Often it manifests as simply a single streak of white hair – Mallen streak.
Especially when it's very apparent, it is also a hereditary trait – staying in the same family for generations! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5501797/Boy-one-40-family-born-white-hair-streak.html
Note that in those extreme cases it even manifests on the legs – same pattern of spread as in domestic animals! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3912394/Baby-girl-inherits-mum-s-distinctive-white-streak-caused-poliosis.html
I lack any comprehensive data on that, but I can't help but speculate – considering both of those examples I could find in tabloids are American black slave-descendant families; is it possible that they're a side-product of selection of slaves for docility?
And to what extent have various forms of slavery and oppression of lower classes affected their genepool? How many of them simply cannot be "uplifted" as individuals from their sad state of being simply due to being too dull due to generations of dysgenics?
Does civilisation breed masses of incompetent and dull individuals, and is this why and how history is so full of examples of small numbers of nomadic barbarians (presumably wild-type humans) overpowering sedentary societies and imposing themselves as a ruling class?
Another example of a family with extensive piebaldism: https://juniorstyle.net/piebaldism-a-family-trait-and-a-reason-to-learn-to-love-oneself/
