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correspondence ISSN 1948-6596 On inter-species co-evolution and the impact of human self-perception on conceptions of nature Gnothi seauton [Know thyself] – Ancient Greek proverb The story begins at dawn on the cliffs of the Porto Conte National Park in Sardinia (Italy), trying to catch a first glimpse of their winged resident, the rock dove (Columba livia). It will take many morn- ings, and much patience, until dusk to satisfacto- rily observe the birds. However, it soon became evident that the initial idea to get closer to the rock doves for behavioral observations was illu- sionary. The ensuing frustration gradually turned into astonishment: how could such a cryptic ani- mal as the rock dove evolve into one the most common species among humans, the urban pi- geon? One would promptly answer that toler- ance for humans was selected during the rock dove’s domestication, making modern feral pi- geons (domestics’ descendants) so well adapted to human proximity. However, given the species’ rocky and inaccessible habitat, it stands to reason that humans were only able to come close to the birds, and subsequently to domesticate them, when rock doves first moved towards humans and fed on their agricultural fields (Johnston and Janiga 1995). Rock doves’ synanthropic foraging behavior seems hence to be a condition preceding their domestication. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) attracted by human urine and coming close to human settlements, thus initiating the process of their domestication (Digard 1988), may constitute a similar example. The most famous, however, are wolves (Canis lupus), coming out from their con- cealment in order to scavenge on human refuse and thus providing the starting point for their se- lective breeding and the emergence of the dog species. Domestication, in the sense of human benefits from non-human animals (Delort 1984, Clutton-Brock 1994, Baratay 2009), constitutes only one side of a larger reciprocity bond between humans and their surrounding animals, the latter taking advantage of humans before and after (through being fed) their domestication. This sym- biosis between humans and animals represents a major factor in evolution 1 since the reciprocity relates not only to the mutual benefit provided by humans and by animals to each other. Indeed, this reciprocal relation is further anchored in the mu- tual impact humans and animals had on the evolu- tion of one another. On one side there is the emergence of new animal species in the course of natural history. On the other is the shaping of the human species itself and the development of most of what is considered today as human civilization, since animal domestication and food production were accompanied by changes in human settle- ment patterns, demography, social organization and technology (Crabtree 1993). This is not a novel idea. According to Wilson (1984), humans evolved the way they are through their affiliation with other species, which constitute the matrix in which the human mind originated and is perma- nently rooted. Similarly, Shepard (1978, 1993) ar- gued that interactions with animals and sustained contact with nature were fundamental to the de- velopment of human cognition. Having spent most of our natural and social history interacting with other species through hunting and gathering ac- tivities, humans are evolutionarily dependent on these for proper emotional and psychological growth and development. One could hypothesize that this symbiotic co-evolution may have influenced current classifi- cations of animals according to their (more or less explicit) uses for humans (at least in Western soci- ety) and commercial potential: animals as prod- ucts, company, and recently also the observation of “wild” animals as a means to escape the rou- tine of modern life. In return, the relatively nega- tive image of feral animals in public opinion, which are commonly thought to benefit from hu- mans without giving anything in return, could be interpreted as the reaction to the breaking of the 1 As early as 1902, in his book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, P. Kropotkin already had proposed cooperation among animals of the same or different species as a survival mechanism instead of the conception of exclusive competition. frontiers of biogeography 6.3, 2014 — © 2014 the authors; journal compilation © 2014 The International Biogeography Society