Against Wild Animals as Pets
Wild Animals as Pets
“Between 13,000 and 2,500 B.C., humans domesticated dogs, cats, cattle, goats, horses, and sheep from their wild counterparts. Although the terms taming and domestication are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. Individual wild animals can be tamed to behave in a docile manner around humans. By contrast, domestication is a process that takes place with an entire animal species over many generations.” (libraryindex.com) Humans began domesticating large animals because they provided things like milk, meat, leather, wool and land transportation. In Eurasia and North America people domesticated wolves to become what we know now as a dog for hunting companions, guards and in some places food. There have been some small mammals such as chinchillas and hamsters domesticated as recently as the 19th and 20th century. Domestic animals not only more gentle than there wild ascendants but they also have a different genetic make-up. Over time the desired traits in an animal have been enhanced, such as size, color and temperament.
In the article “Evolution, Consequences, and Future of Plant and Animal Domestication” by Jared Diamond he concludes that for an animal to be successfully be domesticated it needs to have six of these characteristics; A diet that can be supplied easily and relatively cheaply by humans, a relatively fast growth rate with a short gestation period, a good temperament, easily bred in captivity, a social structure based on a hierarchy, calm behavior making them less likely to panic in unfamiliar situations. Without even just one of these characteristics the animal will be unable to be fully domesticated. For example Zebra’s almost fit into all of these characteristics but ancient herdsmen had tried for centuries to domesticate them. The are almost just like horses but they have very bad tempered and skittish. Also, although Elephants have been tamed they have not been domesticated they take too long to grow and
“Between 13,000 and 2,500 B.C., humans domesticated dogs, cats, cattle, goats, horses, and sheep from their wild counterparts. Although the terms taming and domestication are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. Individual wild animals can be tamed to behave in a docile manner around humans. By contrast, domestication is a process that takes place with an entire animal species over many generations.” (libraryindex.com) Humans began domesticating large animals because they provided things like milk, meat, leather, wool and land transportation. In Eurasia and North America people domesticated wolves to become what we know now as a dog for hunting companions, guards and in some places food. There have been some small mammals such as chinchillas and hamsters domesticated as recently as the 19th and 20th century. Domestic animals not only more gentle than there wild ascendants but they also have a different genetic make-up. Over time the desired traits in an animal have been enhanced, such as size, color and temperament.
In the article “Evolution, Consequences, and Future of Plant and Animal Domestication” by Jared Diamond he concludes that for an animal to be successfully be domesticated it needs to have six of these characteristics; A diet that can be supplied easily and relatively cheaply by humans, a relatively fast growth rate with a short gestation period, a good temperament, easily bred in captivity, a social structure based on a hierarchy, calm behavior making them less likely to panic in unfamiliar situations. Without even just one of these characteristics the animal will be unable to be fully domesticated. For example Zebra’s almost fit into all of these characteristics but ancient herdsmen had tried for centuries to domesticate them. The are almost just like horses but they have very bad tempered and skittish. Also, although Elephants have been tamed they have not been domesticated they take too long to grow and