Wild Animal

Posted in Watches on 09/18/2009 09:49 pm by admin

Why do some people say that you cannot domesticate a wild animal?

1.Why do some people say that?

2.Do you guys agree that we would not be able to have any pet at all,if we never domesticate any wild animal in the first place?

1. It depends on what they mean by "domesticate." If you simply mean getting an animal to live with people, you can domesticate just about anything. But some people define it as a genetic change: domesticated dogs are genetically different from wild wolves, even though they're the same species (Canis lupus). According to this definition, even if you get a wild animal to live with you it's still not "domesticated"... It's just a wild animal that happens to live with you. It also means that you as an individual cannot domesticate a wild animal because the process takes hundreds or thousands of years.

2. See above. Even if no single generation manages to genetically domesticate an animal, over many many years it can still take place.

(And just to get on a soapbox, I personally agree with the genetic definition. Too many people opt for really exotic pets like tigers or monkeys, thinking that if they raise them correctly they can "domesticate" them. But a tiger living with people is still a wild tiger, genetically speaking. Too many human injuries, not to mention animal misery, happen as a result.)