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Lord William Rothschild with his carriage pulled to Zebras, 1890.
About 4,000 years ago, the human being tamed the horse, although zebra was the most predominant animal in Africa, where life on earth was born. After all, why didn’t the human being domesticate more animals? For six different reasons.
Horses and zebras are even very similar animals. For some reason, humans domesticated the horses, who use it to its own benefit to this day; The zebra, perhaps more fortunate, had a different destination, note the.
In reality, There are six factors They explain why certain species were domesticated, while others, such as rhino or tiger, were simply ignored by our ancestors, explains the physiologist and geographer Jared Diamond in yours “Guns, Germs and Steel” .
First, domesticable animals cannot be too capricious with food: They must be able to survive even with scarce nutrient sourcesuch as herbs and other foods inhabiting animals.
This is why most carnivores were not seen with good eyes: humans preferred herbivorous animals, such as cows and sheepwho can graze and feed on the surplus of cereals.
Secondly, animals should rapidly compared to human life. We cannot waste too much time to feed and take care of an animal Before it grows enough to be useful as a workforce or deducted.
The inability to meet this requirement prevented the elephants to be domesticated; Still, they were used in combat As mounts, but were never systematically created in captivity.
The third criterion of choice is the Captivity reproduction capacity. Adopting animals territorial behaviors during matinglike antelopes, they cannot be kept in closed rooms.
The ancient Egyptians tried to make Chitas animals of estimationO, but these felines do not reproduce without elaborate mating rituals run long distances together.
Fourth, domesticable animals must be docile by nature. For example, cow and sheep are usually calmbut the African buffalo is a very unpredictable and extremely dangerous For humans.
Similarly, zebra, although closely related to the horse, It is usually much more aggressivewhich may explain why it was only tamed in very rare cases.
The fifth criterion that determines whether a species is domesticable is its propensity for panic when scared.
That isXClims most species of deer and gazellewhich have nervous temperament – not to mention an impressive capacity to jump, that allows them to escape over high fences.
The sheep, although also nervous, have a flock instinct that leads them to stay together when they feel threatened, which allows them to be pastored.
Finally, with Cat exceptionall major domesticated animals follow a social hierarchy with a strong leader at the top – Which allows us to easily teach them to recognize the human being as a leader of the group.
So what explains that humans have managed to domesticate cats? Maybe an anecdote known give us a track:
“What is the difference between dogs and cats? Dogs look at a human, and think: This being gives me to eat, treats me, makes me parties… must be a god. Cats look at the same human and think: This being gives me to eat, treat me, make me parties… I must be a god“.
Conclusion: In fact, it was the cats that domesticated humans.
