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In a small town, there was a peculiar annual race where participants dressed up as different stages of evolution. This year, the standout was Gary, who decided to embody a caveman. He arrived on a makeshift skateboard with several fake bones tucked under his arms and a ridiculously oversized club. As he rolled to the start line, he nearly toppled over, but he managed to strike a pose like he was about to discover fire.
Gary’s “evolution” took a sharp turn when he miscalculated his speed on the skateboard, crashed into a bush, and emerged with a face full of leaves and a squirrel that promptly claimed his club as a nest. Spectators couldn’t decide if they were witnessing the clumsy dawn of humanity or a one-man comedy show about evolution gone wrong. His unfortunate tumble didn’t just earn him a concussion; it solidified his place in town folklore as the guy who truly “evolved” backward!
K
iirc cats are the only animal that domesticated themselves
F
They are only semi domesticated.
K
What criteria needs to be met for a species to be considered “domesticated”. And how can one be semi domesticated
J
Wild cats would show up at farms due to the amount of mice that would appear in grain stockpiles. They kind of just showed up and humans realized they were good for protecting crop. At the time it was more of a symbiotic relationship. However, I do think the previous comment is more of a joke regarding cats general attitudes and how copacetic they are as animals.
M
Cats are semi-domesticated because if left on their own they can immediately become wild animals again. Most truly domesticated animals can’t survive without humans, cats would be fine if we all disappeared tomorrow.
J
Well, they would really struggle to open the doors they need to to get out, but overall your point stands.
A
Especially if it closes behind them. How will they get back in 5 seconds after they leave?
Y
Jokes aside, our cats have shredded carpet and door-wood to try to get out when locked in a room before (or wanting in). Given enough time and a small bit of food/water on hand, I’ve no doubt our cats could escape if they were determined enough.
B
They’d probably just domesticate the dogs and use them to open doors
S
So what about dogs? Wouldn’t they merge into packs and go hunting for food? At least that’s what all the apocalyptic TV shows and movies suggest.
N
Don’t horses survive pretty well in the wild?
T
Mustangs are literally that
T
Pretty sure some islands have been infested with cattle somewhere. Dogs did that and formed a new subspecies called the dingo. Horses have done it aswell in some lands (specifically the US in the past) and they’re called mustangs. Pigeons are often always witnessed by us as wild pigeons, while they were once a domesticated species. I don’t think that definition is good enough.
S
Domestication is a bit difficult to define and there really isnt a singular definition that everyone agrees with. Broadly (and imperfectly), it’s when one species takes over another species, over multiple generations, to abstract something from it. Dogs were domesticated, originally, not just because they were friendly. Humans, over thousands of years, bred dogs to provide various services. Thats why, under certain definitions, cats may not be considered to be fully domesticated. The human-cat relationship is relatively new (especially compared to dogs). Their controlled breeding (by humans) has been more focused on mostly fur color and patterns. They still retain a lot of their original traits and skills. Cats for the most part can still survive in the wild.
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R
and this isn’t just a breeding thing, you can take a fucking owl or lion or golden eagle, and hand rear it, if its only been around humans by the time they are an adult, its near impossible to reintroduce them into the wild. cats can just come and go as they please.
B
By that definition, dogs and pigs are only semi-domesticated as well. Can you cite some sources?
F
Cats are considered semi domesticated because there is very little difference genetically from housecats and wild cats they descended from. Pigs and dogs are so different from their wild ancestors genetically it’s wild.
R
They are.
O
I consider any animal that gets a human to carry its poop in a bag to be domesticated.
K
Cheetahs, (another small cat), also are trying to domesticate themselves. Poor babies have it rough out there and a bundles of anxiety. Forced domestication isn’t encouraged (anymore), but it doesn’t mean other animals haven’t figured out humans are a safe bet to trust and help their survival. It’s just getting over the instinct to try an eat a human because of the opportunity, tha holds most predatory animals back. For prey animals it’s the instinct to run away or fight because of the chance they will get eaten.
M
Birds regularly fight over territory where people feed them. And survivor rates of winter species are boosted dramatically by bird feeders.
P
So, nominative determinism?
R
Cheetahs were domesticated in antiquity. That’s partly why they’re nervous wrecks in the wild.
O
Foxes are doing it in the UK due to living in cities more often. They basically are cats running on dog hardware.
A
You say that, but we’re starting to see certain wild mammalian creatures show signs of “domesticated syndrome”. Foxes, coyotes, and raccoons in urban areas are evolving to look more “friendly”. It’s the first step towards the same path cats took. Granted, it will be many, many lifetimes before they could even really be truly approachable, but it’s still happening. As someone I knew said, “They saw how good pets have it, and they want in on it.”
M
It’s less cute to consider it’s not happening because they chose it, it’s happening because people chase off or kill the ones they didn’t think were cute.
A
That isn’t entirely honest. There are a multitude of factors at play to why. Take for instance that people are far more willing to feed “friendly” things, wether they should or not. It should also be noted that there are plenty of humanity that kill “domestic” animals anyway. There are always going to be outliers with awful intent and cuteness is really as much a deterent.
S
I love that that’s the case in dwarf fortress)
R
Random big cat shows up and aint hostile. Just hangs around. I need to play it some time again.
A
I really need to learn it, it seems so cool once you’re past the learning curve
N
Twice.
A
The [raccoons](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/raccoons-are-showing-early-signs-of-domestication/) aren’t far off.
M
Yes, but there is evidence that foxes are starting to self domesticate as well.
A
That would be dogs
D
What I love about the domestication of these dudes, is that they have played a pretty big part of humankind and have been with us for millennia. Dogs have hunted with humanity. Cats have protected our farms from rodents. Yet for as long as they have been with us they still see eachother as natural enemies.
Z
Shout out to Horses. They allowed humans to move far greater distances then we ever could have on our feet alone. Human society that never domesticated horses would be radically different
C
There is a theory that cats are one of the main factor that allowed for civilisation to rise. Main issue with large cities is the storage of food. Rodents will destroy/contaminate large food storage. With the domestication of cats, food storage became much easier. Some will argue that New World civilisations (Aztec, Maya, etc) didn’t have cats but still had large cities. They also didn’t have rats or domestic mice.
E
We see a similar effect in Southeast Asia with snakes, specially cobras. They kept the mice population in check and they were tolerated in the villages, and since the snakes knew the humans wouldn’t intentionally hurt them they weren’t aggressive. I mean you still had to be careful not to step on one but still. And there was the domesticate leopard cats in China, an entirely different species of cat that was domesticated and died out. Also many South American tribes kept a lot of wild animals as pets, and still do. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some that kept small wild cats. They kept cupelos (small fox like dogs), armadillos, skunks, coatis, and others as pets. Along with guinea pigs for food.
N
I am convinced that its all a miscommunication. For cats, staring is a sign of aggression. For dogs, staring is a sign of playfulness. If the cat knew the dog wanted to play and not fight, it would change everything.
A
It’s important to note that we bred the staring as affection trait into dogs ourselves. Wolves tend to not stare into people eyes either. Most animals will see it as some form of agression, social hierarchy challenge, or fear (prey). It’s just us that were naturally the weirdos, so dogs evolved to match our social traits. Cat’s never developed this mainly because they’re only partly domesticated. It’s all on their terms. They only do it in short spurts, with heavy blinking involved. Though, it has been said that the only cat breed that we think might actually be *fully* domesticated, the Ragdoll, is actually more prone to looking at us in the eyes. On a side note, the muscles around a dogs eyes are 80% more developed than wolves. They quite literally evolved to give us the “puppy dog eyes”, because they know it gets us.
A
Also, aggressive tail wagging in dogs is happiness, while in cats it’s aggression.
R
Exposing your belly is submissiveness for dogs, and a sign of trust for cats (typically approaching betrays that trust). Turning your back is an invitation to play for cats but nothing for dogs, so dogs get surprised when a cat “attacks” as they walk by.
S
They only see each other as enemies if never exposed to each other— my dog and cat love each other, because our older dog was raised with cats when they were a foster and the younger cat has only ever known having a dog sister. They be cuddling and napping together all the time, with the occasional unprovoked cat attack because he’s a little mischievous rascal
A
That’s adorable. I imagine the little mischievous rascal just slaps the dog out of nowhere on occasion.
S
Sometimes he’ll like crawl on top of one her paws while she’s napping and then inexplicably bites it and runs away when she gets startled lmao She just whines and grumbled like “wtf dude, I was so comfortable” after the initial jump
G
Golden retrievers looooove cats. It’s often mutual
T
Cats and dogs only see themselves as enemies if they don’t live alongside each other. Dogs have also been with us for far, far longer than cats, and we have been mutually successful due to it.
M
Part of that is because their behaviors are conflicting. Dogs see a sudden raised rearer and lowered front half as a sign of wanting to play. For cats it’s a threat display, they will attack if provoked, and the dogs see it as an invitation to play so they approach. This is only one of the ways cats and dogs behavior results in friction, some cats and dogs learn to get along fine but it requires a certain temperament and personality on both sides.
L
Dogs work for hunter-gatherers. Cats work for farmers.
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