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[–] 294 points 8 months ago (27 children)

What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they don’t know or like each other. They are not a uniform group with a leader. Horses on the other hand do have authorities and followers among them. And humans can hijack the role of the leader.

CGPGrey: The Real Reason We Don’t Ride Zebras (6:23)

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  • [–] 151 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they don’t know or like each other.

    Zebra's don't like anyone, and they're not afraid to show it. Repeatedly.

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  • [–] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (14 children)

    This makes me wonder... How much of what he says is just conjecture? Do we ACTUALLY know with good certainty that zebras can't be domesticated due to their nature? Or is it just a hypothesis/theory that has reached widespread popularity?

    I have heard that zebras (along with other African animals) can't be domesticated because they have evolved to live among humans, when we were still man-apes. But that maybe that's just conjecture too.

    Note how he have no sources in his video or description. And his comparison to chickens, cows, sheep and cats don't seem to make much sense. The relation between humans and chickens/cows/sheep is markedly different from that of horses. Do wild fowl really have family structures? Cats don't yet they are still docile among humans.

    Edit: even if we really can't do we know the reason why?

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  • [–] 22 points 8 months ago (12 children)

    Yes, people have tried to domesticate zebras before and they're just too ornery.

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (11 children)

    But what if we spent longer time doing it? Like centuries, like with most other domesticated animals.

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  • [–] 37 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I'm not sure why you've been downvoted because you absolutely could domesticate them given sufficient time and consistent selective breeding. You could turn them into crabs if you wanted to. The trouble is that they don't have a very social disposition, so no one is motivated to dedicating their entire bloodline to the project. Most domestication happened kind of on accident as we developed symbiotic or exploitative relationships with various species.

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago

    Might take more than centuries, but yes.

    We have a rescue dog from Korea as well as some neighbours ( not a standard breed, but a Korean Village dog, they basically live alongside humans as a breed but developed their own way). They are much different than "normal" dogs. They are more like cats. Their way on their terms. Like other dogs, don't enjoy humans much. So even though they are domesticated, they still show the old lineage of being independent. My dogs idea of a good time is never chasing a stick or ball, but finding the highest vantage point at a park and watching everyone. A carryover from watching the plains from the hillside, or something.

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  • [–] 24 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    Domesticated animals generally start out already being somewhat agreeable. Like dogs hung around us, and work in a pack mentality, horses same thing, cats same thing. That's why we could domesticate racoons or some rodents if we wanted to.

    Zebras are assholes and hate everyone

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Foxes didn't have many domesticatable features, but it just took the Soviets 40 years or so to domesticate them. It really might just be nobody spent 100 years trying.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (2 children)

    Ehhh... Can you really call wolves friendly?

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  • [–] 44 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds.

    says a lot about 4chan, the penny arcade GIFT theory, etc

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  • [–] 60 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    With how Facebook forces real names, the idea that being anonymous has any influence where or not someone is a fuckwad had been debunked.

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  • [–] 52 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    It's not the anonimity that makes people fuckwads. It's the lack of immediate consequences. A fuckwad won't get a punch in the face for what they say on facebook, hence they feel they can say anything and be a fuckwad.

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