89
What's an animal that would be cool if we could domesticate to the level of companion animal, like dogs. (lemmy.world)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
144 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 86 points 8 months ago (21 children)

Raccoons are cool. They seem to be in the early stages of self-domestication, which is probably how we got cats.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 21 child comments
    •
  • [–] 30 points 8 months ago (14 children)

    There was a video being shared by someone who studies raccoons.

    The tl;dr was they are too smart and tend to hold grudges to become domestic.

    Still, they would be cool pets.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 14 child comments
    •
  • [–] 22 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    This argument is always so silly. Domestication is the process of changing animals so they become more suitable to living with humans. The fact that wild animals aren't domesticated and therefore have traits that are problematic for that is tautological.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    2 points:

    1. Quolls, in Australia, are apparently about the same smarts as raccoons: you have to childproof EVERYTHING in a house they're living-in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoll ( the article I'd read pointed-out that they're endangered BECAUSE people can't have them as pets, whereas cats aren't endangered & are pets )

    2. grudge-holding may not be amendable, through breeding-program.

    _ /\ _

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    Pretty much any behavioral trait is changeable through natural or artificial selection. That includes intelligence. Actually it's pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.

    Some species may take longer, and it's generally a slow process. I doubt these animals will be domesticated during our lifetimes but in the future who knows?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 14 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.

    There was a scientific study run in the US comparing the behavior of wolves and dogs.

    Within 2 days, the scientists had to add a lock to the door of the wolf enclosure because the wolves had learned by watching them how to open the door and escaped. The dogs kept the same simple door latch throughout the entire experiment and never escaped.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    So our beloved man's best friend are just derived from the dumbest of the wolves?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    Kind of...

    The domestication of dogs brought out a lot of neoteny traits -- juvenile traits retained into adulthood. Our beloved man's best friend are derived from wolves that never fully grew up and instead remained puppy-like for their entire lives. This makes them smaller, friendlier, more submissive, and easier to train (among other things) ... but it also does make them a bit stupider.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Hi I really like raccoons but have not seen this video. Do you have a link to this video?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I found the channel. It is all about raccoons.

    This is the video that I saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgUOQRFjh8

    (And this one is also à propos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E181sIZhhfA)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    I looked into this a while back and it seems that keeping one as a pet is a full day job.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
    • load more comments (1 reply)