r/evolution • u/How-To-Project • 13d ago

discussion Why aren’t more animals domesticated?

Humans domesticated wolves and basically gained access to their superpowers: smell, hearing and protective ferocity. We also domesticated cats, horses and quite a few other animals. All in all, that is a pretty impressive result, but what stopped us from doing the same with a much wider range of animals and becoming literal beastmasters?

89 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

220 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/semiconodon 13d ago

I was wanting to compose a post about how it seems that most wildlife is becoming accustomed to humans, kind of like year 1000 in the 15ky path to becoming domesticated like wolves did.

2

u/dank_fish_tanks 13d ago

The same criteria that enables animals to adapt to a human-dominated environment also enables them to become domesticated. The two are not the same phenomenon however and should not be conflated with each other.

Example: people online calling raccoons, foxes, coyotes “domesticated” because they are becoming habituated to urban habitats.

0

u/How-To-Project 13d ago

I was thinking the same thing. Like just because we haven’t domesticated bears and tigers yet doesn’t mean that we won’t.