# Animals that might be candidates for full domestication and why **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508 "2024-01-22T18:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/41 "2024-01-22T22:40:58Z")
[Bush Babies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galago), because I want a small, playful pet who’s jumping muscles perform six to nine times better than those of a frog, and will eat all the pesky bugs in my house. And they are [cute as a button.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1B8_3Z4xiqg) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/42 "2024-01-22T22:45:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Funny, I was thinking of domesticating long-tailed weasels (which prey on squirrels), to solve the problem of a persistent squirrel(s) who thinks that the paint on the floor of my porch is a tasty treat to be chewed off. I would have thought the effects of eating paint would solve that problem. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/43 "2024-01-22T22:49:45Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I often (far too often, if I’m being candid) opine that any monkey could do my job. We used to use the word “chimpable” at work to describe a job task that a trained monkey could do. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/44 "2024-01-22T23:34:04Z")
I cannot but agree. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/45 "2024-01-22T23:38:29Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Nobody has suggested raising fully domesticated humans yet? It’s been done. By Felis domesticus. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/46 "2024-01-22T23:48:21Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > This was exactly what I had in mind when I posted. With all the changes in civilization we may have potential for more symbiotic relationships than we had previously that could lead to domestication. Skunks, possums, several species of birds, hedge hogs, European badgers, are a few of the animals that come to mind. I know every region would have animals unique to that region that might be worth looking at. But you might be asking the wrong question. I think the more important question is not which animals could we try next, but why weren’t they tried before? It’s how I look at most questions. We’ve had, oh, a million or so years to hang out with all the creatures. And yet we only started domesticating animals about 30,000 years ago with the dog – who by current theory actually domesticated themselves – and then the next one was _20,000 years later_, the goat, followed by the other few we have managed to corral. Why wasn’t domestication of species more widespread? Was it that the cost-benefit ratio just didn’t pencil out? I have kept a fair variety of domestic livestock and pets, and one thing I can say is that they are all a lot of work. If your economy doesn’t have a lot of excess fat to it, keeping animals as domesticates is not necessarily the best option. Hunting animals who have already raised themselves might be a lot more sensible. I guess my question to you is, what would be the point? What would be gained? Why would we do that? “Because we can” is the most stupid and dangerous reason to do anything, that I can imagine, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/47 "2024-01-22T23:53:57Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > But you might be asking the wrong question. I think the more important question is not which animals could we try next, but why weren’t they tried before? Because we have a unique set of circumstances today that were not present in our early development. One example might be birds. I suspect that birds could be used in things like the pharmaceutical field for their ability to identify chemicals present in plants. I suspect that their vision converts smells into various shades of ultra violets that we can’t see. That could be very useful if research confirmed that. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/48 "2024-01-23T00:01:19Z")
Is this like dolphins searching for active underwater mines? “I’ll put you out right here, I swear!” (Obligatory Star Trek reference) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/49 "2024-01-23T00:03:05Z")
The paint-eating squirrel has survived and apparently thrived for about a year. I tried mixing capsaicin concentrate in with paint used for patching the stripped-off areas, but he doesn’t seem to mind that either. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/50 "2024-01-23T00:05:55Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Then there’s the box training and training not to eat your toddler or tearing up the furniture. These things can be difficult in a regular house cat. Domestic cats are (supposedly…) domesticated and not that big, but not what I would recommend having around if you have young kids at home. > [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Hmm, I can see we’re not in the presence of a cat lover here. 😉 > > It was a fantasy of course. A nice warm big furry friend sleeping on the bed with us, purring happily. Been done, e.g. as a rescue situation: > **[Пума Месси пытается разбудить Сашу](https://iv.ggtyler.dev/watch?v=HjB1cb6f8Wg)** > > Меси очень настойчив в своих желаниях)) Месси пытается разбудить Сашу, а Саша пытается не поддаться на его уговоры. In general, sure, people have used tame cheetahs, eagles, and what not to hunt, but I recommend leaving wild animals alone; they have enough problems. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/51 "2024-01-23T00:13:59Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > why weren’t they tried before? One infamous example is the zebra. Humans domesticated horses. Humans like visually flashy things. Why wasn’t the zebra domesticated? Answer: horses are descended from a rather skittish prey animal that prefers to run for its life when threatened - that’s why it was easy to breed racing horses. Zebras are descended from an entirely different equine, that evolved in an environment where aggression (biting, kicking) was preferable to defensive running. Hello, lions!! People have tried to domesticate zebras, repeatedly. It never worked out, due to the nature of their species. * * * I’ve been involved for several years now in breeding a rodent called the African soft-furred rat (no, it’s not closely related to “fancy” rats mentioned above; they cannot interbreed & and are native to different continents) and while there are myriad reasons to breed them, yes even commercially (which I’ve detailed in other threads) they are not currently considered to be a domesticated species. There are numerous critters most of y’all never heard of (I was aware of about 1% of the exotic species available when I started doing this) that people are just now starting to domesticate. It’s not a fast process. It takes dozens if not hundreds of generations … of the critter, if not also of the humans involved. But anything that CAN be easily domesticated, that humans have good reason to domesticate? It’s pretty much been done. Anything not domesticated, there’s a reason (cheetahs and pandas, for ex. are famously difficult to breed). ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/52 "2024-01-23T00:27:42Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > Nobody has suggested raising fully domesticated humans yet? > > It’s been done. By Felis domesticus. As the saying goes: dogs have owners. Cats have staff… ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/53 "2024-01-23T01:29:40Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Domestic cats are (supposedly…) domesticated and not that big, but not what I would recommend having around if you have young kids at home. Cats [aren’t really](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ask-smithsonian-are-cats-domesticated-180955111/) domesticated. They just _act_ domesticated for their own nefarious master plan. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/54 "2024-01-23T01:52:06Z")
My granddaughter has a special connection to cats. It’s uncanny. Since she was very small she’s good with them. My Siamese actually like her and they hate everyone. We got her her own Siamese. He’s much more sweeter than mine. So I don’t think all kids and cats shouldn’t be together. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/55 "2024-01-23T02:15:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I tried mixing capsaicin concentrate in with paint used for patching the stripped-off areas, but he doesn’t seem to mind that either. I’ve been a lot less convinced about capsiacin’s ability to keep various critters out of things ever since the mice ate the baskets of hot peppers I had stored in the attic. > [@DPRK](#): > > Domestic cats are (supposedly…) domesticated and not that big, but not what I would recommend having around if you have young kids at home. As a child raised by cats, and an adult who has known other children raised by cats, I beg to differ. (Yes, adult humans were also involved in the raising.) Most of the feline species, however, as well as most non-feline species, have chosen not to live with us. I recommend respecting that choice. It would be good if we’d allow them some area in which to do otherwise. > [@Tibby](#): > > Cats [aren’t really](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ask-smithsonian-are-cats-domesticated-180955111/) domesticated. They just _act_ domesticated for their own nefarious master plan. The cats are domesticating us. The dogs did too; but we’ve forgotten who we were before we took up with them. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/56 "2024-01-23T02:21:11Z")
In my experience almost all cats are OK with kids, either tolerant of them, or pals with them. But, every once in a while you get a klunker-kat with a bad cattitude. Case in point is my jet black demon, Meatball—the meanest of my 5 cats. When he’s pissed off, which is virtually always, he’ll wack whoever is closest to him, often with claws unsheathed. Even without claws, it hurts—there’s power in those arms. Just the other day Meatball wacked me good, just because I didn’t share my bacon with him. Then, while I was scolding him, Macaroni (the youngest) swooped in, snatched my bacon and ran off to her lair with it in her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/57 "2024-01-23T02:22:11Z")
It is not an absolute prohibition; there are even nursery rhymes about playing nice with Little Pussy and so forth. On the other hand, well, I ran into this guy who strikes me as a total geek, but the man looks at least 40 years old so you would think must posess some rudimentary survival skills. Anyway, he somehow managed to get clawed in the eye by his cat. Was worried, so he went to the ophthalmologist who examined him and confirmed, “Yep, that’s a scratch.” _Some_ cats are unpredictable enough and will draw blood even without being obviously provoked, especially if someone is not familiar enough with cats to read the signs that she is pissed off. I also know a cat that is friendly and purry but will indicate that you have pet her or held her too long by going right for your face. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/58 "2024-01-23T02:32:35Z")
I feel ya. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/59 "2024-01-23T03:25:56Z")
Did you mean sassy? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508/60 "2024-01-23T04:42:55Z")
They are really hard to toilet train. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-that-might-be-candidates-for-full-domestication-and-why/996508.md?page=4)