I certainly have no direct experience to contradict that!! Wouldn’t the taste be different enough (“gamey”?) to herbivore meat that a first-world, meat-comes-from-Safeway diner would find it a bit unpleasant to eat? Also, I get the impression that predator meat would be a lot leaner than farmed herbivore meat.
The number of generations is a key point in deliberately domesticating something. I don’t know if there are estimates for how long it took for wolves to become fully-domesticated dogs - and there was likely NOT the kind of intense selective breeding they used in the Siberian fox experiment. I imagine it was a much more gradual thing - wolves who hung near humans (without attempting to eat them) tended to live longer, scavenge more food, and thus have more surviving cubs; lather, rinse, repeat.
I can’t find any cites for how long the evolution may have taken (just ones that say roughly WHEN it might have occurred). Going with the 100 generations estimate, and assume a wolf is mature enough to have a litter by about 2 years old. If it takes 100 generations, that’s a minimum of 200 years to go from wolf to Fido. I think there have been fewer than 100 generations of the Siberian fox; foxes can reproduce by about 1 year old, and usually have 1 litter a year, so that would be 70 or so generations at most. And they aren’t quite there (though I wish there were more updates on the project; it has fascinated ever since I first heard of it).
In any case, I’m assuming that we’re talking about intentional, purposeful domestication of a species. To make that practical, it would have to be of an animal that could reproduce fast enough (either via multiple births, multiple litters per year, or whatever) to give a large enough sample size to pick the most desirable ones, and repeat.
Sadly, all that means I won’t have a pet Siberan tiger any time soon (sexual maturity at 4 years, one litter every 2 years).
Smaller animals would be the most likely candidates - and there’d have to be a reason for someone to deliberately domesticate them. I could actually see it happening gradually with pet birds, though I do still maintain that they are “tame” versus “domesticated” at this point.
One possible key issue that may not be duplicated under lab conditions would be the effects of epi genetics on domestication. I have a feeling it has far more influence than simple selective breeding and could speed the process up considerably.
The ringtail seems to get along with humans in remote areas. Living under the floors of cabins and keeping vermin in check.
Even under lab conditions through simple selective breeding I doubt that we will ever be able to domesticate epi pens.
Welcome back to the board whose motto is “sharing our feelings since 1973”.
They make cute Disney stars.
At least Disney treated chipmunks better than lemmings…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Wilderness_(film)#Controversy
until the 7th book…
In the suburbs, back when there were meter readers, the meter readers would call ahead to ask that the geese be penned up. The didn’t keep the 'possums out of the avocado trees, though.
Well, yeah, but when Avada Kedavra comes into play, ALL bets are off.