# Are we and pets in a symbiotic relationship? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844 "2007-01-05T17:42:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/1 "2007-01-05T17:42:11Z")
Are pets our symbiotes? It’s a mutually beneficial relationship between at least two different species. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/2 "2007-01-05T17:50:29Z")
It sure looks like that for many pets and domesticated animals. How many dogs are there in the world compared to wolves? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/3 "2007-01-05T18:30:44Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Are pets our symbiotes? It’s a mutually beneficial relationship between at least two different species. [/QUOTE] In the broadest sense, [symbiosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis) can refer to close relationships that are not mutually beneficial, such as parasitism. Nowadays, however, the term is often used as being synonymous with mutualism, in which both species benefit. The relationship between humans and their pets and other domestic animals is certainly symbiotic in the broad sense; it is usually mutualistic as well. (In biological terms this is true even for domestic animals used for food. Although an individual calf used for veal doesn’t benefit, cattle as a species definitely do.) ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/4 "2007-01-05T19:09:37Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] In the broadest sense, [symbiosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis) can refer to close relationships that are not mutually beneficial, such as parasitism. Nowadays, however, the term is often used as being synonymous with mutualism, in which both species benefit. [/QUOTE] The OED disagrees, and has: > [@](#): > > 1877 BENNETT tr. Thomé’s Bot. (ed. 6) 267 In the Lichens we have the most remarkable instance in the vegetable kingdom of..symbiosis or commensalism. 1882 H. N. MOSELEY in Times 30 Aug. 7/4 Certain animals have imbedded in their tissues numbers of unicellular algæ, which are not to be regarded as parasites, but which thrive in the waste products of the animal, while the animal feeds upon the compounds elaborated by the algæ. This combined condition of existence has been named by Dr. Brandt symbiosis. 1909 tr. Warming’s Oecol. Plants xxv. 84 Parasitism is a form of symbiosis. 1941 H. KIRBY in Calkins & Summers Protozoa in Biol. Res. xix. 891 De Bary..used symbiosis as a collective term, the subdivisions of which include parasitism and mutualism; he recognized two main categories, antagonistic and mutualistic symbiosis. It looks from that as if the non-parasitic definition preceded the inclusion of the parasitic. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/5 "2007-01-05T19:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=Barrington] The OED disagrees [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > It looks from that as if the non-parasitic definition preceded the inclusion of the parasitic. The OED does not disagree with what I wrote. The first usage cited includes “commensalism,” in which one party benefits while the other is not affected, reflecting the original broader sense of the term. In any case, a few citations from the OED cannot really be used to trace the history of the scientific use of the term. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/6 "2007-01-05T19:28:03Z")
I’ve often heard that people who have pets, especially dogs, live longer. I can see where to logic comes from ( daily excercise for both owner and dog), but wonder how this kind of data could actually be collected and processed. As a dog owner I like the idea, but I’m not certain I’m any healthier now, than before getting the doggie. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/7 "2007-01-05T19:35:39Z")
[This page](http://www.answers.com/topic/symbiosis) contains varous definitions of symbiosis; the basic concept is that at least one (not necessarily both) associates benefit. There is also an extended discussion of the symbiotic relationships of humans and their domesticates. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/8 "2007-01-05T21:52:04Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] I’ve often heard that people who have pets, especially dogs, live longer. I can see where to logic comes from ( daily excercise for both owner and dog), but wonder how this kind of data could actually be collected and processed. As a dog owner I like the idea, but I’m not certain I’m any healthier now, than before getting the doggie. [/QUOTE] Not just exercise; stress relief. Animal companionship comforts most people. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-and-pets-in-a-symbiotic-relationship/386844/9 "2007-01-06T02:00:10Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] I’ve often heard that people who have pets, especially dogs, live longer. [/QUOTE] The more likely cause is that people who have enough money to support a pet also have enough money to have better living conditions, food, health care, etc. And there have been many studies to show that those are clearly related to life expectancy. I haven’t heard of studies that clearly show a causal relationship between pet ownership to life expectancy. (‘Surveys’ sponsored by pet food sellers don’t count.)