# Domesticated animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135 "2007-01-30T17:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/1 "2007-01-30T17:36:40Z")
I remember reading somewhere that mankind has not domesticated any animals in 3000 years. If they are referring to pets, like dogs, cats and birds then, yes I can see that. I mean, how many people would want to have a pet Tasmanian Devil living in their house? But if they were referring to animals being used as workers (like plow horses and donkeys) or as a maintained food source haven’t there been more recent domestications? I don’t ostrich farms were common thousands of years ago. So, what would be the most recently domesticated animal for both categories; food and pet? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/2 "2007-01-30T17:46:56Z")
Labradoodles perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/3 "2007-01-30T17:53:38Z")
I’m not sure what the answer to your question is, but I don’t think that “farm-raised” necessarily equals “domesticated.” ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/4 "2007-01-30T18:10:54Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] I’m not sure what the answer to your question is, but I don’t think that “farm-raised” necessarily equals “domesticated.” [/QUOTE] According to [Webster’s](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=domesticated) > [@](#): > > 2 : to adapt (an animal or plant) to life in intimate association with and **to the advantage of humans** (bolding mine) so an animal that is being bred for food or fiber (alpacas, rabbits) would be considered a domesticated animal. So I guess an ostrich would be considered domesticated if it is being raised as a food source. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/5 "2007-01-30T18:15:07Z")
My WAG would be some of the monkeys they’re using to help perform the domestic chores certain disabled individuals can’t perform themselves. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/6 "2007-01-30T18:19:15Z")
Wiki says they’re Capuchin monkeys. _“Some organizations, such as Helping Hands in Boston, Massachusetts, have been training capuchin monkeys to assist quadriplegics in a manner similar to mobility assistance dogs. After being socialized in a human home as infants, the monkeys undergo extensive training before being placed with a quadriplegic. Around the house, the monkeys help out by doing tasks including microwaving food, washing the quadriplegic’s face, and opening drink bottles.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/7 "2007-01-30T18:20:09Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] My WAG would be some of the monkeys they’re using to help perform the domestic chores certain disabled individuals can’t perform themselves. [/QUOTE] Wow! Never thought of them! I should have remembered this [movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095652/) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/8 "2007-01-30T18:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] Labradoodles perhaps? [/QUOTE] As much as other members of the species do not want to admit it, the Labradoodle (_Labrus doodus_) is, in fact, a dog. ---
**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 30, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/9 "2007-01-30T18:36:18Z")
The problem with the word “domesticated” is that has a range of meanings. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > ``` > * **Wild** : These species experience their full life cycles without deliberate human intervention. > * **Raised at zoos or botanical gardens (captive)**: These species are nurtured and sometimes bred under human control, but remain as a group essentially indistinguishable in appearance or behaviour from their wild counterparts. (It should be noted that zoos and botanical gardens sometimes exhibit domesticated or feral animals and plants such as camels, mustangs, and some orchids.) > * **Raised commercially (captive or semidomesticated)**: These species are ranched or farmed in large numbers for food, commodities, or the pet trade, but as a group they are not substantially altered in appearance or behavior. Examples include the elephant, ostrich, deer, alligator, cricket, pearl oyster, and ball python. (These species are sometimes referred to as partially domesticated.) > * **Domesticated** : These species or varieties are bred and raised under human control for many generations and are substantially altered as a group in appearance or behaviour. Examples include the Canary, Pigeons, the Budgerigar, the peach-faced Lovebird, dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, chickens, llamas, guinea pigs and laboratory mice. > > ``` > > \ > > A great difference exists between a tame animal and a domesticated animal. The term “domesticated” refers to an entire species or variety while the term “tame” can refer to just one individual within a species or variety. Humans have tamed many thousands of animals that have never been truly domesticated. These include the elephant, giraffes, and bears. There is debate over whether some species have been domesticated or just tamed. Some state that the elephant has been domesticated, while others argue the cat has never been. One dividing line is whether a specimen born to wild parents would differ in behavior from one born to domesticated parents. For instance a dog is certainly domesticated because even a wolf (genetically the origin of all dogs) raised from a pup would be very different from a dog. Lab mice are probably the closest newly domesticated animal that fits the normal description of what we mean when we say “domesticated”-- altered phenotypically (and, generally, genotypically) from the wild population they are derived from. Capuchin “hleper” monkeys are just taimed wild animals. I wouldn’t call them domesticated in the sense of cows, sheeps or pigs. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/10 "2007-01-30T18:56:04Z")
Damn it! How come there is never a simple answer to what seems like a simple question? I was thinking someone would say, “Oh, the Madagascar Three-toed vole has been raised on farms since 1993 for its luxurious coat and nutritious milk,” followed by a bunch of dittos. I always considered a domesticated animal one that is being used to the advantage of man (food source, fiber, work, transportation) and never would have thought of lab rats as separate from the rats people have kept as pets. Next time I ask a question on this board, I’ll make sure it only has one answer. Like what is 2+2=? (Crap, I’m sure some smartass will come back with definitive proof that 2+2=573) ---
**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 30, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/11 "2007-01-30T19:11:55Z")
[QUOTE=erie774] Damn it! How come there is never a simple answer to what seems like a simple question? I was thinking someone would say, “Oh, the Madagascar Three-toed vole has been raised on farms since 1993 for its luxurious coat and nutritious milk,” followed by a bunch of dittos. I always considered a domesticated animal one that is being used to the advantage of man (food source, fiber, work, transportation) and never would have thought of lab rats as separate from the rats people have kept as pets. Next time I ask a question on this board, I’ll make sure it only has one answer. Like what is 2+2=? (Crap, I’m sure some smartass will come back with definitive proof that 2+2=573) [/QUOTE] Make sure you specify which base you are doing arithmetic in. 😉 Lad mice, especially, have been bred for specific reasons and there are many strains that differ significantly from their wild cousins. They’re not used for food or as draft animals (except maybe to power the SDMB servers), but there is nothing substantially different about the fact that they are used for scientific experiments. It might be true that no new large vertebrates have been domesticated for farm use in the last 3,000 years. We raise buffalo on farms, but they aren’t much different from their wild cousins (except that maybe they have a higher level of hybridization with cattle). ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/12 "2007-01-30T20:37:11Z")
Falcons, hawks and eagles have been used for hunting for at least 2600 years. Some North American hawks have been trained only recently. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/13 "2007-01-31T02:19:18Z")
Stop by a tropical fish store…look at all of the guppies, platies, chiclids (and dozens of other genera/species0 and you will find a vast array of fishes that have been domesticated. This isn’t even counting the farm raised salmon… ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/14 "2007-01-31T02:45:41Z")
Exactly, people are confusing tame animals with domesticated ones. Still, that being said, there have been quite a few animals domesticated in the last few thousand years. Mice, as was mentioned, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters and so on, in fact I think these have been domesticated in the last century. Tigers are being bred now for appearance, and so seem to be on the brink of domestication. Skunks and raccoons are now also bred for appearance for the fur trade. They are recently domesticated. Of course fruit flies are also bred for specific purposes. They join the silkworm as the only domesticated bugs. I hear tell of efforts to breed Moose in Russia for meat. I am not clear on how long ago reindeer were domesticated. So anyway, lots of animals are recently domesticated. ---
**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 31, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticated-animals/390135/15 "2007-01-31T03:03:33Z")
And no thread on recently domesticated animals would be complete without mention of [tame silver foxes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_Silver_Fox)