Treadwell survived thirteen summer seasons in the “Grizzly Maze”, an area of Katami National Park that is very densely populated with grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). He lived in immediate proximity and approached bears regularly to distances less than the allowed minimum or done by trained zoologists and biologists, despite having no prior professional experience with large animals. The reason, accepted by a wide consensus of both critics and friends of Treadwell, why he and his girlfriend were killed, is because he returned to the Maze late in season after migration had begun, and attracted the attention of an older bear foraging for fats in preparation of hibernation. (While Treadwell was a vegetarian, there was evidence that his girlfriend had stored or eaten sausage in cheese in the tent the night they were attacked. The tent was also located at a junction of trails.) Anyone who has seen the (somewhat biased and misdirected) Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man can attest to the fact that Treadwell was anything but reserved and cautious around bears, and as also not just a bit emotionally unstable.
Far from proving that bears are dangerous and typically aggressive animals, the case of Timothy Treadwell indicates just how tolerant and non-aggressive these animals are, even when pressured and all but provoked. The actual number of reported fatal bear attacks per decade through the 20th Century can be typically be counted on fingers, often with many left over.
But they would not make suitable pets owning to their general lack of sociable tendencies (though they will socialize around bountiful food sources). Raccoons may be somewhat more amenable as they live in family groups, but as cjepson, raccoons tend to display feral behavior upon sexual maturity; the same for squirrels, which would require a lot of breeding to domesticate.
In fact, I may not even be thinking of lemurs. What’s that thing that’s sort of like a lemur, but isn’t? The aye-aye? Yes. Of course I meant to say ‘aye-aye.’
I didn’t see it but not ONE person mentioned parrots? Or is it because parrots are already semi-domesticated? (Not really. They will live with us as pets, but it’s way more on their terms than even cats).
I don’t think so…but that’s implying that all of the characteristics of dogs and cats are something good! Myself, I hate slobber, hate that they poop everywhere, hate the fur and the smell, etc. But reptiles are not very bright. Or shall I say, differentially bright? Evolution did not make them to need all of that stuff, and there were no humans breeding them.
But did you say that was a requirement in the OP? I skimmed it, perhaps I missed it.
Actually monitor lizards are generally considered to be extremely intelligent. They are trainable and have a good memory. Supposedly they can also learn to count.
Non-insane people, I mean. I know for many, dogs & cats are surrogate children, and while I don’t share that view I can understand it. But I can’t see it being extended to fish.
I’m voting for miniature pigs. They already exist so the genetics are there. Physically, they can live in the same environments that cats and dogs do. And pigs have individual personalities which is a requirement for real pets and which most other animals lack.
It would probably end the sale of pork though. People want to think of animals as pets or food products not both.
I already have parrots rather than a dog or cat. Parrots are not really domesticated as captive breeding didn’t really take off in a big way until the 20th Century, what they really are is brain washed from infancy to accept humans as part of the flock. It still works pretty, well, though.
Somewhat, for me. Granted, when I lose a cat I boo-hoo profusely and am depressed for days or even weeks (or in one case, months, but there were other things going on at the time, too), but when I lose a fish I just feel badly for it for a day or two.
Fish do have personalities, but of course they don’t return affection. Because of this, the emotional attachment is there, but is limited.
Having worked with all sorts of exotics for several years, I’ll vote for raccoons and their near relatives or evolutionary counterparts as well as the mustelids for smaller pet replacements. I’ve raised a raccoon before, and while the first breeding season can be rough, providing the animal with it’s own space and a sexual surrogate eliminates most problems completely as does early neutering in kithood. Bears would be the logical replacement for larger guard animals if the genetics of the mustelids and raccoon type animals are not plastic enough to produce what we are looking for. If I recall correctly, the wolverine is the largest of the natural mustelids and maxes out at around 60 lbs. However, certain species of bear are quite small and range around the 100lb mark.
Primates are best left alone, and while a miniature elephant would be really cool, the feed and poo problem would be a major issue.
I just wanted to mention Connie Willis’ Hugo-winning novella The Last of the Winnebagos (1989), which is about a dystopian future where a pandemic has killed off all the dogs. It’s quite sad.
