babelfish?
I think that what Arkcon was getting at is that this behavior is why we keep carnivores rather than similarly sized herbivores as house pets: namely, because they can be house trained and thus are more convenient to keep indoors.
According to this line of reasoning, we humans never bothered breeding any domesticated herbivores to the level of companionate intimacy that we’ve achieved with their carnivorous counterparts, dogs and cats, because their lack of poop control makes them a nuisance to have in the house. (Some smaller herbivorous animals like birds and gerbils and hamsters are kept as house pets, of course, but they are generally caged most of the time, which keeps the poop-control problem contained.)
I don’t know that I quite buy this as a sufficient explanation for the fact that humans have bred, say, dogs as house pets and not, say, small goats. For one thing, I would think that the fact that we tend to eat the herbivorous domesticated animals but not the carnivorous ones would also strongly disincline us to have them (i.e., the herbivores) as daily companions about our bed and about our board. (“Good morning Mommy, where’s Giddygoat this morning?” “Oh, she’s here in the stewpot; doesn’t she smell delicious?” Not a pleasant scenario.) Still, I can certainly believe that the poop-control problem would have been a contributing factor.
(Anecdotal)
One of my best friends experienced (almost exactly) the above scenario. The family owned a small ranch about 100 miles west of Houston. Drove there every weekend to tend to chores, small herd of cattle, etc. One of the milk cows calved and the calf subsequently became a favorite “pet”. It would follow the two brothers around, come when it’s name (Baby) was called, etc.
Unbeknownst to the brothers, the father had the calf butchered during the week. Towards the end of supper the following Friday evening after their arrival, their father asked, “Y’all sure do love that calf ‘Baby’, don’t you?” They replied, “Yes sir, we sure do.” His reply was, “She sure tasted good, didn’t she?” :eek:
(I know from observed experience, this is a true story. Their father has always been, and still is, a cold, callous, insensitive and at times downright cruel bastard.)
Cattle being ruminants, I wonder if that has something to do with their dung smelling worse than horses’, whether by a lot or by not so much.
my guess is carnivores have more sensitive noses.