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Dogs do not provide food and barely add additional energy (except in Arctic conditions). >the presence of mountain goats and bighorn sheep Perhaps you should
by BookmarkSaver 11y ago
Dogs do not provide food and barely add additional energy (except in Arctic conditions).
>the presence of mountain goats and bighorn sheep
Perhaps you should watch the second part, which is about domestication. He addresses this point in this part (you seem to have missed it) but explores it more in the second. Some animals are not domesticatable (e.g. zebras) despite seeming that they could be. It isn't like he came up with his list of potential targets of domestication off of the top of his head. There's a reason stuff like bears and deer aren't on it. And he only used bison as an example of something that would be profitable if it was domesticated, but it can't be by pre-modern societies.
- Tossrock 11y agoSorry, I was going off the transcript, not the video. In the transcript he talks specifically about the benefit of the domestication of dogs for old world peoples[1], while ignoring the fact that new world peoples also had domesticated dogs. 1: "With dogs, herding sheep and cattle is easier. Now humans have a buddy to keep an eye on the clothing factory, and the milk and cheeseburger machine, and the plow-puller."
- BookmarkSaver 11y agoThat is technically true, but (1) this labor isn't hugely impactful or population enabling and (2) in this case it is being used as an amplifier for other domestication efforts, and without already having other domesticatable animals around you are only getting sled pulling (limited to the Arctic), hunting (helpful, but nothing compared to agriculture), and "plow-pulling" (which seems of dubious value).