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> Tame canines can guard against predators and interlopers, carry supplies, pull sleds and provide warmth during cold nights. But those benefits only come follo
by bjornsing 6y ago
> Tame canines can guard against predators and interlopers, carry supplies, pull sleds and provide warmth during cold nights. But those benefits only come following domestication. Despite more than a century of study, scientists have struggled to understand what triggered the domestication process in the first place.
Is it so hard to believe that early humans could imagine the benefits and purposefully domesticated canines? I mean, we’ve gone to the freaking moon, for no immediate benefit at all... Humans do a lot of things for the hell of it.
- ekidd 6y agoI once read an article by a man who raised an undomesticated wolf. It's a huge hassle and not exactly safe. But he wound up with a relatively loyal animal that disliked being separated from him. (And which routinely wrecked his house.) If you spend your life hunting game animals with a spear, then maybe a barely tamed wolf seems like a reasonable risk in comparison?
- wtetzner 6y agoI imagine it would offer protection for nomadic hunter-gatherers.
- sunstone 6y agoYes I have a feeling dog domestication went along these lines. The first were wolf puppies that were raised with the tribe and were imprinted on this "pack" as their own as they grew up. Dogs and humans made an effective combination. The dogs could look after and protect small children, a huge benefit. Dogs might be able to partners in hunting. And finally dogs would be excellent "house alarms" when enemies are nearby.
- hnick 6y agoBy all accounts hunter-gatherer societies had a lot more free time than we do, and no Netflix. Personally, I'd absolutely do this just to see what would happen.