3 ms·
Makes me curious what animals were like before we started killing everything that looked at us funny and eating anything that didn't immediately run away
by thatguy0900 3y ago
Makes me curious what animals were like before we started killing everything that looked at us funny and eating anything that didn't immediately run away
- AdmiralAsshat 3y agoMost of our modern farm animals and even wildlife have been domesticated in some way to the point that they're not really equipped to deal with predators, so you can look to their ancestors to see how they used to function. See: the aurochs (ancestor of the modern cow) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs The boar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar The jackrabbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare The junglefowl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl etc.
- anonymouskimmer 3y agoBe careful with these sorts of generalizations when it's to related, but not identical, species. We can see with Bonobos and Chimpanzees that even within a genus there can be big behavioral differences. For instance, your Hare link goes to Lepus. Non-domesticated European rabbits (Oryctolagus) exist. If you don't trust that there hasn't been cross-breeding with domesticated rabbits, then Caprolagus would be a better comparison. Even Sylvilagus, phylogenetically closer to Oryctolagus than Lepus, is behaviorally distinct (not existing in warrens).
- ftxbro 3y ago> Coprolagus would be a better comparison Coprolagus (the 'poop hare') is a lesser known relative of the genus Caprolagus (the 'goat hare').
- anonymouskimmer 3y agoI thought what I wrote looked wrong. Thanks. I'm correcting the initial comment.
- HarryHirsch 3y agoLooks at the Americas - humans appeared there only 15 kyrs ago while in Africa the wildlife evolved to survive in the presence of our species.