I feel like bears is the most obvious answer. In this scenario it would have started thousands of years ago. We’d have dozens/hundreds of breeds with different shapes,sizes and characteristics. What do you think would be the most interesting/cool?
Definitely foxes and some others already mentioned. Maybe ringtails. In my region we call them ‘cacomixtle’ which sounds cacophonic (and cute). They’re like raccoon-cats.
Hmm, I would say a monkey would be an obvious choice since they can manipulate objects and do all kinds of things, are also fluffy/cuddly, and there’s a potential for two-way communication. Possibly an ape, though it would be bigger–maybe too big and not as cute, and it could easily kill you if things don’t go well.
Lowland gorillas are the new pitbull.
Raccoons are cool. They seem to be in the early stages of self-domestication, which is probably how we got cats.
There was a video being shared by someone who studies raccoons.
The tl;dr was they are too smart and tend to hold grudges to become domestic.
Still, they would be cool pets.
This argument is always so silly. Domestication is the process of changing animals so they become more suitable to living with humans. The fact that wild animals aren’t domesticated and therefore have traits that are problematic for that is tautological.
2 points:
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Quolls, in Australia, are apparently about the same smarts as raccoons: you have to childproof EVERYTHING in a house they’re living-in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoll ( the article I’d read pointed-out that they’re endangered BECAUSE people can’t have them as pets, whereas cats aren’t endangered & are pets )
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grudge-holding may not be amendable, through breeding-program.
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Pretty much any behavioral trait is changeable through natural or artificial selection. That includes intelligence. Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.
Some species may take longer, and it’s generally a slow process. I doubt these animals will be domesticated during our lifetimes but in the future who knows?
Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.
There was a scientific study run in the US comparing the behavior of wolves and dogs.
Within 2 days, the scientists had to add a lock to the door of the wolf enclosure because the wolves had learned by watching them how to open the door and escaped. The dogs kept the same simple door latch throughout the entire experiment and never escaped.
This dog begs to differ!
So our beloved man’s best friend are just derived from the dumbest of the wolves?
Kind of…
The domestication of dogs brought out a lot of neoteny traits – juvenile traits retained into adulthood. Our beloved man’s best friend are derived from wolves that never fully grew up and instead remained puppy-like for their entire lives. This makes them smaller, friendlier, more submissive, and easier to train (among other things) … but it also does make them a bit stupider.
Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.
Had a Mastiff. Can confirm.
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you just described cats
Ha. True! I do have one revenge-seeker living under my roof!
Hi I really like raccoons but have not seen this video. Do you have a link to this video?
I found the channel. It is all about raccoons.
This is the video that I saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgUOQRFjh8
(And this one is also à propos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E181sIZhhfA)
Thank you! Have a [raccoons photo] (https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4cd579d3-be4b-488e-9131-74d4810a9006.jpeg)
Even better, if after their domestication they were still smart and resistant enough to not fall into the hands of owners that treat them like toys.
They can be very cat like too. Super chill one minute, total asshats the next
I looked into this a while back and it seems that keeping one as a pet is a full day job.
Right. They are not yet domesticated to the level of companion animals and trying to keep one as a pet now is a bad idea.
Yeah, my grandfather raised one when I was a kid. It was fine until it was grown, then it got bitey and he turned I loose on his property.
It only takes one day? Sign me up!
I personally get freaked out by animals with human like hands.
I would love having a squirrel as pet. Unfortunately most squirrel types don’t do well in captivity because they are too anxious. I nursed a baby squirrel once as a volunteer and it would just sleep in my shirt pocket or bra and be the cutest little thing until it was old enough to start learning to be a wild squirrel.
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I think I’m going to side with you on this one. They start out calm enough, simple feeding and housing requirements, they can’t hurt you as much as some of these larger animals, and most don’t seem to get too bad an attitude even as adults unless they’re cornered. Honestly my biggest problem would be them going to the bathroom everywhere and in places not readily accessible to clean. Eww.
We tried to keep squirrels as pets for more than 2 years. Couldn’t hold them ever. Eventually we just opened the door to the pen and it was a squirrel hotel for years. Watched lots of little babies come out of that thing.
I hope they were native squirrels! The netherlands almost had an escaped-pet-turned-invasive-species problem because some imported squirrels escaped.
They were native. It was still illegal. Originally what happened is a pair of squirrels lost their parents and literally wouldn’t stop trying to crawl all over us whenever we went outside. So we planned on keeping them safe for a little bit. My mom got attached. Then they got out once and came back so we just left the door open. Eventually they got bored of that “hotel” and just stopped coming around altogether.
Octopi. They’re freakishy intelligent too.
Only if mine sounds like Nathan Fillion
As long as they aren’t he blue ring ones.
Some people would want those!
We’d need to get em breathing air
Capybaras, hands down.
Phenomenal answer I love them big silly fucks
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Yeah, red panda would make for an adorable pet!
- They’re cute and fluffy
- All they want is to nom nom on their yummy leaves.
- Have you seen that thing they do where they put up their arms to make them look more menacing? That doesn’t really work, and to me, it just looks like the cute little panda want uppsies.
I want a red panda
Foxes. Like a dog, but not.
Thanks to Russia, we’re already partway there.“Cat software, dog hardware”
I want to pet a fox, especially with its winter coat. Probably not own one though. Speaking of things I want to touch but cant, I wanna pinch a male orangutan’s big flabby cheek pads.
This is the pet for me! Black fox, arctic fox, fennec fox and wiley (red) fox, I want them all
They are cat software running on doing g hardware.
I’ve always wanted an ocelot.
Then you’ll be happy to know about Savannahs!. They’re house cats crossbread with servals, which are almost practically ocelots.
A friend has a pair of these. Rambunctious little fuckers!
You’re gonna call it Babou aren’t you ;)
LANA!
HE REMEMBERS ME!
Otters. They are just too damn cute.
Love them Lil fellas, aside from the hands
The cute little hands are part of the appeal for me!
Bats. Imagine having a friendly familiar. They could also be used to carry messages.
Dude I wish. Sadly bats are carriers for all kinds of diseases
But so are rats and pigeons, right? And people still keep them as pets.
Bats in particular are known to carry viruses that can mutate to affect us at an unusually high rate
Imagine having a friendly familiar.
Sister, why do you think we have cats?
Cats
I’d love a pet cat!
They domesticated us, not the other-way-'round, remember?
That’s a different question…
d :
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I want a guard cassowary
Holy shit that would be terrifying. That’s basically a fucking velociraptor but smaller.
Kinda funny actually, because cassowaries are about the same length as a velociraptor, but the average cassowary would be four times the weight. TIL
Interesting. I guess Jurassic Park lied to us in several ways then
I also just found out that ostrich kill more people annually, so maybe I should have asked for a guard ostrich instead?
I might suggest the higher death rate from ostriches comes from where they live. More humans near ostriches than humans near cassowaries.
I guess they’re pretty skittish as well. More prone to flight (heh) then fight
Big ass bird body guard would be sick
I still think a fox is manageable. Cat software running on dog hardware seems…interesting
Tapeworms. Lil’ butt-buddies.
… Does this count as bestiality?
It’s could help lose weight, I guess.
You already have demodex mites living on your face.
