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| - In fiction, wild animals rarely act the way that they do in real life. Those hilarious Comic Relief chimpanzees and their hilarious antics? Never once do they get violent, no matter what (they may get mad for the hero's benefit, though). When animals do get mad, they're usually easily calmed down if just given whatever MacGuffin is necessary. Is a bear rampaging through town? Just give it some honey and everything will be OK. Being a Friend to All Living Things can help, but surprisingly often it seems like nearly anyone can calm down a wild animal. Part of the cause of this is simply that animal sidekicks are really adorable, but most of the more interesting ones are not of domesticated species, and the only rational way for the hero to get one is from the wild. Taming an adult animal is far more trouble than it's worth. Even taming a baby one never does much for softening its wild instincts. (Incidentally, reptiles are not actually domesticated; they adjust to captivity well given the right temperatures and food, but can't really be trained and are often unpredictable.) Another strong factor is the huge number of youtube videos available showing 'wild' foxes (red white and yellow) canines (coyotes, dingos, hybrids of all types) and smaller cats (up to lynx size, though you do find the occasional cougar) living in apparent domestic tranquility. There are also an increasingly large number of wildlife sanctuaries where you can go along and 'pet a wolf'. Again, most people tend to miss that these animals only behave like pets around people they know, usually have their own 'play/sleep room' (that they trash) and are extremely difficult/expensive to look after. The domestication is usually only partial and not hereditary, and you're only seeing the successful cases. That ambassador wolf who shoves his head into your lap and rolls over begging for you to pet his tummy? Almost certainly 50% of the animals at such places would simply run away if given the chance, and 90% of the rest will eventually bite you. The keepers picked this one for a reason. So yeah. An important fact which is almost never mentioned on TV is that social animals have a hierarchy, and that a wild animal raised in a human family will inevitably (sometimes constantly) try to "move up" in what he perceives as his pack, challenging the current leaders for dominance. Hence, a pet owner without sufficient knowledge and guts will soon find that the animal will actually own him. A solitary animal (such as most felines) doesn't even understand the concepts of "pack" or "leader," and will not take any attempts at authority seriously. While the animal will almost never really try to kill him, it fails to understand that human skin does not offer as much protection as animal fur does, and that bites intended for commanding a human around can inflict serious damage to him. Thus, keeping a wild animal resembles constant competition much rather than what humans call friendship, with mutual trust, ability to make concessions and that like. Note that domesticated means 'genetically altered to meet human needs' Until very recently this meant intentional or unintentional selective breeding. That is why we refer to certain plants as 'domesticated' or 'wild'. Obviously, domesticated wheat is not 'tame' or 'trained' and 'wild' wheat is not going to bite you or run away in fear. A feral housecat is domesticated, but a trained bear is not. Furthermore, once an animal is domesticated or raised by humans, no matter how "wild" it acts, it usually cannot survive on its own because it hasn't learned the requisite skills, and "setting it free" equals abandoning it to starve. Unfortunately, there are a depressing number of people who think this is Truth in Television and are apparently under the impression that nature is just a bigger version of Disneyland. This usually does not end well... Compare All Animals Are Dogs, which is about non-canine animals exhibiting doggy mannerisms. Examples of All Animals Are Domesticated include:
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