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[wierd]

"More likely to not maul or maim you in response to normal human shenanigans"

Horses, Pigs, and even cows to a certain extent.

Not to mention some wild animals are well known for never attacking humans and will run away from them until they die.

Wild horses will try to flee, but if you prevent that, they *WILL* kick the shit out of you.  Domesticated horses will approach humans for treats, attention, and even desire to be ridden.

Wild cattle are infamous for being outright murderous. (in the same vein as hippos)

According to Schneeberger, aurochs were not concerned when a man approached, but when teased or hunted, an aurochs could get very aggressive and dangerous, and throw the teasing person into the air, as he described in a 1602 letter to Gesner.[9]

Wild swine are also infamous for attacking and killing people.
http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/

[Eric Blank]

As far as im aware, dogs are the only truly domesticated animal, in that their behavior when trained, and obviously genetics, is significantly different from their wild counterparts. Even very large dogs can be trusted if youre treating them right. Wild cats, horses, pigs, etc behave about the same as trained ones, minus being more comfortable around humans and having habits formed around human behaviors like when youre going to feed them or something. Cats treat us the way they treat eachother, with deference to the fact youre more than 20 times as large as they are, which makes you the boss, but youre still just another cat to them. That or they dont have the ability to develope behavior sets for other animals

Horses, notably, will kick you to death if you upset them. Or just accidentally. Very important to be their best friend and have their full trust, and pay attention to their cues, and not sneak up on them, at all times. Then you can train them, you just have to train yourself at the same time. I could never let you guys in my horse pasture without me in there, you could get seriously hurt, just because the horses dont trust you. Wild horses share pretty much all the same behaviors. Zebras, from what ive seen on camera, actually act a fair bit like horses. They just dont like you. Im willing to bet you can train any animal to act like its domesticated, just dont expect them to drop all their natural behaviors, because they wont. In that way the concept of domestication, i think, really does apply exclusively to individuals that have been trained to some degree and are comfortable with humans, and being handled by humans trained to interact with them, and that any animal that isnt trained, even a dog, could be extremely dangerous and effectively wild; rather than behaving as we want them to, they are behaving as their instincts and life experiences dictate.

[wierd]

*used to do farrier work bro. Knows all about horse body language.

**Some horses are just assholes, typically from abuse or neglect, but not always. The develop unhealthy mannerisms that are difficult to contend with, like "Hates men", or "Hates women"-- or even "Hates beards."  You have to NOT stoop to that level though, and just outsmart them until they figure out that you are not there to hurt them, and that you make their aching feet feel better.

That said, there is a world of difference between a green horse, and a wild horse.  (Used to own a wild-caught mustang, broke her to ride the gentle way. Took a while.)

Green horses spook easily, and are scared and confused.  Wild horses consider you threatening.

[scriver]

I think Neonivek's confusion might stem from over-equalizing tame and domesticated. Any singular animal can be, more or less, game. Domestication, however, Is a species wide attribute. It means that the basis for the species is that it's being kept as livestock, work stock,  or pets. Wild animals of domesticated breeds are ferals, wild animals of undomesticated species are just wild animals.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but in Swedish we have the expression of hand-tame  (or maybe "tame to the hand"), referring to wild animals that can be approached or are tame-enough behaving to be handled or even petted, to differentiate between such and tame domesticated animals. It's basically the reverse situation from feral animals.

It's also important to notice that neither tame nor domesticated did ever mean "not dangerous". Animals are not toys or plushies. They don't exist for your sake.They don't instantly like you just because you think they're cute. Even tame animals will get scared if you approach them recklessly. And untrained or mistreated animals will always behave irratically, worriedly, or angrily with strangers.

[Tack]

Figured you could use an offering of wholesome data to please your brain:
Hubble telescope just took this dank picture

I feel like that's an intense amount of lensflare.

"Domesticated Animal" and "Wild Animal"

Here is a Video I like and think is interesting and also exactly relates to this discussion.
Let me know if it helps.

Tl;Dr (But seriously watch the video it's good): It's like what Scriver and Egan said

Wild - Wild Species
Tame - Wild animal made human-friendly

Domesticated- Human-controlled species
Feral - Domesticated animal gone wild.

[wierd]

I think Neonivek's confusion might stem from over-equalizing tame and domesticated. Any singular animal can be, more or less, game. Domestication, however, Is a species wide attribute. It means that the basis for the species is that it's being kept as livestock, work stock,  or pets. Wild animals of domesticated breeds are ferals, wild animals of undomesticated species are just wild animals.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but in Swedish we have the expression of hand-tame  (or maybe "tame to the hand"), referring to wild animals that can be approached or are tame-enough behaving to be handled or even petted, to differentiate between such and tame domesticated animals. It's basically the reverse situation from feral animals.

It's also important to notice that neither tame nor domesticated did ever mean "not dangerous". Animals are not toys or plushies. They don't exist for your sake.They don't instantly like you just because you think they're cute. Even tame animals will get scared if you approach them recklessly. And untrained or mistreated animals will always behave irratically, worriedly, or angrily with strangers.

Though not commonly used in the lexicon, US English has a term, "socialized", for wild animals of non-domesticated species that have been acclimated to human contact/company.  This is eg, what a "pet lion" is-- It is NOT domesticated, and likely cannot be domesticated. It CAN however, become acclimated to human contact. It will never be like a dog, which you can cuddle, or even play a little rough with.  It will more than likely not play nice to such play, and will not take kindly to being told no, or things of that nature.  See for instance, the pet tigers of Sigfried and Roy, where one such tiger mauled Roy.

[EnigmaticHat]

One of the saddest things I've ever learned is that while pet snakes can learn to coexist with their owners, they are incapable of developing affection.  They just think of their owner as a source of food/warmth.

...not that I found it surprising, it just struck me as sad.

[Tack]

Cold-blooded animals all right.
But as long as they know that killing you will result in losing their food and cuddling you is a parasitic way to gain warmth, isn't that basically good enough?


Also because of this whole 'grown ambiguity' around the definition of domesticated. realised the 'cutesy' phrase of 'a domesticated woman" means more literally 'someone bred through generations to be more useful (to men)' which is a little bit grim.

[wierd]

Dont get all 6th wave now.  That street went both ways.  It's why human males don't have a baculum, and why their junk is huge compared to other primates.

Sexual selection is a 2 way street.

[Tack]

Had actually put in the jokes of 'Why do women have small feet' and 'Why do men have big hands' to point and screech how we've darwin'd eachother.
Took them out though.

Re: 'Some horses are just assholes', 'All zebras are assholes'
Obligatory re-link of video because 'Zebras are bastards' at 3:53

[Arx]

**Some horses are just assholes

This is incidentally why zebra can't be domesticated. They're all like that.

[wierd]

Cant is probably too strong a word. A very dedicated effort (like the Russians did with foxes) could probably produce domesticated zebras.

Very difficult is a better one, because of the long periods between foal/colt and mating maturity, and the number of generations it would take to produce domestic behaviors through selective breeding. (Would need to be accellerated the way the russians did it, with a massive breeding program to maximize genetic mutation rate and selection.)

[helmacon]

So I just finished watching this movie called "Tank 432" or "Belly of the Bulldog". It was very intense, and very well put together, but maybe not very well thought out. In the ending credits it claims to be based off the short story "The Smith Hill Forest Incident", but despite my best efforts it appears this story does not exist?!

I'm legitimately upset by this. The movie was good, but 90% of the plot was unexplained. I needed something else to fill me in on the details! Why must you leave me like this? Why? Why!

[Reelya]

Dont get all 6th wave now.  That street went both ways.  It's why human males don't have a baculum, and why their junk is huge compared to other primates.

Sexual selection is a 2 way street.

Also, men don't make the babies. All of us evolved to be useful to babies. Not women to men or vice versa.

Men evolved to be big and tough precisely because we're genetically expendable shock troopers. It's our job to be eaten by the lion while the wife escapes with the kids. So who's more "use" to whom?

[Arx]

Cant is probably too strong a word. A very dedicated effort (like the Russians did with foxes) could probably produce domesticated zebras.

Very difficult is a better one, because of the long periods between foal/colt and mating maturity, and the number of generations it would take to produce domestic behaviors through selective breeding. (Would need to be accellerated the way the russians did it, with a massive breeding program to maximize genetic mutation rate and selection.)

Well, yes, but "can't" is always a strong word. With a dedicated program we probably could put out the sun, but it's such a pointless goal with such harsh requirements that it may as well be impossible. Domesticating zebra is easier but will only yield small, stripy, vicious horses, so I doubt we'll ever see it either.