Cross Breeds

What makes certain animals so easily domesticated?

What makes cats, dogs, horses and animals like those so easily domesticated while animals like chimpanzees, tigers, raccoons are not household safe? You hear of freak accidents with tigers, apes, and such when people try to domesticate them. What is the difference between these animals? Great answers, since dogs, cats, and other animals are able to suppress those natural instincts to attack and hunt does that essentially make them more evolved than animals who cannot do the same? Obviously not physically, but mentally evolved from animals who still live by their instincts.

Public Comments

1. cats, dogs, horses, and all other domesticated animals are easy to tame because they are so used to humans and were taught not to fear them by there mothers (trying to tame a wild dog will be just as hard as taming a wild chimp or tiger)
2. Those are animals that lack the ability to suppress their desire to hunt or attack even after training. Some animals your can't control their instincs. That's why it's important to start training dogs especially certain breeds when their young.
3. Cats and dogs are not so easily domesticated. If they were, then the DNA will show multiple domestication events. Instead, both the house cat and the domestic dog appeared to have only been domesticated once. All subsequently developed breeds of cats and dogs came from these orginal domesticated animals. The European wildcat, for example, is a close relative of the African wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic cat, but the European race has never been domesticated. Such famous breeds as the Russian blue and the British shorthair came from the African wildcats that were first domesticated from the Middle East. In contrast, the horse was domesticated everywhere within its range, to the extent that all subspecies of the horse has become extinct in the wild. All horses currently living free are feral domesticated horses. The only truly wild horse was Prezwalski's horse, which has never been domesticated. Therefore there is an element of luck that the house cat and the dog were domesticated. Archaeological evidence also suggests that humans first tried to domesticate the fox, but were unsuccessful, probably because foxes have a mean streak in them and they did not like being associated with humans. They then turned to domesticating the wolf. The wolf was easier to domesticate probably because it has traits, such as being social (vs. being solitary for foxes), living in packs, and being loyal to its pack, which make them pre-adapted to human society. In fact, dogs behave in much the same way in human society as they did in wolf society. They will submit to their owners and treat them as higher ranked pack members, but if the owner does not assert control, then the dog will assume the role of alpha or top dog, and disobedience, even hostility, may be exhibited by the dog. Animals that are coducive to being domesticated are those that have a relatively calm disposition. Despite their fierce reputation, bulls are very easy to handle and are docile if they are familiar with their human handlers. Conversely, animals such as the zebra were never domesticated because they have a mean streak in them, much like foxes.
4. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF SELECTIVE BREEDING & CULLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We bred them. That's what the word means=NOT TRAINED,bred.....FORCED evolution. NOT "hundreds" of years.............50 THOUSAND!!!!
5. Because these animals have been handled by humans for centuries. Tigers, raccoons, and chimpanzees have not. However, that doesn't mean that they can't be through careful selective breeding for desirable traits! The silver fox for example.