Tame or Domesticated: What's the Difference?

So, our newest critter is Paul the hedgehog.  I’ve been asked if he is tame.  Well, not yet.  Hedgehogs aren’t domesticated, but soon Paul will be tame, we hope.  Sometimes the words ‘tame’ and ‘domesticated’ are used interchangeably, but they really mean something quite different, and I think the difference is surprising!!

To be domesticated, an animal is ‘tamed’ usually by generations of breeding.  This is done so that animal will live in close association with people as a pet or as a work animal.  Usually the dependency caused by this makes the animal lose its ability to survive on its own if let loose in the wild.  

An amazing study was done by scientists who were interested in how wolves became tame dogs.  In 1959, Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev set up a breeding project, not with wolves, but with the silver fox.  Not only did the breeding for tameness happen, but other changes were made in the descendents of the first silver foxes.  Belyaev decided which foxes to breed based only on how well they got along with people.  It is important to realize that Belyaev suspected that breeding only for ‘tameness’ would also change the fox’s physical appearance, and these suspicions were confirmed.  By the 9th generation, the fox kits were born with floppier ears, different coat colors, and they were already whining and wagging their tails in response to a human presence.  These attributes were never seen in wild foxes!   At 1-2 months, the tamest foxes were chosen and then again at 7-8 months final choices were made about which foxes would be bred.  And not only were the foxes tamer, the genetics of the foxes had changed!!  So dogs are NOT just tame wolves; the wolves of today and the dogs of today have a common wolf ancestor, but they are genetically different now.  This is true of the llama and the alpaca vs their wild counterparts the guanacos and vicuñas or wildcats and house cats.  Pretty cool, don’t you think?!?

The silver fox breeding project set up in 1959 by Dmitri Belyaev continues today at The Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, under the supervision of Lyudmila Trut.

So, how does this apply to the GEE Funny Farm?  Clancy, our 13 year-old Bennett wallaby, is semi-tame.  He allows me to pet him and he will allow others to pet him, sometimes, if David is holding him.  However, wallabies are being bred by certain breeders for the pet trade.  ChrisThompson of Fox Hill Farms has been hand raising wallabies for over 25 years.  Will the next wallaby we get be genetically different from Clancy?  Will s/he be tamer and will there be variations from its wild ancestor in color or how floppy its ears are?  We’ll have to wait and see.  I do know that there are many more albino or white wallabies available than there are in the wild – some breeders breed for that gene.  Mary, our Patagonian cavy, is also semi-tame.  She likes to follow me around and she allows me to pet her.  However, she doesn’t really like to be held (though I’ve heard that some do, Mary is more the norm). Cavies are relatively new to the pet trade in the United States.  How long before a Patagonian cavy is truly domesticated?  Again, we will have to wait and see.  Meanwhile, Paul, our prickly hedgehog, is getting friendlier.  The International HedgehogAssociation warns people 1) A hedgehog who is not friendly to begin with will require a lot of patience and respect to socialize and 2) If you do not handle the hedgehog frequently, they may not stay as friendly. We’re working on it.

Note:  Paul was doing pretty well and then we went on a ‘vacation.’  I tried to take him with me, but the airlines wouldn’t allow it, so he stayed home.  Ten days of no handling and we are back to square one (or maybe two).  Hopefully, it won’t take as long for Paul to become as ‘tame’ as he was when we left!  So…we’re working on it. (Actually, he did pretty well while he was out today -- maybe square 3 (of 4) to get back to where we were -- whew!)

Umbrella or White Cockatoos have been pets since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), but are still considered by some to be 'wild' or 'exotic.'  The tamest ones come from being hand-raised....

Dogs have been domesticated the longest.  Working dogs were the first use: hunting, herding, guard, etc. Dogs still do best if they have a 'job.'

Horses have been used by people for centuries, but their first instinct is to run from danger. 

Emus have been raised by farmers in the USA since about 1980 -- 
we love ours.

Will this emu chick be more 'domesticated' or 'tame'?  We hope so -- Kathy is hoping it imprints on HER (Mama:) oh, er, (Daddy) -- the males sit on the eggs and raise the chicks.

Goats and sheep have been domesticated for centuries -- used for fiber and milk (and cheese and soap....)