[My cats have me more than domesticated; Max, a Blue (non-marxist ) Russian had to go to the vets today for his annual shots. Took me a half hour to run him down and get him into the car. Doesn’t like riding.
That’s annoying (to say the least). We usually double team them. My wife picks them up in another room then I arrive with the carrier.
I’m reading Dawkins “Greatest Show” and I find it very rudimentary, but I did learn one thing- how dogs went from the wild wolf to domesticated, not genetic wise (I long since got that), but the process Dawkins states they went through- from wild, to self-domesticated, to human’s pets and helpers.
Did humans domesticate dogs or did dogs domesticate humans?
According to Dawkins, they sort of domesticated themselves as they came closer and closer to humans for food. Eventually, we took them on as pets and bred various traits to make various breeds. I got the making of various breeds already, but I didn’t know how they became domesticated. His explanation is interesting, but I am uncertain if that really was how it went, but it is plausible.
What is also interesting is when we compare the possible explanations for the domestication of cats and dogs. Dogs are friendlier with humans because they were feeding directly off our food, i.e., the leftovers from the hunted animals. Cats OTOH, came to us to feed on mice and didn’t therefore have that much of a contact with us.
I’m reading Dawkins “Greatest Show” and I find it very rudimentary, but I did learn one thing- how dogs went from the wild wolf to domesticated, not genetic wise (I long since got that), but the process Dawkins states they went through- from wild, to self-domesticated, to human’s pets and helpers.
Did humans domesticate dogs or did dogs domesticate humans?
According to Dawkins, they sort of domesticated themselves as they came closer and closer to humans for food. Eventually, we took them on as pets and bred various traits to make various breeds. I got the making of various breeds already, but I didn’t know how they became domesticated. His explanation is interesting, but I am uncertain if that really was how it went, but it is plausible.
I made my comment as a sort of joke, but here is what I remember of how it happened. I think I got this from a set of Teaching Co. lectures Understanding the Human Factor by Gary A. Sojka but I dont have time to go through the lectures again to find the reference.
A single liter of small wolves started scanvaning the scraps of a human encampment in mid-Asia. The humans found this useful as this litter would bark if they were approached. The band of human hunter gathers found this a useful alarm system warning them of the presence possible animal predators as well as strangers so they started ensuring that they left scraps for proto-dogs to ensure that they stayed in contact with them. The relationship developed over the generations as it was discovered that this band of proto-dogs also hunted on their own and could lead the humans to and assist them in finding and bringing down prey. The relationship then developed from there.
[My cats have me more than domesticated; Max, a Blue (non-marxist ) Russian had to go to the vets today for his annual shots. Took me a half hour to run him down and get him into the car. Doesn’t like riding.
That’s annoying (to say the least). We usually double team them. My wife picks them up in another room then I arrive with the carrier.
Take care,
Derek
My wife and I WERE double teaming the cat. He damned near won.
I’m reading Dawkins “Greatest Show” and I find it very rudimentary, but I did learn one thing- how dogs went from the wild wolf to domesticated, not genetic wise (I long since got that), but the process Dawkins states they went through- from wild, to self-domesticated, to human’s pets and helpers.
Did humans domesticate dogs or did dogs domesticate humans?
According to Dawkins, they sort of domesticated themselves as they came closer and closer to humans for food. Eventually, we took them on as pets and bred various traits to make various breeds. I got the making of various breeds already, but I didn’t know how they became domesticated. His explanation is interesting, but I am uncertain if that really was how it went, but it is plausible.
I made my comment as a sort of joke, but here is what I remember of how it happened. I think I got this from a set of Teaching Co. lectures Understanding the Human Factor by Gary A. Sojka but I dont have time to go through the lectures again to find the reference.
A single liter of small wolves started scanvaning the scraps of a human encampment in mid-Asia. The humans found this useful as this litter would bark if they were approached. The band of human hunter gathers found this a useful alarm system warning them of the presence possible animal predators as well as strangers so they started ensuring that they left scraps for proto-dogs to ensure that they stayed in contact with them. The relationship developed over the generations as it was discovered that this band of proto-dogs also hunted on their own and could lead the humans to and assist them in finding and bringing down prey. The relationship then developed from there.
Dawkins was the first theory I heard on that, but either one could be possible.
A Brief History of Robin Hood – Nigel Cawthorne 222 pgs.
This book reads much like a doctoral thesis. It is very detailed at times, often to the point of uselessness for the general reader. The Author spends an entire chapter documenting the names of people in 11th to 13th century who may have been the basis for the name, and more chapters for documenting the possibilities of who various of the Merry Men were.
The good point of the book is that it shows how the tale developed, through oral history, particularly as plays that were part of the May Day celebrations, written poetry and then finally movies. Cawthorne also demonstrates the basic theme with parallel tales from other cultues. However he does not deal with what the use of the play was except briefly at the end when discussing the writing of the 50’s televison series by writers blacklisted under McCarthyism.
All in all I would give this book a C.
[ Edited: 29 February 2012 09:50 AM by garythehuman ]
As a novice I am much enjoying a college textbook The New Testament, A Students Introduction. Alternating that with NIV Mark, Luke and Matthew plus The Greek Myths by Robin Waterfield. I am trying to get a foundation…
As a novice I am much enjoying a college textbook The New Testament, A Students Introduction. Alternating that with NIV Mark, Luke and Matthew plus The Greek Myths by Robin Waterfield. I am trying to get a foundation…
) Russian had to go to the vets today for his annual shots. Took me a half hour to run him down and get him into the car. Doesn’t like riding.
)
