Question: would domesticated animals ever be able to "undomesticate" themselves?

Asked by shadycactus6 to Arti, Chris, Dustin, James, Steven on 21 May 2012.

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  1. Photo: Dustin WelbourneDustin Welbourne
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    Hi Shadycactus,

    Certainly, wild dogs and cats are a great example of this. When these animals are left to fend for themselves, they will revert to hunting for food and in a very short period of time, are feral animals.

    Australia has a major problem with feral animals. The top five feral vertebrates are cats, dogs, goats, pigs, and foxes and cost Australia close to a billion dollars a year.

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  2. Photo: James ByrneJames Byrne
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    Absolutely and Dustin has answered perfectly.
    I would add that a lot of pests in Australia were brought here as pets or for game (to hunt) and the populations got out of hand. Thats why we have wild cats, goats and camels etc.

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  3. Photo: Arti SinghArti Singh
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    Definitely, Shadycactus6, and Dustin and James have explained this nicely.
    Just wanted to add that humans can also become “undomesticated”. There are stories of lost children having been found and raised by wild animals such as wolves, and so their behaviour was much more recognisably wolf-like than what we would recognise as human behaviour. More recently, there was a story of a boy having been forced to live inside a chicken coup for several years with chickens (I don’t know why – it certainly sounds horrible!). When other people found him, he acted more like a chicken than a human. People have been trying to rehabilitate him and get him used to “being human” now, and I think they have had some success but I’m not sure how much. Just goes to show you how much of our “human-ness” comes from “nurture” rather than “nature”!

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  4. Photo: Chris ScarlettChris Scarlett
    answered on 22 May 2012:

    @shadycactus6. Yep, I agree with the others. It’s funny, sometimes I feel like my young son goes through bouts of being “undomesticated”… HHmmm..

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Comments

  1. Photo: shadycactus6shadycactus6
    commented on 21 May 2012:

    are animals often left alone, or do the feral animals breed quickly?

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    • Photo: DustinDustin
      commented on 21 May 2012:

      Not sure what you mean. Feral animals will breed at the same or a lesser rate than contained animals.

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