Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilizationShaler, Nathaniel Southgate
History
Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilization
Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate
Domestic animals
A comparison of the skulls of the Tertiary mammals and those of our own
day indicates that in certain of the important series, and presumably in
them all, the brain has increased in size from the earlier to the later
times. This increase in brain capacity has doubtless been attended by a
decided gain in the measure of intelligence, a gain which has doubtless
served to make the modern representatives of the series fitter for man's
use than their ancestors were. For, while the number of our very useful
domesticated forms may seem at first sight to be dull of wit, none of
them are really low in the intellectual scale as we apply it to the
brute; in fact, a considerable measure of intelligence is absolutely
required as a condition for true subjugation. This is seen by the fact
that nothing like a real adoption into our social system has ever been
accomplished except with a few of the higher orders of mammals and
birds, species which have an intellectual capacity that we recognize as
akin to our own. Thus, so far as we can see, man's appearance on this
stage was, so far as it relates to the possibility of companionship with
the lower life, exceedingly well timed. He came at a period when the
life was ready to give him and to receive from him a large measure of
help. If his advent had been much earlier, he might have had less
trouble in his contests with the larger carnivora; but if there had been
a lack of beasts to obey his will, it is doubtful whether he could
himself have won his way above that primitive life.
DOMESTICATED BIRDS
Domestication of Animals mainly accomplished by the Aryan Race;
Small Amount of Such Work by American Indians.--Barnyard Fowl:
Mental Qualities; Habits of Combat.--Peacocks: their Limited
Domestication.--Turkeys: their Origin; tending to revert to the
Savage State.--Water Fowl: Limited Number of Species domesticated;
Intellectual Qualities of this Group.--The Pigeon: Origin and
History of Group; Marvels of Breeding.--Song Birds.--Hawks and
Hawking.--Sympathetic Motive of Birds: their AEsthetic Sense;
their Capacity for Enjoyment.
It is an interesting fact that about all the work of domestication which
has been done by man has been accomplished by the peoples of Asia and
mainly by the Aryan race. The American Indians tamed the llama and
alpaca and a few species of native plants; even where their habits were
prevailingly sedentary they domesticated no birds. It was left for
Europeans to make use of the wild turkey. Our primitive people had the
same chance to tame ducks and geese as the folk of the Old World. They
appear, however, to have lacked all capacity for such endeavors. The
same lack of disposition to capture and tame wild creatures is
noticeable among the characteristic peoples of Africa; all of which
serves to show that the domesticating art, at least as applied to
animals, is peculiar to the higher-grade folk of the Old World.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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