The advantages and disadvantages of being domesticated

  • Groves C
ISSN: 1038-5762
N/ACitations
Citations of this article
24Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

The variety of animals that have been domesticated by different human communities since the end of the Pleistocene include species that supply food, clothing, materials or locomotive power: but human association with one dimesticate, the dog, was certainly very much older than this, and , it has been suggested, may even be one of the dfefining cultural attributes of Homo sapiens.Most of these domesticated species live in socieites, have males incorporated into the social groups, have social hierarchies, are not territorial, are not pair-bonded, have precocial young, can learn, and have undergone parallel changes that appear to be inevitable correlates of the domestication process: size reduction (at least initially), neoteny, increased growth rates, higher fertility and reduced brain size. It is not so much that domesticated animals are less intelligent than their wild ancestors as that they have reduced social and environmental skills: they have suffered a decline of their Merkwelt (perceptual world) as Hemmer (1983) has called it. It has been noticed before that Homo sapiens can be characterised in much the same way. Lorenz called it 'autodomestication'. I wonder whether the supposed long association with the dog has more to do with it.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Groves, C. P. (1999). The advantages and disadvantages of being domesticated. Perspectives in Human Biology.

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free