Can Zebras be domesticated?
Zebras look like horses right? We ride horses,
so can we ride Zebras?
Well, the short answer is no.
Several attempts were made to domesticate
Zebras for human purposes in the late 19th
and early 20th century, but people soon realized
it wasn’t practical.
Zebras are aggressive; they have evolved to
protect themselves from large predators in
the African wilds and as a result they are
easily agitated and prone to bursts of violence
when feeling under threat.
They are also smaller than horses and their
backs aren’t as strong so carrying adult
humans would be uncomfortable.
There have been a few isolated cases where
people have managed to tame Zebras to a certain
extent. A famous example is that of Victorian
zoologist Lord Walter Rothschild who trained
a group of Zebras to pull vehicles; he once
drove a Zebra-drawn carriage to Buckingham palace.
According to renowned American scientist Jared
Diamond in order for humans to be able to
successfully domesticate an animal they must
meet six criteria.
1). They must be willing to eat the food available
in and around human settlements to survive.
For example cows and sheep eat grass, and
cats and dogs can eat our scraps and the vermin
that these scraps attract.
2). The animal must reach maturity quickly
in order to provide benefit to the human,
either through labour or as food. This is
why widespread domestication of elephants
is not practical, despite the fact that they
can be tamed and are good workers, they just
take too long to reach maturity compared to
a human’s lifespan.
3). The animal must be willing to breed in
captivity. Humans will not be able to provide
large open spaces for the animals to breed
so creatures such as antelopes and pandas
that demand a lot of territory in order to
breed cannot be domesticated.
4). The animal must be inherently good natured.
This is one of the reasons why Zebras are out.
5). The animal can’t be skittish. If animals
easily panic and constantly attempt to flee
domestication will prove impossible. This
is what has kept foxes from being successfully
they panic easily in contrast
to dogs and wolves which have both been successfully
domesticated.
And finally the sixth criteria requires that
the animal respect a social hierarchy, this
means that they will accept humans as their
masters.
So, after running through the criteria it’s
clear that the Zebras do not meet all six.
They are not good natured, they are known
to be skittish and they aren’t readily willing
to accept humans as their masters and this
is why Zebras cannot be domesticated.
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