Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2023 22:24:52 GMT
But i’d disagree they are entirely different in behavior as well. Sure; it has been changed a little to suit environmental standards of us humans; but there are a lot of aspects they are similar.
We took the wolves sociableness, hunting style, aggression, cooperation, coordination, endurance, and shaped it into the dog.
We took the cats rodent hunting ability, typically solitariness, and feline habits to suit into the house cat.
We took the aurochs massive size, grazing ability, and milk and meat production into play making the cattle.
We took the Junglefowls egg producing, along with producing fine meat to eat for a lot of occasions, and their easy ability to live on most of any landscape, (that includes cities and rural environments) into making the chicken.
And i’d also very much disagree that feral domestic animals are different from their wild ancestors.
Look at feral cattle. They retain the heavy aggression and looks typically known for aurochs.
Look at feral chickens. This is one of the birds I see no different than their wild ancestor, the junglefowl due to lack of found differences.
Look at feral donkeys. Very skittish and flighty, like their ancestor, the wild ass, is known for.
Feral cats become semi-solitary even though loose social groups known for having “queens” for female cats to raise kittens together and groom each other, and may compete with other unknown cats, resembling a loose lion pride. Other than that they are solitary. Their other behavior definitely matches that of the African Wildcat. Also both House Cats and African Wildcats will “manipulate” huge prey animals, like deer or giraffes that are about to turn on them.
Feral sheep are uncommon as the other domestic animals mentioned but most definitely resemblant of the Mouflon from what i’ve seen. Adaptable, have mating contests whenever they want, and scattered when fleeing predators.
Feral dogs are extremely represent of their wolf ancestors. They are good at working herds, know when to hunt and when not to hunt, they can be solo or in packs, they have increased competition between other predators, they hunt mainly large game but will take small game, they are skittish and fucking terrified of humans and want nothing to do with them, they communally rear their pups, (as in the whole pack assists in rearing their pups) have family units as their packs mostly, they have a high sense of self-preservation and another important one, they are completely fucking hated by ranchers for their livestock depredations. Also, feral dogs in colder climates look a lot like wolves with their double layered fur and wolf-y features such as very long snouts. Dingoes have evolved in Australia which hereby means they need camoflauge to live effectively, but Dingoes very much do resemble wolves. And when I say feral dog I don’t just mean Dingoes, I mean feral domestic dogs in general, mostly within 1-3 generations. Dingoes have had a lot of generations to evolve, so they are a fuck load of generations.
The differences can be subtle, but distinct when you look for them. Chickens differ from jungle fowl by growing more weight more quickly, being less shy and skittish (a common one with most domestic animals) and they also make a different crowing sound.
I'm not sure if they have different egg laying habits, but I'd be surprised if they don't.
Domestic pigs and dogs, even when feral and fully returned to the wild, have much more prolific breeding habits than wild boar and wolves. A big part of why they are so successful. Knowing and reading and predicting human behaviour also makes them formidable adversaries for any humans hoping to hunt them or eradicate them. In fact they can't. Humans tomorrow could decide to eradicate wolves and wild boar and succeed in doing so in a short space of time (they have succeeded in doing so with certain populations in certain parts of the world many times going well back into history). With feral domestic dogs and hogs(and cats and others, rats of course), they try to eradicate them but sincerely can not. These animals haven't just adapted to be "friends" with people, they've adapted to compete with people. They've adapted to thriving in a human world and humans can't wipe them out even with concerted effort using their best technology.
As for feral pigs, they, like wild boars, will split into separate groups while mating, like the wild boar, which is why boars of feral pigs and wild boars are mainly solitary outside of the breeding season, which is when most predators find that advantageous due to the fact they don’t have to ambush a herd. Although the downside is that a herd of feral pigs or wild boars are way more flighty and easier to take down, while in contrast a solitary feral pig or wild boar boar (male) is going to be way more aggressive.
