Things Donors Know: Do Animals Have Pets?

The column this time will be dedicated to G's question: Can animals raise pets?

Bertram Chandler's science fiction story "The Cage" tells about a group of survivors from a crashed spaceship who find themselves on a distant planet held by members of an alien civilization who imprison them in a "zoo". They try to show their captors that they are intelligent creatures by shooting baskets in their eyes and drawing them the Pythagorean theorem to no avail: the aliens continue to see them as exotic animals. Their salvation comes by chance when they capture a rodent that has broken into their pen and put it in a makeshift cage. Then the cage door finally opens and the locals acknowledge their humanity because "only intelligent creatures put other creatures in cages".

Well C, has an animal ever transmitted to us "humanity" by turning another creature into a pet?

The ones we would expect to resemble us in this capacity are our ape relatives. In 2001, Satoshi Hirata reported on the strange behavior of a young female chimpanzee in the forests of Guinea. The Koopa captured a wood rabbit (the jungle version of our rock rabbit), she carried him to the nest, combed him, hugged him and slept with him in her lap. This adoption lasts almost a whole day and distinct characteristics of a pet attitude can be recognized in it. A similar event was not observed again in the wild, although other researchers reported using owls as "puppets" but the poor birds died immediately at the beginning of the game. Other observations show careful examination, carrying and handling of the hair of dead animals. Dwarf chimpanzees (bonobos) have been observed playing with monkeys they have captured by holding their tails and trying to coax them into playing as if they were members of their own species, but the description is more reminiscent of brat abuse of a stray cat than adopting a pet. Prolonged adoption was observed in the forests of Brazil when a capuchin monkey - a monkey considered to be the "intelligent" of the broad nosed monkeys of America adopted a marmoset cub (dwarf monkey). The female carried the adopted pup until adulthood and he was observed for a long time as a member of the adoptive pack. The young capuchin monkeys shared the game with the marmoset and even adapted their movements to the tiny dimensions of the group's "pet marmoset". Even through dryness The scientific description The story of the adoption is touching, but it is precisely the completely egalitarian attitude towards the foreign puppy that makes it difficult to define it as a "pet"; Even the devotees of human dog or cat breeders do not treat the friend with the tail as a real person.

A monkey in the wild has to work hard for a living and may not have the time and resources for a demanding hobby like raising a pet, but what about the idle chimpanzees in zoos? Like the heroes of Chandler's story, many of them are kept in open pens and this protected and food-rich area attracts quite a few small animals from the immediate area. The monkey researcher Steve Ross compiled data from dozens of zoos in North America and it turns out that the monkeys do often meet mice, squirrels, rabbits, ducks, frogs and other species. What did the relatives convey to us through their attitude towards the animals that came to share the yard with them? Well the ones closest to us, the chimpanzees were also the most aggressive. In almost every chimpanzee yard, an animal was killed (only about half of the orangutans and about a quarter of the gorillas did so). On the other hand, almost a third of the chimpanzees reacted at least once with "friendly contact" with the guests, meaning an attempt to caress or play and three quarters of them curiously followed the intruder. Still, in no case was an attempt to adopt or imprison an animal by any monkey in a zoo recorded. The inquisitive - curious behavior was mainly the property of the young: the interest that the adults showed in the stray animals was purely gastronomic.

But there are those who firmly claim that at least one animal kept a pet kitten. This is a gorilla "Koko" who was raised in a completely humane environment in an attempt to teach her sign language. Koko Adopted a kitten and treated her like a baby gorilla for several months until she was killed in an accident. According to the researcher who cared for and communicated with Koko, the gorilla reacted with prolonged grief when her cat died and marked "sad", "crying" and "bad" when asked about the event or when she saw a picture of a cat. But Koko grew up in a civilized human society and the report of her fondness for cats comes from someone who believes that this gorilla understood 1000 words and was actually almost human - claims that other scientists accept with great skepticism. Therefore, it is difficult to see this adoption as proof of the ability of "normal" animals to adopt pets.

Unlike pets, farm animals have a counterpart in the animal world. Some species of ants grow aphids in a manner that is disturbingly reminiscent of a milk cow branch. The aphids suck the plant sap and excrete the excess sugar in the form of "honeydew" - a viscous and concentrated sweet liquid. The ants milk this high-calorie food and provide their herds with protection, shelter, transportation to fertile pastures and even dedicated care of the offspring. A long evolution made the aphid and the ant creatures adapted to life together. Similarly, since we domesticated the cow, the digestive system of some of humanity became lactose tolerant and the cows became more productive - a process that culminated in the Holstein cow: a moving udder incapable of survival outside the barn. But the aphids, really our dairy cows are not pets. Similar to the way we treat cows, the ants do not hesitate to eat the loyal aphids when they need protein more than carbohydrates.
Well C: Pets are probably only for humans, but why do we see the "permissible for humans" precisely in the strange way in which we turn animals into toys? One of the following columns will deal with this question.

Thanks to Dr. Steve Ross for his help.
Did an interesting, intriguing, strange, delusional or funny question occur to you? Send to ysorek@gmail.com

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• Things that Yoram knows: the cuckoo, the swan and the ugly duckling
• Things that Yoram knows: why are the legs long?
• ‫When animals grieve
• ‬Bonobos were able to communicate complex messages and use tools