Q:"....and what the hell does Ed mean by domestical?"
 
A: He's from the NW; maybe a new microbrew?
 
Dunno.  I own every tome written in English on animal domestication and its
effects (it is my preferred area of study), as well as quite a few in other
languages (try translating Russian....why the hell can't they get the Ns
and Rs right?), and its not a term in common usage.  Ok, not in *any*
usage I can discover.  Maybe Ed meant "domical" meaning to be dome shaped,
perhaps relating to a specific type of Germanic military head-gear (Sorry,
Ed....couldn't resist!).
 
I suspect Ed is attempting to 1) drive people nutty, 2) drive me nutty,
3) see how many different people will speak his name on the FML in a one
month period, or 4) is attempting to say "semi-domesticated" and could only
come up with domestical because of NW microbrews.  I say that because I
*think* Ed believes the ferret is not fully domesticated, but at some mile
marker in route to the domestication destination (this is only an opinion
and I freely admit I could be wrong, in which case I apologize beforehand,
or even backhanded if needed).
 
But to clarify the term domesticated, it means an animal (or plant) is
under human control (feeding, breeding, housing, etc.) for a specific
purpose (fur, milk, pets, steak, etc.) which has caused some change to make
it more adapted to human intent or control (behavior, reproduction, size,
fur characters, appearance, etc.).  If all three requirements are met, the
animal is domesticated.  That simple.  You cannot get the third without the
first, which is not done unless you want the second.  Get it?  There will
be a short quiz next week.
 
Domestication can mean two things.  It is a *state*, usually found below
New Hampshire.  No, but it *IS* a state of being used to define one group
from another, such as animal A lives in a state of domestication while
animal B lives in a state of wildness.  It can also mean the process of
domestication is taking place, such as when you have collected a dozen
alligators in an attempt to breed for shoes and purses.  In this specific
case, because the intent and control are there, *IF* there is an attempt to
increase certain desirable traits (small teeth, big butts) through
controlled breeding, *THEN* you can say a process of domestication is
taking place.  This is why zoo animals are not considered domesticated even
though they are under human control and breeding; their genetics are
preserved rather than manipulated.
 
"Semi-domesticated" is still tossed out from time to time, and is either
used to mean the animal is almost domesticated, but not as much as other
animals, or that the animal is bred to maintain part of its wild character.
I once turned a corner in a dry Texas arroyo and startled the hell out of a
Texan longhorn and immediately understood the point about
semi-domesticated.  But the problem is, no matter how wild an animal's
behavior, it has little meaning in terms of domestication.  A farm mink,
just as behaviourally primitive as its wild ancestor, is *still* considered
domesticated because humans have controlled its reproduction and changed
the color of its fur to make expensive coats for conspicuously consumptive
humans and their mistresses.
 
In other words, either an animal is domesticated or it is not.  No change,
not domesticated.  Changed, domesticated.  Here is the fatal flaw in Ed's
thinking (sorry Ed, but its true).  He says that the ferret is "domestical"
(whatever *that* is) because it isn't quite yet domesticated.  It is still
changing, and once domesticated, will stop changing.  But what if the
ferret earns Ed's domestication diploma, and then I decide I like ferrets
with long legs and blue eyes and start breeding for those traits?  Ooooops,
the ferret is changing again, so all those older domesticated ferrets are
now "domestical" again until I get those damn long legs and blue eyes.
 
But don't be too critical of Ed here; its a common misperception.  Ed's
view of domestication is not much different than many people's views of a
species.  And it doesn't matter if your personal world view is evolutionary
or creationist; anything that happened in the past is simply the path a
species took to get here.  And now that it is here, it has reached it's
destination and is a SPECIES!  (Or, DOMESTICATED!).  And it would be fine
except for one thing; I am *still* getting older and those damn bacteria
can no longer be killed by 1960's antibiotics.  Time doesn't end, and there
is NO magical end point because species, wild or domesticated, slowly
change.  Its all relative to the observer's time perspective, which cannot
define anything because it is impossible to find the point in time where
species A becomes species B.  All we can do is establish agreed upon
criteria that allows us to define one group from another.  So, there is no
such thing as a semi-domesticated animal; it either fits the criteria, or
it doesn't.  So simply put, you cannot be "domestical."
 
The ferret is in a state of domestication because we keep it for hunting
and as pets, control it's breeding, and have changed its behavior and
morphology to better suit our purposes.  It has more changes than some
domesticated animals, and not as many as others.  But no matter how many
characters of domestication it has, the ferret only needs one to be
domesticated.  Like sustained albinism.  Multiple yearly gestations.
Vision changes.  Fear-response changes.  Dental crowding.  Skull changes.
Size changes.  Play-behavior changes.  Shall I go on?
 
Now, I could be wrong, and Ed could mean something else when using
"domestical" (does it rhyme with testical?), but that's what happens when
you use obscure words not included in scientific dictionaries or
domestication books.  Hummmmm, it's like you made up a word on purpose, Ed.
It's almost as if you know ferrets are domesticated, but want other people
to fully understand it, so you challenge them with unscientific theories
and words with an uncertain etymology just to get them to think.  Could it
be true?  Say it isn't so, Joe....er, ah, Ed!
 
Bob C and 20 Mo' Microbrewed Mustytails (Burp...pour another domestical)
[Posted in FML issue 2575]