On domestication,
Ed writes:
>for example, don't we strive to direct the growth of the ferret and don't
>we try always to train the ferret to accomplish our desires foremost,
>rather than let the ferret have his own way?
We do the same thing with dogs and cats. Ever seen an untrained dog? It
will elimanate in the house, it will tend to act inappropriately around
people in a variety of ways. Dogs, just like cats and ferrets *need* to be
taught what is appropriate and inappropriate. This has nothing to do with
domestication, it has to do with socialization.
>Is it not through selective breeding of specially handpicked breeder
>animals in a large population that training or domestication(?) is
>accelerated per unit time? It would seem that the current ferret
>propagation practices are pressuring the ferrets more strongly toward
>extinction rather than training or domestication.
This argument is flawed. The large breeders do breed for certain
characteristics that are useful to human beings, even if that use is
primarily for testing purposes. In addition, as long as breeders other
than the large ferret mills continue to do such a fine job producing
healthy happy kits, and as long as *some* of those happy healthy kits are
bred themselves before being nuetered, I seriously doubt that the ferret
has *any* chance of becoming extinct.
>In addition, the ferret seems to lack the domestication of a dog or cat in
>so far that it's association with a human infant appears "animalisticly
>carnivorous" whereas the dog or cat does not bite the human infant in like
>manner.
Absolute rubbish. There are hundreds of reported cases of dogs and cats
biting infants each year. By comparison there are very few such cases
reported of ferrets. I'll say what dozens of people have said here before.
*Any* pet can pose a threat to a child. Responsible parents monitor play
between children and animals both for the safety of the animal and the
safety of the child.
>Church, to the contrary, denies time related to *RATE* but instead relates
>it to *DEGREE* and *INTENSITY* of selection. Possibly we may all benefit
>by further definition by Church, because I sense that I'm not the only one
>absolutely bewildered by his statement. If there is a difference between
>degrees and intensities of selection I just don't see it. Do you?
Makes sense to me. I believe Bob is saying that domestication isn't time
related, it is change related. Depending on circumstances and careful
breeding, animals can display the same *degree* and *intensity of change*
in very few generations. Counterparts who don't 'benefit' from the same
human influence would take many generations to display the same change.
Bob, please correct me if I'm wrong.
On Bald Tails, Marta asks:
>He has so little fur on his tail that you can see the skin, it looks like
>a rats tail. Not at the base, it has as much fur as his body, but the tip
>from about halfway down. ... Anybody else have a "tail problem" ferret??
Does your little one have a waxy buildup of orange or brown crud on his
tail? If so, the fix is pretty easy. My P.B. went through it. I used
medicated pads for acne every few days as the crud built up. Slowly but
surely his hair grew back. Now I just wash his tail with regular hand soap
when the gook builds up again. He went from rat tail to thick luxurious
fluffy tail.
Finally, anyone else out there didn't get the FML for several days and then
received four in a row? BIG, is it my end or your end?
Cheers!
Matthew.
===========================================================
The Arts in Technology--Creative Consulting and Contracting
J. Matthew Saunders (540)951-3090
[log in to unmask] http://www.dogstar.org
"We have to work in the theatre of our own time,
with the tools of our own time" --Robert Edmond Jones
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[Moderator's note: They went out on schedule, one a day. I don't think I
got any errors about vt.edu since after 4 straight days of most types of
errors I'd have probably deleted the subscription. BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2557]
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