Because we are turning a planet that supports life into one that does not, I’m posting a question or topic here every week to see if together we can work out some nuts and bolts for survival. The whole linkable list of prior questions/discussions can be found here.
But, because we need a little break, this week we will look at mostly animals around and including us, and how we relate to the ecosystems we inhabit in. The topic is :
Domesticated vs. Feral vs. Wild.
Some definitions to start things off
DOMESTICATED
Here’s from Purugganan via Wikipedia, though I’d aruge that the nature of the relationship shouldn’t be defined as only mutualistic.
a coevolutionary process that arises from a mutualism, in which one species (the domesticator) constructs an environment where it actively manages both the survival and reproduction of another species (the domesticate) in order to provide the former with resources and/or services.
Changes in animals from domestication include docility, coat colorations, decreased tooth size, skull/face size and shape, ear and tail forms, juvenile appearance, smaller overall size, and much more (including a fair amount of biochemical changes). Humans, by the way, likely self-domesticated.
FERAL
Domesticated species that are living in the wild. When successful, they can supplant native species. When unsuccessful, they fail to find a way to live in the ecosystem and die. Often they fall somewhere in-between, surviving and reproducing but in fairly miserable circumstances (see cats and pigeons for examples of this).
WILD
Undomesticated species. Some definitions include unimpacted or untouched by humans in any way, but that’s impossible in the Sixth Great Extinction event and climate change. A better take would be living in the environment in which the species evolved.
What’s the difference between feral and wild?
People buy parrots. It’s bad for the ecosystems and for the species — wild animal trade is generally bad news — but people do it anyway. In San Francisco, since very early in the last century, some parrots who’ve been brought here have escaped. And there is enough variety of foliage (aka food) around and the weather is just mild enough (though windy) that a number of the escaped parrots survived.
Those parrots formed a flock, based mostly on Telegraph Hill where the combo of sunlight and vegetation was the best the birds could find in San Francisco. And they were able to not only maintain flock size over time, but the flock grew. For a long time people thought they were all lost or escaped pets.
Now, however there are at least 7 flocks in SF, and probably more. It’s clear we have a successful, established non-native wild parrot population. (As a side note, I’d like to suggest that a mass noun of parrots isn’t a flock but a party. They are noisy and messy and impossible to ignore, like a high school kegger just before the police show up. You hear them before you see them, whether in trees or flying.) So were they ever domesticated? Just because they were pets doesn't mean they weren’t wild.
So what happens to domesticated species when the planet goes wild?
Some animals go feral easily, like goats and camels. Others do not, like cats and pigeons. Some were never domesticated in the first place, like parrots.
Humans are domesticated. Can we survive if forced to become feral? Would wild humans do better on this new earth? Are there any wild humans left?
This isn’t a hypothetical question.
A year’s worth of rain in under a day.
