I feel like bears is the most obvious answer. In this scenario it would have started thousands of years ago. We’d have dozens/hundreds of breeds with different shapes,sizes and characteristics. What do you think would be the most interesting/cool?

  • hitmyspot@aussie.zone
    1·
    10 minutes ago

    Large birds, so they could take us flying. It would solve transportation issues and by doing so, get rid of commutes, make housing more affordable due to ease of transport from more places and be so cool.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    4·
    2 hours ago

    Maybe a large seal species. Something to ride in the water, but that could still come on land and fall asleep by the fire.

    • KuromiGirl04@lemmy.world
      4·
      4 hours ago

      Yeah, red panda would make for an adorable pet!

      1. They’re cute and fluffy
      2. All they want is to nom nom on their yummy leaves.
      3. Have you seen that thing they do where they put up their arms to make them look more menacing? That doesn’t really work, and to me, it just looks like the cute little panda want uppsies.

      I want a red panda

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
    14·
    8 hours ago

    For me, it’s Racoons, Squirrels, or Crows.

    I used to have a Robin friend, who would keep me company while I gardened, so he could grab a juicy worm from the ground I was turning. I’m currently friends with a pair of Sand Hill Cranes who spend every night in front of my house. I talk them nearly every night. They know me well, I stand right next to them, they aren’t afraid of me at all.

    • Wolf314159@startrek.website
      2·
      4 hours ago

      While I envy your ability to get close to wildlife, loosing their fear of humans is really very dangerous for Sand Hill Cranes especially.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Sand Hills aren’t very afraid of humans anyway. I’ve just gotten to know these two well, because they sleep in front of my house every night, for the last several years.

        The only time we don’t see them, is when they have an egg at wherever they have their day time spot. For the last few days, only George has been showing up, which means Martha is probably on the egg somewhere. Soon, he’ll stay with her, and we won’t see them for a couple of months, until their new babies are old enough to fly to our house, their normal nighttime spot.

        The first time they returned with two babies, my mom opened the door, and there was George, most of the way up the driveway, which he had never done before, with Martha and their two babies at the end of the driveway. George wanted to introduce me to his new family!

        So I said “George! Welcome back! Are these your new babies? They’re beautiful!” And I walked up to the babies and stood right near them. They got nervous, but Martha and George were fine, so the babies settled down.

        They don’t always show back up with babies, which is sad. They laid one in front of our house one year, but it disappeared after a few weeks. We think a coyote took it. George was very sad, and when I approached him after it disappeared, he lifted his head and called loudly. He was sharing his grief with me.

        I know who all the animals around my house are, every bird and mammal, and even a couple of gators, but we don’t have relationships. George and I are true friends.

    • pasdechance@jlai.lu
      21·
      12 hours ago

      There was a video being shared by someone who studies raccoons.

      The tl;dr was they are too smart and tend to hold grudges to become domestic.

      Still, they would be cool pets.

      • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
        151·
        12 hours ago

        This argument is always so silly. Domestication is the process of changing animals so they become more suitable to living with humans. The fact that wild animals aren’t domesticated and therefore have traits that are problematic for that is tautological.

        • Paragone@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          12 hours ago

          2 points:

          1. Quolls, in Australia, are apparently about the same smarts as raccoons: you have to childproof EVERYTHING in a house they’re living-in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoll ( the article I’d read pointed-out that they’re endangered BECAUSE people can’t have them as pets, whereas cats aren’t endangered & are pets )

          2. grudge-holding may not be amendable, through breeding-program.

          _ /\ _

          • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
            6·
            12 hours ago

            Pretty much any behavioral trait is changeable through natural or artificial selection. That includes intelligence. Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.

            Some species may take longer, and it’s generally a slow process. I doubt these animals will be domesticated during our lifetimes but in the future who knows?

            • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
              12·
              11 hours ago

              Actually it’s pretty clear that part of domestication for dogs was making them less intelligent.

              There was a scientific study run in the US comparing the behavior of wolves and dogs.

              Within 2 days, the scientists had to add a lock to the door of the wolf enclosure because the wolves had learned by watching them how to open the door and escaped. The dogs kept the same simple door latch throughout the entire experiment and never escaped.

                • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
                  2·
                  4 hours ago

                  Kind of…

                  The domestication of dogs brought out a lot of neoteny traits – juvenile traits retained into adulthood. Our beloved man’s best friend are derived from wolves that never fully grew up and instead remained puppy-like for their entire lives. This makes them smaller, friendlier, more submissive, and easier to train (among other things) … but it also does make them a bit stupider.

      • Zak@lemmy.world
        4·
        12 hours ago

        Right. They are not yet domesticated to the level of companion animals and trying to keep one as a pet now is a bad idea.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
          3·
          12 hours ago

          Yeah, my grandfather raised one when I was a kid. It was fine until it was grown, then it got bitey and he turned I loose on his property.

  • rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz
    6·
    9 hours ago

    ferrets are already domesticated, but i think that having more of/some other domesticated weasel would be neat. imagine pet stoat, or mink, or perhaps wolverine