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?
I still think a fox is manageable. Cat software running on dog hardware seems…interesting
Hmm, I would say a monkey would be an obvious choice since they can manipulate objects and do all kinds of things, are also fluffy/cuddly, and there’s a potential for two-way communication. Possibly an ape, though it would be bigger–maybe too big and not as cute, and it could easily kill you if things don’t go well.
Lowland gorillas are the new pitbull.
The Liger. It’s pretty much my favorite animal.
I couldn’t afford to feed a Liger
Red panda
Foxes, Wombats, cats.
Give
Me
Giant
Pet
Salticids
Yeah but if they turned on you that would be fucking horrific
I like to think that jumping spiders could easily kill us with their bites, but they’re simply too sweet to even think about attacking us
This applies to my hypothetical giant spider puppies
Quokka of course.
Not domestication per se, but we should teach our ape cousins how to control fire and develop technology. Ascend, my brethren! Come and join your furless kin! Reach out your hands and grasp the tools that are your salvation! Reject the weakness of your flesh!
Ook
Raccoons are cool. They seem to be in the early stages of self-domestication, which is probably how we got cats.
They can be very cat like too. Super chill one minute, total asshats the next
I looked into this a while back and it seems that keeping one as a pet is a full day job.
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.
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.
It only takes one day? Sign me up!
I personally get freaked out by animals with human like hands.
Red Pandas
You could have the most cuddlest creature with you.
Yeah, red panda would make for an adorable pet!
- They’re cute and fluffy
- All they want is to nom nom on their yummy leaves.
- 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
Maybe a large seal species. Something to ride in the water, but that could still come on land and fall asleep by the fire.
I would love having a squirrel as pet. Unfortunately most squirrel types don’t do well in captivity because they are too anxious. I nursed a baby squirrel once as a volunteer and it would just sleep in my shirt pocket or bra and be the cutest little thing until it was old enough to start learning to be a wild squirrel.
Username checks out
I think I’m going to side with you on this one. They start out calm enough, simple feeding and housing requirements, they can’t hurt you as much as some of these larger animals, and most don’t seem to get too bad an attitude even as adults unless they’re cornered. Honestly my biggest problem would be them going to the bathroom everywhere and in places not readily accessible to clean. Eww.
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.
While I envy your ability to get close to wildlife, loosing their fear of humans is really very dangerous for Sand Hill Cranes especially.
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.
Sand Hills aren’t very afraid of humans anyway.
Yes, that is the vulnerability that you are exploiting and making worse for an entire family of cranes.
I’ve seen this story before. It usually ends in tragedy for the cranes. You’ve likely already seen the results with the loss of their chick. You blame it on a wild animal without proof, but it’s just as likely that the reduction of their fear response to humans (as a direct result of your “kindness”) led to their death.
Like it or not, we have to share the world with them, so being kind to them isn’t being abusive or exploitive. I don’t feed them, chase them, bother them. But they are there in my environment, and I’m in theirs, and we are aware of each other, and get along. That’s all.
Giraffes of course.
Silly question.
Cats would be neat to get to that point.
Knowing the couple I have, impossible.
