What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they donât know or like each other. They are not a uniform group with a leader. Horses on the other hand do have authorities and followers among them. And humans can hijack the role of the leader.
It's not the anonimity that makes people fuckwads. It's the lack of immediate consequences. A fuckwad won't get a punch in the face for what they say on facebook, hence they feel they can say anything and be a fuckwad.
This makes me wonder... How much of what he says is just conjecture?
Do we ACTUALLY know with good certainty that zebras can't be domesticated due to their nature? Or is it just a hypothesis/theory that has reached widespread popularity?
I have heard that zebras (along with other African animals) can't be domesticated because they have evolved to live among humans, when we were still man-apes. But that maybe that's just conjecture too.
Note how he have no sources in his video or description. And his comparison to chickens, cows, sheep and cats don't seem to make much sense. The relation between humans and chickens/cows/sheep is markedly different from that of horses. Do wild fowl really have family structures? Cats don't yet they are still docile among humans.
Edit: even if we really can't do we know the reason why?
I'm not sure why you've been downvoted because you absolutely could domesticate them given sufficient time and consistent selective breeding. You could turn them into crabs if you wanted to. The trouble is that they don't have a very social disposition, so no one is motivated to dedicating their entire bloodline to the project. Most domestication happened kind of on accident as we developed symbiotic or exploitative relationships with various species.
Domesticated animals generally start out already being somewhat agreeable. Like dogs hung around us, and work in a pack mentality, horses same thing, cats same thing. That's why we could domesticate racoons or some rodents if we wanted to.
Basically yea, but it still has a bit of the same where we had what they wanted and they were agreeable enough we worked with them. If anything they domesticated us đ
Foxes didn't have many domesticatable features, but it just took the Soviets 40 years or so to domesticate them. It really might just be nobody spent 100 years trying.
Depends on the wolf. I know people who have both owned and rehabilitated wolves, some are just big babies.... Babies that will absolutely ruin you if you piss it off đ
We have a rescue dog from Korea as well as some neighbours ( not a standard breed, but a Korean Village dog, they basically live alongside humans as a breed but developed their own way). They are much different than "normal" dogs. They are more like cats. Their way on their terms. Like other dogs, don't enjoy humans much. So even though they are domesticated, they still show the old lineage of being independent. My dogs idea of a good time is never chasing a stick or ball, but finding the highest vantage point at a park and watching everyone. A carryover from watching the plains from the hillside, or something.
âMotherfucker, do you see the way I look?! Shit ainât for the insta, thatâs for sure. Iâm quite visible to you so you have a long enough time to be getting far the fuck away from me.â
A 2014 study found a correlation between striping and overlap with horse and tsetse fly populations and activity. Other studies have found that zebras are rarely targeted by these insect species. Caro and colleagues (2019) studied captive zebras and horses and observed that neither could deter flies from a distance, but zebra stripes kept flies from landing, both on zebras and horses dressed in zebra print coats. [âŚ] White or light stripes painted on dark bodies have also been found to reduce fly irritations in both cattle and humans.
So, the question why zebras have stripes have proven very difficult and not without risks â Stephen Cobb has been bitten in the arm and admitted to hospital twice. Despite the extra vigour of recent work, the answer remains inconclusive.
There's some accounts throughout history, but humans generally leave them alone. They're aggressive creatures surrounded by even more aggressive killing machines. So it stands to reason that an animal in that environment would be pretty tough to tame.
I actually figured he must have had a more experienced horse along with the zebras to sort of lead the carriage. I know its done with dog sleighs, but not sure about horses.
Literally everything in Africa has evolved to run away from humans, because when animals hear human speech and don't run away they get eaten or domesticated.
When you look at a map of domesticated animals origins, not a single one comes from Africa. All the animals there know what humans are like no matter how we try fooling them.
No. Zebras don't have a herd hierarchy we can exploit. With horses you pick out the lead horse, tame it and boom, the whole herd follows you.
With zebras you get one zebra, if you're very lucky. More likely you'll get kicked and bitten.
Selective breeding is no different than natural evolution in how drastically it can change an organism given enough time and the right selections for âfitnessâ.
So you could produce a domesticated, tame zebra â but waiting on and favoring the right mutations would take a very long time and be prohibitively expensive. Itâs possible, but not realistically feasible.
IIRC a few African groups have legends of people trying to tame zebras as long term mounts or livestock, and these legends rarely end well for the attempter.
Spoken like someone who knows nothing about zebras. They're not striped because of camouflage; that's their prison uniform, and they are all violent offenders.
I've been tested - don't have it, and I love cats. Part of the cat magic is they're not really cunts and many people can see it. Also, the parasite doesn't need you to love cats, it just needs you to not run away from them and to go get eaten by them. If you have a paper showing the correlation, I'd be really interested though - I have a soft spot for this topic, because I got close to a research group focused on it at the uni.
Honestly I was only being snarky. There is definitely more parasites the more cats there are, but probably are not responsible for me finding then cute
They are extremely useful and adorable. I think it's the violence that makes them so magical, like they are extremely cute cold blooded killing machines.
The usefulness is dubious for most house cats. Most households don't have mouse infestations, and cats who go outside actively endanger wildlife (and yes, that is an issue for humans as well).
I do agree that they're extremely cute, probably very useful on a psychological level, and honestly I don't know any other cute pet animals that are as cleanly with their feces (dogs can relatively easily be trained to not shit on the carpet, but not to shit in a dog toilet).
The usefulness is dubious for most house cats. Most households don't have mouse infestations, and cats who go outside actively endanger wildlife (and yes, that is an issue for humans as well).
I'd say our cats are useful. These are their stats:
Number of birds killed by cats in my household over the last 5 years: 1
Number of birds killed by going full speed, beak first, into a closed window, then tried being passed off as a successful prey: 2
Number of mice killed: +500
Other wildlife known to have been affected: 1 mole
Can other wildlife have been affected? Possibly, but we're confident with regards to birds. And the only other weve seen cats go for are mice. Not even rats, I guess they're too big.
crocs are damn scary. They once ripped off an oar from our boat...freaking scary ass moment. Dad chased it off with the other oar. If Jurassic Park were real, crocs are a glimpse of that.
96 Comments
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz · 301 pts · 186d
What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they donât know or like each other. They are not a uniform group with a leader. Horses on the other hand do have authorities and followers among them. And humans can hijack the role of the leader.
CGPGrey: The Real Reason We Donât Ride Zebras (6:23)
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works · 157 pts · 186d
Zebra's don't like anyone, and they're not afraid to show it. Repeatedly.
M137@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 185d
And donkeys like only one person and will absolutely fuck up anyone or anything that tries to hurt that person or the donkey itself.
Skullgrid@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 186d
says a lot about 4chan, the penny arcade GIFT theory, etc
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world · 59 pts · 186d
With how Facebook forces real names, the idea that being anonymous has any influence where or not someone is a fuckwad had been debunked.
AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social · 54 pts · 186d
It's not the anonimity that makes people fuckwads. It's the lack of immediate consequences. A fuckwad won't get a punch in the face for what they say on facebook, hence they feel they can say anything and be a fuckwad.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 186d
"Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it", Mike Tyson
Regardless of how you feel about Tyson, Truth is Truth.
tempest@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 186d
In a large enough group there is still anonymity even if your face and name are on there.
Sundiata@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 185d
4chan blocks commenting with vpn, and /pol/ is a federal honeypot waiting for the next entraptment.
not so anonymous
Skullgrid@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 185d
yes, but that's not shown to other users.
stenAanden@feddit.dk · 21 pts · 186d
This makes me wonder... How much of what he says is just conjecture? Do we ACTUALLY know with good certainty that zebras can't be domesticated due to their nature? Or is it just a hypothesis/theory that has reached widespread popularity?
I have heard that zebras (along with other African animals) can't be domesticated because they have evolved to live among humans, when we were still man-apes. But that maybe that's just conjecture too.
Note how he have no sources in his video or description. And his comparison to chickens, cows, sheep and cats don't seem to make much sense. The relation between humans and chickens/cows/sheep is markedly different from that of horses. Do wild fowl really have family structures? Cats don't yet they are still docile among humans.
Edit: even if we really can't do we know the reason why?
cattywampas@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 186d
Yes, people have tried to domesticate zebras before and they're just too ornery.
stenAanden@feddit.dk · 9 pts · 186d
But what if we spent longer time doing it? Like centuries, like with most other domesticated animals.
stray@pawb.social · 39 pts · 186d
I'm not sure why you've been downvoted because you absolutely could domesticate them given sufficient time and consistent selective breeding. You could turn them into crabs if you wanted to. The trouble is that they don't have a very social disposition, so no one is motivated to dedicating their entire bloodline to the project. Most domestication happened kind of on accident as we developed symbiotic or exploitative relationships with various species.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 186d
+1 for carcinization reference
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 24 pts · 186d
Domesticated animals generally start out already being somewhat agreeable. Like dogs hung around us, and work in a pack mentality, horses same thing, cats same thing. That's why we could domesticate racoons or some rodents if we wanted to.
Zebras are assholes and hate everyone
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 186d
I think cats are unique in that they domesticated themselves
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 185d
Basically yea, but it still has a bit of the same where we had what they wanted and they were agreeable enough we worked with them. If anything they domesticated us đ
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 185d
Foxes didn't have many domesticatable features, but it just took the Soviets 40 years or so to domesticate them. It really might just be nobody spent 100 years trying.
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 184d
Foxes can be agreeable creatures to begin with. Look at the amount of videos of people who have adopted foxes.
stenAanden@feddit.dk · 1 pts · 184d
Ehhh... Can you really call wolves friendly?
psud@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 184d
They were friendly to the other wolves in their pack. Now we've turned that so dogs see us as their pack
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 184d
Depends on the wolf. I know people who have both owned and rehabilitated wolves, some are just big babies.... Babies that will absolutely ruin you if you piss it off đ
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 186d
Might take more than centuries, but yes.
We have a rescue dog from Korea as well as some neighbours ( not a standard breed, but a Korean Village dog, they basically live alongside humans as a breed but developed their own way). They are much different than "normal" dogs. They are more like cats. Their way on their terms. Like other dogs, don't enjoy humans much. So even though they are domesticated, they still show the old lineage of being independent. My dogs idea of a good time is never chasing a stick or ball, but finding the highest vantage point at a park and watching everyone. A carryover from watching the plains from the hillside, or something.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 186d
I saw a historic photo in a magazine once, where some European colonial officers tried to tame and ride zebras
fossilesque@mander.xyz · 16 pts · 186d
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 186d
Just wait until we have overturn the fascist system, then you'll be first against the wall!
fossilesque@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 186d
BigBenis@lemmy.world · 87 pts · 186d
The Cow says: Moo!
The Horse says: Neigh!
The Zebra says: I ain't nobody's bitch!
kenji1nonly@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 186d
Jet Li says: You, are mine.
Sculptor9157@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 186d
I do not need to know you. You only need to know me!
Janx@piefed.social · 2 pts · 186d
Is this... a The One reference!? I didn't think anyone else watched or cared about that movie!
TomMasz@piefed.social · 75 pts · 186d
Horse-shaped, but definitely not a horse.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 186d
Punk horse, running IDK chimpanzee firmware?
X@piefed.world · 54 pts · 186d
âMotherfucker, do you see the way I look?! Shit ainât for the insta, thatâs for sure. Iâm quite visible to you so you have a long enough time to be getting far the fuck away from me.â
underisk@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 186d
I thought the stripes were actually camouflage and theyâre just monochromatic because the things theyâre hiding from have poor color vision.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz · 38 pts · 186d
Latest theory I heard was:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra
pulsey@feddit.org · 19 pts · 186d
brb getting a full body tattoo
crater2150@feddit.org · 1 pts · 183d
A study about painting stripes on cattle won an Ig-Nobel Price in 2025: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkjzxrrkd5o (article has a photo of a painted cow)
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 27 pts · 186d
The truth is we don't actually know because the zebras don't want us to:
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 186d
There's some accounts throughout history, but humans generally leave them alone. They're aggressive creatures surrounded by even more aggressive killing machines. So it stands to reason that an animal in that environment would be pretty tough to tame.
HejMedDig@feddit.dk · 13 pts · 185d
What you don't spot on that picture is the front "zebra" in the back, is a painted horse. Apparently that helped the zebras remain more calm
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 185d
I actually figured he must have had a more experienced horse along with the zebras to sort of lead the carriage. I know its done with dog sleighs, but not sure about horses.
UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 186d
It has to do with social structures from what I read a while ago.
Horses have a hierarchical structure and zebras don't.
Dasus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 185d
Literally everything in Africa has evolved to run away from humans, because when animals hear human speech and don't run away they get eaten or domesticated.
When you look at a map of domesticated animals origins, not a single one comes from Africa. All the animals there know what humans are like no matter how we try fooling them.
Oh yah here's the video sourcing that shit I just listened to today https://youtu.be/EqGxxWvDXsM
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 26 pts · 186d
Okay, but what about the moose?
Agent641@lemmy.world · 82 pts · 186d
Moose can't ride zebras either
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 186d
Brother, a moose can ride whatever it damn well pleases. But I'd rather not get into the personal stuff, if you don't mind.
King_Bob_IV@startrek.website · 24 pts · 186d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_cavalry
atomicorange@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 186d
Møøse bites kan be pretti nasti
ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website · 9 pts · 186d
My grandmother knew a guy who raised a couple moose and used them to plow his feilds
Maeve@kbin.earth · 16 pts · 186d
Other zebras: good luck with that, bye!
stylusmobilus@aussie.zone · 13 pts · 186d
Yeah they survive for a reason. Theyâre very tough.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 186d
In the 1980s, in Tijuana, tourist kids could ride horses painted like zebras.
stenAanden@feddit.dk · 10 pts · 186d
I honestly wonder if we actually COULD domesticate zebras but it would taking centuries or millennia. Just like other domesticated species.
Chais@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 186d
No. Zebras don't have a herd hierarchy we can exploit. With horses you pick out the lead horse, tame it and boom, the whole herd follows you.
With zebras you get one zebra, if you're very lucky. More likely you'll get kicked and bitten.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · 13 pts · 186d
Like African wild cats! You'd just get some hell monster that doesn't do what it's told and attacks you at random.
LongDickJonsson@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 186d
Isn't that basically all cats
adb@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 186d
Yes, but we never needed to tell cats what to do, we just needed them to stick around and do what they do naturally : catch mice
GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 186d
Nature is just going to nature sometimes.
oatscoop@midwest.social · 1 pts · 186d
oatscoop@midwest.social · 5 pts · 186d
Selective breeding is no different than natural evolution in how drastically it can change an organism given enough time and the right selections for âfitnessâ.
So you could produce a domesticated, tame zebra â but waiting on and favoring the right mutations would take a very long time and be prohibitively expensive. Itâs possible, but not realistically feasible.
boaratio@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 186d
One of them is killing a freaking alligator.
Agent641@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 186d
Crocodile
boaratio@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 186d
Thanks for the correcting.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 186d
They are also not suited to be riding them, even if they were tame.
FatVegan@leminal.space · 4 pts · 186d
Horses aren't either, and people still do it.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 186d
No, i mean, Zebras have a weaker back and are also smaller.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 186d
Mirshe@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 186d
IIRC a few African groups have legends of people trying to tame zebras as long term mounts or livestock, and these legends rarely end well for the attempter.
DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 186d
Hey, stop it zebra, you have to adhere to the rules of the food chain!
NannerBanner@literature.cafe · 2 pts · 186d
Don't worry, the food chain is well preserved.
Pistcow@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
steps on a butterfly
ConstantPain@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
Did you ever see the size of a zebra?
mEEGal@lemmy.world · -14 pts · 186d
looks fake
SPRUNT@lemmy.world · 101 pts · 186d
Spoken like someone who knows nothing about zebras. They're not striped because of camouflage; that's their prison uniform, and they are all violent offenders.
Denjin@feddit.uk · 53 pts · 186d
There's not many animals that haven't been domesticated because they're cunts. And zebras are one.
nesc@lemmy.cafe · 24 pts · 186d
Cats on the other hand are domesticated despite being cunts and we absolutely adore them.
Krauerking@lemy.lol · 23 pts · 186d
Oh, no. As the scientists of the Smithsonian put it,
"scientists think the house cat is only domestic when it wants to be"
mech@feddit.org · 19 pts · 186d
We didn't domesticate cats. They domesticated us.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 186d
They kept rats out of our food storage and we viewed it as adequate enough to not kick them out.
limer@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 186d
We only adore cats because of the parasites controlling our minds.
There is a distinct correlation between cats taking over homes and the spread of that thing
angrystego@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 186d
I've been tested - don't have it, and I love cats. Part of the cat magic is they're not really cunts and many people can see it. Also, the parasite doesn't need you to love cats, it just needs you to not run away from them and to go get eaten by them. If you have a paper showing the correlation, I'd be really interested though - I have a soft spot for this topic, because I got close to a research group focused on it at the uni.
limer@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 186d
Honestly I was only being snarky. There is definitely more parasites the more cats there are, but probably are not responsible for me finding then cute
GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 186d
Humans can have unconditional love for cats, but the opposite is not true
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 3 pts · 186d
I bet house cats would never have been a thing if they didn't house-train (bury their feces) instinctually.
nesc@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 186d
They are extremely useful and adorable. I think it's the violence that makes them so magical, like they are extremely cute cold blooded killing machines.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 1 pts · 186d
The usefulness is dubious for most house cats. Most households don't have mouse infestations, and cats who go outside actively endanger wildlife (and yes, that is an issue for humans as well).
I do agree that they're extremely cute, probably very useful on a psychological level, and honestly I don't know any other cute pet animals that are as cleanly with their feces (dogs can relatively easily be trained to not shit on the carpet, but not to shit in a dog toilet).
nesc@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 186d
Most households where? Even in rich modern nations mice and rodents were a problem very recently. Like in the lifespan of some users on this network.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 186d
I'd say our cats are useful. These are their stats:
Number of birds killed by cats in my household over the last 5 years: 1
Number of birds killed by going full speed, beak first, into a closed window, then tried being passed off as a successful prey: 2 Number of mice killed: +500
Other wildlife known to have been affected: 1 mole
Can other wildlife have been affected? Possibly, but we're confident with regards to birds. And the only other weve seen cats go for are mice. Not even rats, I guess they're too big.
Shieldtoad@sh.itjust.works · 39 pts · 186d
Here is the video. The zebra bites around 1:00.
Eddyzh@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 186d
Hm it's not a fake picture apparently but the situation is definitely not as implied.
Thanks for sharing!
pageflight@piefed.social · 16 pts · 186d
Did expect: self defense. Did not expect: eventually the croc wins, also all the other zebras just walking by.
Eddyzh@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 186d
About the walking by, nice example how safety in numbers works. One can cover the others.
mEEGal@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 186d
thank you for sharing đđ
redbrick@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
crocs are damn scary. They once ripped off an oar from our boat...freaking scary ass moment. Dad chased it off with the other oar. If Jurassic Park were real, crocs are a glimpse of that.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 185d
What's crazy to me is that the zebra seems to display no emotion at all while the crocodile literally rips its leg off.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 185d
zebras are known to attack predators, and horses love to bite.