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!
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
43 points (97.8% liked)
Ask Lemmy
38469 readers
1380 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Maybe a large seal species. Something to ride in the water, but that could still come on land and fall asleep by the fire.
Giraffes of course.
Silly question.
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.
Which birds see large enough for a person to fly on?
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
Raccoons are cool. They seem to be in the early stages of self-domestication, which is probably how we got cats.
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.
Even better, if after their domestication they were still smart and resistant enough to not fall into the hands of owners that treat them like toys.
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.
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(5 replies)
If you could miniaturize them I would totally take a house hippo
The murderous insanity would actually be kinda funny if it was in miniature against, like, a beetle.
Pitbulls already exist
Kinda different, one is a miniaturised hippo, another is mr worldwide.
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.
Tapeworms. Lil' butt-buddies.
... Is this bestiality?
It's could help lose weight, I guess.
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
load more comments
(4 replies)
Raccoons, foxes.
Wombats, they are super cute and apparently quite smart.
https://youtube.com/shorts/IdgFAIo6NMA
I would also love to see people riding a diprotodon, which is a distant relative
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
Foxes. Like a dog, but not.
Thanks to Russia, we're already partway there.
"Cat software, dog hardware"
load more comments
(1 replies)
I've always wanted an ocelot.
Bats. Imagine having a friendly familiar. They could also be used to carry messages.
load more comments
(4 replies)
view more: next ›