posted
Not the Kryponion critters, but the possibilies of 31st century-based usage of human/animal bonds...
In this month's NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC there's an article about an experiment in domesticating animals that's been taking place in Russia for 50 years in which they've achieved dog-like human bonding in foxes.
Not just tolerance for humans, but wanting human/fox contact. In generation after generation, which is the qualification for domestication- not just isolated individuals making a bond.
Pretty interesting- especially in light of a recent find in the Middle East in which fox remains were found beside human indicating a pet/human relationship. Said remains are supposedly older than similar remains that have been found setting the oldest known dog/human partnerships.
So the Russian experiment's sort of like us reinventing the wheel we didn't know ever turned.
That's neither here nor there, though. What made me think of the Super-Pets is the idea of induced domestication in a handful of decades and how that might be extrapolated to imagine the future.
It might be common to see genteel ladies strolling the streets of Metropolis with tigers on a leash (assuming tigers can survive that long...sigh). Sub in lion or bear or zebra or eagle...
Think also of how many breeds of dogs there are- all descendants of wolves. Most breeds are less than a 1,000 years old. Look at a Pekingnese and a wolf. Hard to imagine them as related, but they are.
What sort of animals might result from the selective breeding over centuries of domesticated Cheetahs or Panda Bears or foxes?
The research indicates that some traits in foxes like ears staying floppier longer into cubhood and tails that curl upward when around humans occur with only the selection for friendliness towards humans.
Imagine what we might breed for with a giraffe?
Or with animals from other planets?
Why not a tamed Lightning Beast? Or Earthquake monster? And I don't mean tamed like a circus animal-- I suppose before long domesticated foxes in the here and now would be considered separate breeds (if not species) from their wild, undomesticated cousins, so a domesticated strain of Earthquake monster would be a 'horse of a different color' than the one that Jungle King used.
We're learning so much more about animals and their relations to us- that branch of science should be as miraculously advanced as teleportation portals or limb regeneration or computers in the 31st century.
I've previously imagined special, mutated sort of animals that no-one else but the LSH could work with, but the fox-research makes me think of eagle/human partners where the eagles have been bred for *centuries* to want to please their humans using their great eyesight for search and rescue purposes. Or bats.
That'd be pretty much the only 31st century Batman I'd want to see appear in a LSH book. One who worked with actual bats, using advanced training methods learned from centuries of a bond achieved through selective breeding.
So a Legion of Super-Pets wouln't be super-hero dogs owned by Legionnaires (though I still want to see that sort of- just not Kryptonion sentient ones), but would be a sort of umbrella organization embracing animals that humans bond with to save lives. Like search and rescue dogs, army dophins, etc. However, even if a Legion of Super-Pets is destined to remain nostalgic, I think any animals shown in the 31st century might be imagined with this research in mind.
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
If this was a vote, I vote no. There are far too many pets, domesticated or otherwise, that are bred just to be sold to bad owners. I was thinking of getting some rabbits or guinea pigs in the future, but the horror stories of abandoned Easter gifts has left me cold. I know this is mostly about fictional characters, but this matters a lot in reality as well.
Me, I'm hoping for a Gundam future.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I wonder if the 'pets' of the future will be more likely to be animatronics, like robo sapiens or whatever, due to the various issues with keeping living pets.
It's also not clear what the status of 'kinda smart' animals is in the future. Are dolphins and whales and chimps protected species, or, more to the cutting edge, are species discovered on alien worlds that are 'on the cusp' of being considered sentient, gathering in groups, forming communities, but not having gotten to the 'make fire' stage, protected or avoided? Does the UP have a 'prime directive' of non-interference, or are they animals until proven otherwise?
It's been 1000 years, and all sorts of alien / magical / meta-gene influenced shenanigans have occurred to the genetics of various species even in the 21st century comicbook universe (with cities of advanced gorillas and water-breathing people and bird-people). It would be interesting to 'discover' that the whales and dolphins of Earth became fully sentient centuries ago, perhaps as a result of some Atlantean tinkering (or tinkering by someone who was anti-Atlantean, and was trying to turn them against them?), and have long since relocated to a water-world (or several of them, as colonists) far from Earth, where they alone rule the waters of their new home(s).
We've seen plenty of examples of how humanity has changed (and / or stayed the same) over the last 1000 years, but it's not terribly clear if cats and dogs and whatnot even still exist, or if domesticated strains of animals have all but vanished as 'pets' went out of style...
Registered: Aug 2006
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
quote:Originally posted by Set: It's also not clear what the status of 'kinda smart' animals is in the future. Are dolphins and whales and chimps protected species, or, more to the cutting edge, are species discovered on alien worlds that are 'on the cusp' of being considered sentient, gathering in groups, forming communities, but not having gotten to the 'make fire' stage, protected or avoided? Does the UP have a 'prime directive' of non-interference, or are they animals until proven otherwise?
We've seen this issue explored a little bit with the Antareans.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Todd, you rock! I also get NG and thought that was a terrific article. Especially the physical traits that develop from domestication, in addition to social ones.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Red Arrow: If this was a vote, I vote no. There are far too many pets, domesticated or otherwise, that are bred just to be sold to bad owners. I was thinking of getting some rabbits or guinea pigs in the future, but the horror stories of abandoned Easter gifts has left me cold. I know this is mostly about fictional characters, but this matters a lot in reality as well.
Me, I'm hoping for a Gundam future.
I have no idea what a Gundam future is, but i ditto the rest.
pets-as-commodities is dangerously irresponsible, in terms of fads and the aftermaths. Pets-as-symbiotic-relationships, even working relationships (a la dogs) makes sense, to a point. It's hard to see a tiger-as-pet as the latter. And extraterrestrial animal pets will be a nightmare, both ethically and biologically.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I seriously doubt we'll ever see domesticated tigers. I suspect the amount of selective breeding needed to really make them domesticated would basically turn them into something very similar to modern housecats. I wouldn't surprise me if a number of smaller animals such as foxes though become common as pets in the future. For some species, it may be the only way in which they survive. Interestingly, skunks are apparently one of the most easily domesticated animals, but for obvious reasons have never caught on as pets.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
But what would the purpose be for humans to domesticate these animals?
And what do you mean by domestication, because the way most pet suppliers breed animals is not what you would consider "friendly to humans" conditions.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Yes the puppy mills are bad, but not all people who breed animals do so inhumanely. And as Eryk said, domestication may be the only way for some species to survive.
In regards to the future of pets in the Legion universe, we do know from Whizzy (Streaky's descendent) that cats developed a telepathic ability.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
quote:Originally posted by jimgallagher: Skunks can be destinkified though.
That raises a lot of ethical issues, however, similar to (though perhaps not quite as bad as) declawing cats.
One interesting question concerns the future of animals that we today consider as "livestock" rather than pets. Assuming that vegetarianism or at least synthetic meat is the trend of the future, then where does that leave animals such as cattle that thrive only because we happen to find them both tasty and docile enough to raise for food. There are relatively few wild cattle left today, so it wouldn't surprise me if, by the Legion's time, they only exist in zoos.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
quote:Originally posted by Quislet, Esq: In regards to the future of pets in the Legion universe, we do know from Whizzy (Streaky's descendent) that cats developed a telepathic ability.
Hmm... for some reason I always thought that was simply a trait of Whizzy rather than something that applied to all cats. If it *is* a general feature of future cats, it'd be cool to see more of it.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
That's right now. I know people with miniature horses. And pet pigs.
Foxes/men before dogs/men makes sense because they're much easier to tame than wolves, imo. I can see them miniaturized in Legion times and bred for permenant white or red, as well as some people keeping the seasonal coat variety.
Racoons make amazing pets, and if the rabies scare could be eliminated, I could see people having them for pets. Especially if they could be domesticated like foxes, and not need to return to the wild after they mature.
They're clean like cats but more social and less destructive. Their nocturnal nature would need to be dealt with unless they become a pet that is mostly chosen by night people.
I'd kind of love to see Night Girl with both an owl, a racoon and perhaps a number of night creatures from her home world and perhaps one from Braal (a gift from Rokk), that she could use as a team for night forays.
I have a friend who raises puppies and she's amazingly loving and wonderful with them, so there are bad AND good breeders, as in everything.
My cat, still a kitten, fetches balls and strings, goes where I point and ruffles the shade when she wants me to raise it so she can sit on the window ledge. Is she telepathic? Maybe. Or, maybe soon.
-------------------- 'In the twinkling of an eye' I'll be dancing in the sky!
Come, join me!
From: Salem, Oregon USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: One interesting question concerns the future of animals that we today consider as "livestock" rather than pets. Assuming that vegetarianism or at least synthetic meat is the trend of the future, then where does that leave animals such as cattle that thrive only because we happen to find them both tasty and docile enough to raise for food. There are relatively few wild cattle left today, so it wouldn't surprise me if, by the Legion's time, they only exist in zoos.
We are technologically able to grow cultured flesh in a lab right now, from a small sample of cells (sometimes used to grow a larger 'swatch' of skin for a burn victim, from a small patch taken from an unburnt part of their body), and, scaling up, could grow vast sheets of mink fur or prime rib or tasty bacon from donor animals that remain alive and healthy, having only given a few cells for the cause of keeping meat-loving humans satisfied.
It's just not *economically* feasible yet, and won't be until it's cheaper than raising cows and butchering them. (PETA fairly recently offered a $1 million dollar prize to the first research team working on this to come up with an economically viable solution to put vat-grown meat from an animal that remains alive on the market.)
Fish is an odd exception. With proper 'scaffolding,' cow muscles can be grown and used as 'steak' (just, currently, at way too high an expense to be viable). Attempts to replicate this with fish produces only undifferentiated mush, and they aren't quite sure why it doesn't grow in solution the way that beef or chicken does.
I'm sure that, by the 30th century, they'll have figured that out, and 99% of 'meat' will come from vats, while the animal donors whose flesh thousands of people are eating every day, graze outside, unaware that that shot in the rump they got five years ago extracted some cells that have been cultured into several hundred thousand pounds of rump roast since then...
The only *real* meat will be expensive, as it will come from animals at end-of-life, or be purchased on the black market from illegal suppliers, or members of local cultures or faiths that are allowed to cull X number of animals as part of their traditional beliefs (and, unfortunatly, some bad egg occasionally abuses these exceptions to sell off the venison or whale meat or whatever, since it's worth ridiculous amounts to wealthy carnivores who want to eat 'real' meat instead of the cultured stuff, despite cultured meat tasting *better*, due to controlled nutrients, etc.).
A few entire *worlds* (such as Talokk VIII and Orando) may have such 'cultural exceptions,' and there might be a bit of 'carnivore tourism' on those worlds, as gourmands cross the gulfs of space to sample flesh taken from real animals, that can only be acquired illegally on their home worlds.
(And there's no recourse to complain to if the guy who you paid a ridiculous sum for 'real' venison went to the super-market and bought some cultured meat and packaged it to look like 'real' meat... It's not like you can take him to the cops for cheating you out of the illegal stuff you wanted!)
Registered: Aug 2006
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