Tame
About this book
Tame
– Being tame is on a spectrum.
Born wild
– One’s personality isn’t a choice.
Animal behaviors
– Desperation drives us to animal behaviors.
Intelligence
– Would the wolf’s intelligence rival the dog’s?
Training
– Unnatural acts humor us.
Farm animals
– Farming depends on a small number of animal species.
Selective breeding
– We’ll breed other animals, not humans.
Domesticating the fox
– Breeding a friendly fox makes a kind of dog.
Animal husbandry
– We care for our cows.
Service animals
– A service animal has a specialty.
Animal actors
– Other species should be entertaining.
Procreation
– Some species procreate freely in a zoo.
Potty training
– It’s not just learning to use a toilet.
Sea mammals
– They might not agree on our terms.
A dog runs free
– She wants to be chased.
Mountain lions
– Try to make it think that you aren’t frightened.
Mountain goats
– Try not train them to expect anything of humans.
Grizzlies in the wild
– Respect a grizzly’s space.
Grizzlies at the zoo
– The zoo is not as bad as a jail.
Tyger, tyger
– A jungle is the tiger’s world, not yours.
Bats
– A bat doesn’t want to tangle in your hair.
Trained fleas
– The flea is a domesticated insect.
Wolves
– Our notions of wolves are mostly fictions.
Breeds
– Canines like wolves and dogs can interbreed.
Nature shows
– I don’t like nature shows.
How wild animals see us
– They think we stink.
How we see wild animals
– They’re too fierce to live in captivity.
Old Testament animals
– It’s myth, not history.
Adopting a dog
– We share our lives.
Industrial farms
– We fed them, we bred them.
Transference
– A duckling loves the first animal it sees.