Hubbard Museum program examines domestication of the wild

Before the invention of motorized vehicles less than 150 years ago, domestic animals played a huge global role in transporting, accompanying and feeding people.

In much of the world they still do, said Ray Pawley, former museum director and zoo animal curator.

"When pioneers arrived at their destinations, there were many kinds of wild animals living in the bush to meet them," he said. "If not for the domesticated animals in ages past that could pull wagons or tolerate a saddle, how would people have gotten around? Most of the great names in history, be it global or local, owe much to the animals that hauled their wagons or helped fight in their battles."

Pawley will give a lecture titled "Animals and Ancestors" at 11:30 a.m., Sept. 7, at the Hubbard Museum of the American West, located on U.S. 70 in Ruidoso Downs.

"How far back can animal domestication be traced? Using the dog as an example, they probably were the first to team up with people, but there is no record of how or when that happened," he said.

"If we look to the Aborigines of Australia and their partnership with their dogs, the Dingo, we may get a clue."

Pawley said dogs did not suddenly emerge as companions to humans; in fact the two were most likely competitors in search of the same prey.

Each predator relied on a different, yet complimentary, set of hunting skills.

"Dogs with their extraordinary abilities to smell and hear could team up with Humans who had sharp, elevated eyesight along with superior advance planning capabilities," Pawley said."

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Through hundreds of years of selective breeding, the remarkable elasticity of dog genetics has enabled an array of sizes, physical traits and training proclivities beyond any other domestic species, Pawley said.

"If felines, for example, had those same capabilities, house cats might be the size of Great Danes."

As beasts of burden, dogs were ultimately replaced by a far larger animal, the horse which was probably first domesticated by early peoples of the Mongolian region perhaps 5,000 years ago.

"Their supporting role in history cannot be overstated," he said. "It was on the backs of horses in the early 1200s, for example, that the Golden Horde under Genghis Khan broke out of Mongolia on War Horses. 

"His mounted warriors conquered lands as far east as the Pacific and west to Russia, creating the largest Empire the world has ever seen. Without horses such a venture would never have happened."

Many other kinds of creatures were domesticated to serve a wide range of critical and even unique needs such as camels, alpaca and vicuna, he said.

Pawley's lecture will  cover the complex relationship of humans to animals - among which even resides hummingbirds.

"At least two species of hummingbirds have become, to a great extent, dependent on people to the point where they are arguably domestic birds," Pawley said. "In fact, they do provide an enormous service by picking off hordes of small insects including some mosquitoes, from sun-up to sundown. Hummingbirds have far over-populated what their environment can support naturally. If sugar-water bottles were to suddenly disappear, most of the populations of these birds would very likely crash."

New domestication efforts are constantly being made, even today, he said. 

Bison were never domesticated as cattle were, because they were available by the thousands as food for Native Americans. But they are found today on vast private ranches, harvested for their lean meat.

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Zoos are another hot-bed of domestication since few of the animals exhibited are captured from the wild. Captive breeding results in specimens that are increasingly compatible with people and comfortable with conditions in captivity.

Reporter Dianne Stallings can be contacted at dstallings@ruidosonews.com.