Nature or Nurture?

Domesticated or wild? Tame or feral?

It’s not quite that simple is it?

Yes, if you are painting broadly, wolves as a group are “wild,” and one on a leash can be described as “tame”.

Conversely, dogs as a group are “domesticated,” but an adult dog that was born in a dump far from humans, eats roadkill, and has never seen the inside of a building or worn a collar on its neck can be described as “feral”.

But things fall apart and come together if we look a bit closer.

Take a truly feral adult dog or cat.  

Can they be rehabilitated?  

It depends on the animal, but it’s *always* difficult, as truly feral adult cats and dogs are as fearful of people as a naturally wild animal. 

Why is that?  

Well, it seems the process of “going feral” in dogs and cats fundamentally changes how their brain and central nervous systems deal with novelty.

Anxiety is almost always on the front burner.  

These genetically “domesticated” dogs and cats have been effectively “wired for wild”.

Where and when does this wiring occur?

It occurs in the Limbic System of the brain, and it occurs in the first few days and weeks after birth.

What’s the Limbic System?

The Limbic System is the part of an individual animal’s brain that controls “flight or fight,” emotion, fear, and mood.

An individual animal’s Limbic System is wired and rewired starting at birth and over the next few weeks.

Changes in the Limbic System are, as far as we can tell, one-way events. 

What’s that mean?  It means that if a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat, is born and raised to adulthood without human contact, it’s always going to be wild, and its “flight or fight” button will govern a great deal of its life.

Conversely, if a wild animal, such as a wolf or big cat, is born and raised to adulthood with lots of positive human contact, its “flight or fight” button will be attenuated due to changes made to the Limbic System shortly after birth

What about domesticated dogs that are born with genetic fear?  

There’s a topic that too often gets little attention!

Dogs born with genetic fear may have been well-cared for through their first 12 weeks of life, but they remain anxious and hand-shy nonetheless.  These animals are, in the words of Lady Gaga “born that way”.  

Can they be “fixed”?  

Not easily.  

A dog with genetic fear is a dog with a broken Limbic System. People are free to do what they want, but in my opinion a dog with genetic fear needs to be put down as humanely as possible, as the defect is in the brain, and makes them maladaptive as a pet.

Now, let’s flip it around and look at it the other way.   What about wild animals that are captured when only a few days old?

Here things go in the opposite direction.  Several things are happening in this situation,  especially with animals whose eyes are not yet open.

Imprinting, socialization, and rewards-based training all work together in this scenario to “tame” the natural fear of humans that pervades most wild animals.

This is Limbic Imprinting.

Limbic Imprinting begins with Filial Imprinting, in which baby animals naturally follow the first moving thing they see.  When that instinctive behavior is rewarded with food, warmth. and positive contact, the imprinting that occurs is likely permanent, and certainly difficult to change. 

Why is it so hard to change?  

That’s because an animal’s neonatal experience wires, or rewires, the  brain’s Limbic System (aka, the paleo-mammalian cortex) which is involved in emotional processing and motivation in vertebrate animals. 

Limbic Imprinting is a physical thing, and it’s key to understanding why the “taming” of wild animals captured when only a few hours or days old, is so often successful. 

Limbic Imprinting also explains why adult feral versions of “domesticated” animals are so difficult to work with despite descending from thousands of years of domestic stock.

Can “wild” animals taken at birth be tamed to the point of being far safer and more tractable than adult “domesticated” animals allowed to go fully feral?

Absolutely. We can see that in every country, every culture, in every era, and with damn near every animal, from elephants to lions, from chimpanzees to cheetahs, from horses to buffalo, from camels to red fox, and from badger to wolves. 

Some wild animals seem to tame rather easily, such as camels, horses, water buffalos, yaks, ducks, geese, hamsters, pigs, wild cats, and junglefowl.

These same animals, of course, have no trouble going feral.

Are they domesticated animals going feral, or wild animals made tame?

Does it matter?  

It’s really a tautological word game isn’t it?  Six of one and half a dozen of the other, as the old saying goes.

To be clear, imprinting and training *alone* will not make a wolf a bird dog or a good family pet.  

Even if a “wild” animal is always friendly and safe, there will be other issues that remain; size, urine marking, denning behavior, food caching, and the like. And, in the case of coyotes, foxes, and wolves, their body movements and play behavior may not be dog-like.

But can a wolf stolen from the den at two days old be turned into an animal that is safer than a three year old poorly socialized and truly feral 120-pound dog?

Absolutely.

And so now we get down to it: “domesticated” does not mean much,

Despite being domesticated for over 15,000 years, pet dogs routinely kill sheep and goats, kill other dogs, and maul and kill people.

And what about cattle and horses?  They’ve been domesticated for millennia, but woe be the fool that crosses the wire into a bull pasture.  

If you go to Pamplona and find yourself running with four feet of horn and two thousand pounds of muscle bearing down on you, be sure to yell backwards, “But you’re domesticated!”  I’m sure that will work wonders.

By the way, a truly feral dog is NOT the same as a stray or a village dog.  Strays and village dogs generally have had quite a lot of experience with humans, early on, and these animals see people as potential sources for food handouts.  A truly feral dog does not.

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