PlaidJaguar
Arachnoknight
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2013
- Messages
- 243
Try telling a large parrot owner that only dogs can bond emotionally with humans. Let us know how far you get with that. For that matter, horses, cats, primates, rats, and even wild animals like bears and lions have been known to show strong loyalty to humans. Just because animals don't bond with YOU doesn't mean they don't bond with anybody else.Stan, are you suggesting that tarantulas are in the process of being domesticated? Not sure how the wolf example fits, but there is no other animal that understands humans anywhere near the extent that dogs do. 15,000-30,000 years of bonding with an intelligent, social animal has produced our best and most loyal friend in the animal kingdom. They have willing faced death and died to save people. What's happened to the numerous pets you listed (parakeets, snakes, hamsters, etc) is people selectively breeding them for a few characteristics, usually color and markings, but the emotional bond with humans isn't anything like it is with dogs. They're 'domestic' in the sense that they don't occur in the wild, but most have little if any loyalty to us. I don't see that happening with tarantulas either, even given hundreds of thousands of years. I see some of your point, which is valid, but I think you were wandering around in left field on this one when you tried to make the connection to spiders, old boy.
I realize tarantulas aren't nearly as emotionally complex as even the lower vertebrates, but they don't have to bond emotionally to tolerate handling well. Several of my spiders don't show any discernible aversion to handling. I certainly don't think they enjoy it, but they don't care either way, so why bother "protecting" them from it? I like it, and they don't dislike it, so there's no logical reason not to handle them. To a spider, it's just another part of the environment, like plastic plants, artificial lighting, and the big metal tongs that deliver meals right on schedule.