How to Make a Best Friend
One of my favourite chapters in Mooge is ‘Animals (or How Mooge Went Wild Taming Animals)’. It’s actually about the domestication of animals rather than taming. There is an important distinction between the two, but a children’s book is not the place to explain it. We’ll call it artistic licence, which is prevalent throughout Mooge. After all, he manages to domesticate wolves/dogs, horses and sheep all in one afternoon! Of course, the lesson for the children is these animals were once wild but human’s ability to control and utilise them to their own advantage (domestication) was an important step in our progress during the prehistoric era.
What I find so enjoyable about the prehistoric period is both the mystery - we will never know for certain what happened - and also the brilliant science and archaeology that provides evidence and robust theories of what might have happened. Modern genomics has brought about revolutionary developments to the point that scientists can say that dogs originated from one location (Siberia) and one family of wolves, whose particular branch is no longer around. What remains less clear is how humans domesticated them. However, an excellent podcast I recently listened to (The Ancients*) talked of a multi-generational assimilation brought about by the human habit of leaving a mess (I knew it was my genes causing the disarray in my bedroom as a teenager!). The theory goes that certain wolves learned that an easy source of food were those humans who conveniently left scraps from their hunting lying around. We see something similar today with urban foxes or bears brazenly exploring human conurbations, raiding our rubbish for a tasty snack. As one generation of wolves passed, the next knew nothing other than this behaviour for acquiring dinner and so developed a reliant relationship with humans, following them rather than their natural prey.
I’m delighted to say that cuteness may also have played a role. Who wouldn’t succumb to the fluffy, cuddliness of a young wolf cub (they still use the principal to sell toilet roll!)? One family adopts an orphan cub, another enviously follows, and soon you have tame (yes, I mean tame) animals within a human settlement, with the potential to breed. The road to domestication still had a way to go. That cuteness doesn’t last and some will have grown up with a temperament more in keeping with Red Riding Hood’s nemesis. Humans obviously recognised this and learned that you only use those with a mild and obedient temperament to breed. Thus, over many generations, turning the Big Bad Wolf into a Lassie. It’s incredible to think our ancestors understood what they had to do without necessarily understanding how things worked.
What this scenario tells us is these humans were thriving, discarding excess food for others to scavenge or willing to feed another beyond their own precious family members. It's not in our nature to give with no return and I suspect someone understood well how a canine ally could pay their way with the corralling of prey. It signalled the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
As a theory this works very well but there is joy in knowing it can’t be proved, leaving the world wondering if instead what really happened mirrored the tale told in Mooge.
Nate Wrey
reference:
*The Ancients (podcast by History Hit) - The First Dogs - an interview with archaeologist, Dr Angela Perri. 1 Feb 2024.