Eli5: Why can’t you make a pet out of a wolf, a bear or a lion?
In: Biology
Domesticating large carnivores would be too difficult, dangerous and is not worth the effort. Let’s compare dogs to bears and lions.
Let’s start with it’s not worth doing. People might want lions and bears for home defense for to guard property but these animals are much harder to contain than a dog. If they get out they’ll kill people. If they’re having a bad day they’ll kill people. Lions view humans as food and bears just don’t wanna deal with you.
In 2023 there was 4.5 million dog bites reported in the United States alone. Those bites resulted in less than 50 fatalities largely because most dogs are small in comparison to humans. The average lion weighs several times more than the average dog, bears can easily be 10 times heavier or more. The size discrepancy between humans and lions or bears means mass death if we started keeping them as pets. Because if you get bit by a 60 pound dog, you probably survive. If you get bit by a 300 pound lion or 800 pound bear you die.
Imagine having a 500 pound male lion or 800 pound grizzly in the backyard down one day at besides your toddler smells delicious. That line is going right through a window and bears are strong enough to tear cars apart. There’s no controlling these animals if they decide to kill you.
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