Do animals keep pets?
After reading an article from Psychology Today by Hal Herzog, it got me thinking about the idea of pet-keeping. The article ”Are Humans The Only Animals That Keep Pets?“, claims that humans are the only animal that keeps members of other species for an extended point of time purely for enjoyment. Herzog points out that while some animals are documented having pets, this behavior almost always happen in captive or semi-captive environment where food and shelter are provided. The author believes that humans are “true” pet owners because the owner-pet relationship occurs in a natural setting and argues that animal pet owners are not “true” pet owners because they do so in captive or semi-captive settings. Thus, Herzog believes that humans are the only animals that keep pets.
Cited in the article is a paper by Izar et al. (2006), on cross-genus adoption of a marmoset by wild capuchin monkeys (link to the paper is below on References). While the paper specifically refers to the behavior as an adoption, Herzog and paper co-author Dorothy Fragaszy think that there is a parallel between the capuchin-marmoset adoption and pet-keeping in humans. However, these capuchins live in a site where food are provided daily. So, Despite the similarities, these capuchins are not “true” pet owners according to Herzog’s definition of pet-keeping,
What is a pet and how would you define one? Herzog (2010) defines a pet as a member of other species that are being kept for an extended period of time for enjoyment. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of a pet is “a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility”. The definition of a pet in Oxford English Dictionary is “a domestic or tamed animal or bird kept for companionship or pleasure and treated with care and affection”. Dr. James Serpell defines pet-keeping as a leisure activity but not necessarily without function, much like there are function in play or other recreational pursuits (Serpell, 1990). He thinks that pet-keeping is functional in a broad sense but not easily evaluable in economic terms.
References:
Herzog, H. 2010. Are Humans The Only Animals That Keep Pets? Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201006/are-humans-the-only-animals-keep-pets
Izar, P. Verderane, MP. Visalberghi E. Ottoni, E. De Oliveira, MG. Shirley, J. Fragaszy, D. 2006. Cross-Genus Adoption of a Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) by Wild Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus libidinosus): Case Report. American Journal of Primatology 68:692-700. Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://psychology.uga.edu/primate/pub/Cross-genus%20adoption%20AJP%2068,%20692-700%202006.pdf
Serpell, JA. 1990. Pet-keeping and Animal Domestication: A reappraisal. In The Walking Larder. Clutton-Brock, J, ed. Pp. 10-21. Massachusetts: Unwin Hyman Inc. Retrieved July 1, 2010 http://research.vet.upenn.edu/Portals/36/media/Serpell_pet_keeping_domestication.pdf
Originally posted on The Prancing Papio.
[...] of the assumptions about hormones by referring to the recently sequenced Neanderthal genome. At the Primatology blog there is a great article on whether animals keep pets. There is a discussion of a paper on [...]
News Round-Up: July 2010 2nd Edition « The Amazing World of Psychiatry: A Psychiatry Blog
July 11, 2010 at 3:58 am
[...] Primatology.net ran a thoughtful post, ‘Do animals keep pets?’ The thought experiment began with a piece in Psychology Today, not a journal, I know, but still an intriguing question. The crux seems to lie in the PT author’s definition of pet as an animal without utilitarian value to its keeper. You don’t need to be Donna Haraway to see the problem with this, mandating a distinction between work and play is a central value to Western cultures. Perhaps the PT author has fallen into the classic trap of naive realism. I see no reason why there should not be a very broad, inclusive definition of pets that subsumes some non-human interspecies relationships. [...]
Around the Web | Savage Minds
July 13, 2010 at 11:15 am
I think that humans are the one who has the capabilities of keeping pets although there are some rare cases of animals who happens to also have pets. Humans show more affection to their pets than those animals that have pets.
pets
July 26, 2010 at 4:25 pm
[...] this summer, Around the Web directed you to this Primatology.net think piece: Do animals keep pets? Well check out this photo gallery from the Telegraph of a macaque keeping a kitten in Monkey Forest [...]
Around the Web | Savage Minds
September 4, 2010 at 6:58 pm
The answer is “Yes animals can have pets”
Yes the baby baboon didn’t last long. But the cheetah tried.
David Frohman
November 10, 2010 at 4:23 pm
http://www.divinecaroline.com/22353/50203-food-friend-animals-adopt-species/2 << In fact, more evidence here. In general.
David Frohman
November 10, 2010 at 4:41 pm
[...] of the assumptions about hormones by referring to the recently sequenced Neanderthal genome. At the Primatology blog there is a great article on whether animals keep pets. There is a discussion of a paper on [...]
News Round-Up 2010 « The Amazing World of Psychiatry: A Psychiatry Blog
January 6, 2011 at 8:09 pm
pet keeping is a by product of slavery when there is an element of confinement in the mix yet people usually play down the exploitation and call it companionship. it is only that our puppy dogs they have developed stockholm syndrome far too easily and forget to go after sometime or in most cases they derive a mutualism relationship with us. between animals, however, any pet-keeping like behaviour would involve genuine affection because there is lack of captivity. you don’t lock up your friends after the parties right?
red
April 29, 2011 at 2:59 am