DBAHC/WI: Humans don't domesticate the Ostrich

The domestication of the ostrich, first by the bantu of the Nile River Basin and later among |kung tribes in the Kigala region [OTL Botswana] is generally regarded as a turning point for humans, with its eggs, flesh, and flexible diet allowing for a high-yield domesticate that allowed the formations of the great civilisations of Africa like the Tangayikan and the Kemetians, and allowed to dominate trade with Alaradia [OTL Asia]. However, imagine a way nomadic tribes never got a chance to or never saw a good reason why they should, and how Earth's cultures would develop, as well as potential species that could act as good substitutes for the ostrich.
 

yoyo

Banned
An Ostrich Egg every half-week keeps the famine away. I guess there would be more famines i think.
 
I dunno, it's pretty hard to imagine wars from before antiquity to early modern times without the ubiquitous terror bird cavalry. Maybe horses or zebras? Horses are pretty damn tame for a prey species and zebras...can be taught to not hate people.

terrorbird_02.JPG
 
I dunno, it's pretty hard to imagine wars from before antiquity to early modern times without the ubiquitous terror bird cavalry. Maybe horses or zebras? Horses are pretty damn tame for a prey species and zebras...can be taught to not hate people.

terrorbird_02.JPG
Accounts of ostrich cavalry from Antiquity are probably apocryphal, or they were used on a case-by-case basis like war pigs. Writers from Antiquity report that the big birds were so dumb back then, they buried their head in the sand to avoid being seen.

It's in the Middle Ages that you see documented records of ostrich cavalry. Recent studies of Ostrich DNA have found that the mutations that gave war ostriches and draft ostriches freakishly large brain sizes and leg muscles compared to dairy ostriches, first appeared around 200 CE and 600 CE respectively.

Ostriches didn't evolve to have such large brains. It came at a price. Draft ostriches still have health problems today, and tend to be paranoid basket cases unless trained by very skilled handlers. If poorly trained, they go on a rampage and kill other animals and humans in their pens. This is why many League of Nations jurisdictions are heavily regulating ostrichkeeping.
 
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Dolan

Banned
Accounts of ostrich cavalry from Antiquity are probably apocryphal, or they were used on a case-by-case basis like war pigs. Writers from Antiquity report that the big birds were so dumb back then, they buried their head in the sand to avoid being seen!

It's in the Middle Ages that you see documented records of ostrich cavalry. Recent studies of Ostrich DNA have found that the mutations that gave war ostriches and draft ostriches freakishly large brain sizes and leg muscles compared to dairy ostriches, first appeared around 200 CE and 600 CE respectively.
Thank the Gods for The Wolves then, they were bigger, stronger, much more obedient, and much easier to train compared to war-ostriches. They are also pretty much being favorite of children everywhere.

Yes, they did originally bred from carnivorous wild wolves, but tens of thousands of years made them adapted to basically eat whatever we have on the table.

Also unlike Ostriches, who tend to just get on business with whoever capable of riding them, wolves knew their masters, and is almost virtually theft-proof as they tend to attack strangers who tried to mount them (unless the thief your own family who stole your wolf, but then, family recognition is what made wolves being safe for even children).

Also, Ostrich cavalry are practically forced to stay mounted all the time since those birds tend to run away from the fight, while Wolf cavalrymen will dismount after the charge and their Wolves will stay and fight alongside them.
 
OOC: Are we talking about the modern-day ostriches or the Cenozoic terror birds?
Humans at first only used ostriches for their eggs, meat, skin, and feathers but as human populations increased, people seem to have begun selectively breeding them for either food production or draft purposes in the late BCEs. The calvary or "terror bird" ostrich breed first made its battlefield debut around 200 CE in Egyptian and Nubian records. From there, they rapidly across the rest of the Old World.
 
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Karsins [1], the big stocky relatives of sheep and goats Agrian [2] peoples use.

[1] Aurochs, water buffalo, and gaurs,
[2] Indian Subcontinent
 
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