Domesticated Zebras

ingemann

Banned
Hmm, fair enough, but I'm not sure if donkeys would make that great of a meat animal. They would primarily be useful as a labor animal to agriculturalists or pastoralists herding something that's bigger and develops quicker.

Really? Why not?

Donkeys can survive harsh and dry climates, they produce milk, and while goats would be better, they are less destructive for the climate. So in the Sahel they would be a acceptable meat animal.
 
It should be noted that the ancient Egyptians had horses by 1600 BCE (via invasion by Middle-eastern peoples) well before the later Muslim or European expansions into Africa.
 
Really? Why not?

Donkeys can survive harsh and dry climates, they produce milk, and while goats would be better, they are less destructive for the climate. So in the Sahel they would be a acceptable meat animal.

I was thinking they mature too slowly. And even-toed ungulates have out-survived odd-toed ungulates in most of the world for a reason. But I don't know, I just can't think of a single culture that's herded odd-toed ungulates as their primary meat animal, and I wonder if there's a reason why. If pastoral cultures could arise in areas where only tamable odd-toed ungulates were native, why didn't they?
 

ingemann

Banned
I was thinking they mature too slowly. And even-toed ungulates have out-survived odd-toed ungulates in most of the world for a reason. But I don't know, I just can't think of a single culture that's herded odd-toed ungulates as their primary meat animal, and I wonder if there's a reason why. If pastoral cultures could arise in areas where only tamable odd-toed ungulates were native, why didn't they?

They take two years to fully mature (the same as cattle). It's a acceptable timescale compared to the amount of meat they produce and the alternate sourse of fat and protein they produce (milk). As for horses they were original domesticated in central asia and was original a meat animal.

They have a few strength as a meat animal and that's the bigger mobility. Cattle demand to be immobile a significant part of the day thanks to them having rechewing their cud. Donkey don't have to do that, and can be moved faster, a significant benefit in arid areas.
 

katchen

Banned
Katchen

The big reason to have a zebra-horse hybrid (zorse) or zebra-donkey hybrid (zeedonk) is because zebras are resistant to trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) caused by protozoans transmitted by Tsetse fly bites. Horses and donkeys are not. The Southern Roman Empire thread would be perfect for developing and using these hybrids, since they would make carriage by draft animals instead of human bearers possible across the African savannah. (And by the way, the Ubangi, Congo and thence either the Lomani or Kasai and Sankuru Rivers would be a way by boat across the Congo rainforest to the Southern savannah lands--it was how the Bantu got to the Southern savannahs from the Cameroun area they originated in so quickly). Draft animals are very important even if they are not feasible for cavalry. They are not only the difference between walking and riding, they are the difference between crops that can be produced by human beings with hoes and crops that are grown in plowed fields, especially once the moldboard plow is developed. Without something like a zeedonk to pull a plow, Africans must wait for modern self-propelled tractors to get beyond hoed field horticulture as they largely did in OTL.
Zebras cannot be domesticated because they have a complete aversion to anything on their backs. That aversion protects them from lions, enabling them to buck off an attacking lion about half the time (there is a You-Tube showing this) and makes it almost impossible for a horse stallion or jackass to mount a zebra mare (though zebra stallions have no problem mounting more docile mares or jennyasses). It simply takes longer to break down a zebra mare's resistance than a horse stallion has patience so the horse gives up.
Eland (the largest species of antelope) have been domesticated for meat, but whether they could be domesticated as beasts of burden or as milk producers is unknown.
Everyone seems to be forgetting, however, that there is one species in Africa that we know can be domesticated and was domesticated and can be used as beasts of burden in the forest and the savannah and for war as well. I'm speaking of course of the elephant, and yes, African elephants can be domesticated too. The Carthaginians did it, which is why Hannibal was able to take elephants to attack Rome with. So while we might not be able to have horse cavalry for African civilizations, elephantry is a definite possibility.
 
l. I'm speaking of course of the elephant, and yes, African elephants can be domesticated too. The Carthaginians did it, which is why Hannibal was able to take elephants to attack Rome with. So while we might not be able to have horse cavalry for African civilizations, elephantry is a definite possibility.

IIRC, those were a much smaller subspecies native to N. Africa, now extinct. Has anyone ever tried to domesticate the big savannah elephant?
 
IIRC, those were a much smaller subspecies native to N. Africa, now extinct. Has anyone ever tried to domesticate the big savannah elephant?

It is generally held that Asian elephants are much less violent, temperamental, and just generally easier to deal with than African elephants.

AFAIK Asian Elephants are still mostly captured from the wild and tamed, not bred in captivity like a truly 'domesticated' animal.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
I've heard a theory that Zebras are un-domesticable because they "grew up" with humanity. In other words, they have an instinctive hatred of humans, because they've been hunted by them for hundreds of thousands of years, and won't tolerate them. This would theoretically be a problem with most all African animals.

edit: Yes there are indeed zebra-horse hybrids, that are fertile as far as I know. But if you have access to horses, it would make more sense to just import horses. They can also be crossed with donkeys, like horses, but I'd imagine those offspring are sterile.
I'm pretty sure horses "grew up" with humanity too and were hunted for hundreds of thousands years before they were domesticated.
 
Top