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[-] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 303 points 1 week ago

What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they donโ€™t know or like each other. They are not a uniform group with a leader. Horses on the other hand do have authorities and followers among them. And humans can hijack the role of the leader.

CGPGrey: The Real Reason We Donโ€™t Ride Zebras (6:23)

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 156 points 1 week ago

zebras live in anonymous herds. That is, they like to clump together to ward off predators, but they donโ€™t know or like each other.

Zebra's don't like anyone, and they're not afraid to show it. Repeatedly.

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago

What distinguishes zebras from horses is that zebras live in anonymous herds.

says a lot about 4chan, the penny arcade GIFT theory, etc

[-] Sundiata@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

4chan blocks commenting with vpn, and /pol/ is a federal honeypot waiting for the next entraptment.

not so anonymous

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

yes, but that's not shown to other users.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 60 points 1 week ago

With how Facebook forces real names, the idea that being anonymous has any influence where or not someone is a fuckwad had been debunked.

It's not the anonimity that makes people fuckwads. It's the lack of immediate consequences. A fuckwad won't get a punch in the face for what they say on facebook, hence they feel they can say anything and be a fuckwad.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago

"Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it", Mike Tyson

Regardless of how you feel about Tyson, Truth is Truth.

[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

In a large enough group there is still anonymity even if your face and name are on there.

[-] stenAanden@feddit.dk 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

This makes me wonder... How much of what he says is just conjecture? Do we ACTUALLY know with good certainty that zebras can't be domesticated due to their nature? Or is it just a hypothesis/theory that has reached widespread popularity?

I have heard that zebras (along with other African animals) can't be domesticated because they have evolved to live among humans, when we were still man-apes. But that maybe that's just conjecture too.

Note how he have no sources in his video or description. And his comparison to chickens, cows, sheep and cats don't seem to make much sense. The relation between humans and chickens/cows/sheep is markedly different from that of horses. Do wild fowl really have family structures? Cats don't yet they are still docile among humans.

Edit: even if we really can't do we know the reason why?

[-] cattywampas@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

Yes, people have tried to domesticate zebras before and they're just too ornery.

[-] stenAanden@feddit.dk 14 points 1 week ago

But what if we spent longer time doing it? Like centuries, like with most other domesticated animals.

[-] stray@pawb.social 38 points 1 week ago

I'm not sure why you've been downvoted because you absolutely could domesticate them given sufficient time and consistent selective breeding. You could turn them into crabs if you wanted to. The trouble is that they don't have a very social disposition, so no one is motivated to dedicating their entire bloodline to the project. Most domestication happened kind of on accident as we developed symbiotic or exploitative relationships with various species.

[-] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

+1 for carcinization reference

[-] HertzDentalBar 25 points 1 week ago

Domesticated animals generally start out already being somewhat agreeable. Like dogs hung around us, and work in a pack mentality, horses same thing, cats same thing. That's why we could domesticate racoons or some rodents if we wanted to.

Zebras are assholes and hate everyone

[-] prole 4 points 6 days ago

cats same thing

I think cats are unique in that they domesticated themselves

[-] HertzDentalBar 5 points 6 days ago

Basically yea, but it still has a bit of the same where we had what they wanted and they were agreeable enough we worked with them. If anything they domesticated us ๐Ÿ˜‚

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

Foxes didn't have many domesticatable features, but it just took the Soviets 40 years or so to domesticate them. It really might just be nobody spent 100 years trying.

[-] HertzDentalBar 1 points 4 days ago

Foxes can be agreeable creatures to begin with. Look at the amount of videos of people who have adopted foxes.

[-] stenAanden@feddit.dk 1 points 5 days ago

Ehhh... Can you really call wolves friendly?

[-] HertzDentalBar 1 points 4 days ago

Depends on the wolf. I know people who have both owned and rehabilitated wolves, some are just big babies.... Babies that will absolutely ruin you if you piss it off ๐Ÿ˜‚

[-] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 5 days ago

They were friendly to the other wolves in their pack. Now we've turned that so dogs see us as their pack

[-] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

I saw a historic photo in a magazine once, where some European colonial officers tried to tame and ride zebras

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 17 points 1 week ago
[-] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

Just wait until we have overturn the fascist system, then you'll be first against the wall!

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
1076 points (100.0% liked)

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