> [!info] Metadata > * Was shipped via mailerlite, and is not yet transferred. #articleseed/overviewTopic to expand and re-post > According to [Paula Munier](https://click.mailerlite.com/link/c/YT0xNDc0NDczODU5NDgxNjA1MjQ0JmM9dTZmNSZiPTM3NzEzNzI0MyZkPXk0czBlOHI=.Nb0cJ8c6lQWQks0m_z3_zSEKXtSKE-6o8NxmVa0ubFY), an agent I once met at New York Pitch, one of the top changes editors request is: > > **"Can you give the heroine a dog?"** > > I decided to get ahead of the game and start integrating pets into my plotlines from the get-go. But since I generally write speculative fiction, I wanted to know a little bit more about domestication before I tossed a pets into a world with Bronze Age technology. Here's what I learned... ## Quick Facts - Only 13 animals were domesticated by early human societies. ## Sex and Wine Grapes in the wild generally have male and female vines. But the process of [domestication selected for hermaphrodism](https://phys.org/news/2020-06-uncovering-genetic-basis-hermaphroditism-grapes.html), which is a relatively rare genetic trait. It does, however, cultivation easier. Cabernet Sauvign is the most widely planted wine grape cultivar in the world, incidentally. %% [[hermaphrodism is rare but facilitates cultivation]] %% ## Foxes are the New Dogs Urban foxes are showing the physical signs of domestication, but we didn't breed them on purpose. Their brains are smaller than their wild counterparts — but they're friendlier, which [keeps them alive](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-13/urban-foxes-are-evolving-that-s-good-for-homo-sapiens), which gives them more opportunities to breed. A third of an urban fox's diet is scavenged. %% [[domestication does not require intent]] %% ## Violence is Genetic Male chimpanzees patrol their territorial borders in large groups and attack lone chimps from neighboring communities, but isolated populations of apes and monkeys sometimes manage to [breed out violence](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-humans-tamed-themselves/580447/) by sexually selecting males who _don't_ patrol territory so they can beat up on the neighbors. Female bonobos form strong coalitions—partly based on sex with each other—that keep a lid on male violence. %% [[sexual selection for nonviolence is possible]] %% ## The Four Fs Domestication works best when an animal is: [friendly, feedable, fecund, fast-growing, and family-oriented](https://www.reddit.com/r/CGPGrey/comments/48all2/zebra_vs_horses_americapox_part_2/). Farm animals like goats are domesticated. Circus animals like elephants are _tamed_. Zebras are harder to domesticate than horses because they don't have a family-based hierarchy system. Also, they have a ducking reflex, which makes them harder to lasso than horses.