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I find it pretty sad that wild animals like lynx are kept as house pets, because to my knowledge they really can't be domesticated.
fact is, when you satisfy an animal's needs for food, shelter and security, you take a huge leap towards taming them. combine that with the behavioral training that comes with raising an animal from a baby, and you take another huge leap. of course there are a few exceptions, but the cat family in general has a proven track record for tame-ability.
It took thousands of years to get from African wildcat to house-cat ( same with dogs, cows, pigs chicken...), you think we can just bring home a wild animal and make it a pet overnight?
If wild animals can be domesticated easily, our ancestors would probably had done it. You know what? We only have a handful of domesticated animals.
as for the rest of your argument- the real reason man didn't domesticate hundreds of other animals is because THEY WEREN'T USEFUL TO HIM.
Domestication of animals should not be confused with taming. Domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage to enhance or reduce certain characteristics [such as aggressiveness] that leads to an inherited predisposition respond differently than the original animal... Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of an individual animal, to reduce its natural avoidance of humans, and to tolerate the presence of humans.
Many people raise "wild" cats from kittens as pets very successfully.
NO Peanut, that is very much not true! I had the great fortune of knowing Red Palmer as I grew up, and spent a lot of time around cats big & small. and all felines are pure predator, meaning even their play as they grow up mainly focuses on hunting & fighting practice. the difference is [most] housecats realize you are too big to seriously attack at some point. your biggest problem with big cats is ensuring they don't ever realize you aren't! no, more seriously, even if not fed raw meat, if a cat's instincts trigger, even in play, they pounce, and while they may not intend to kill, by the time "pounce!" is finished, well, so are you.