Domestic Animals

In this post we’ll discuss worldbuilding domesticated animals, looking at the introduction of mounts, livestock, and how you can design your own version of man’s best friend.

Hey everyone, my name is Matthew, at least that’s what my cat calls me, and this post is part of a series where I will be going through a science-adjacent worldbuilding process step-by-step. For today’s discussion, we’ll be looking at ‘part one’ of a two-part series on domestication. Stay tuned for ‘part two’ where we’ll talk about the domestication of plants and crops. Today though we’ll be focusing on the domestication of creatures big and small; from bulky beasts of burden, to adorable fluffy companions, to tiny colonies of producers.

Domestication refers to the sustained relationship between an organism and a sapient species, wherein the sapient species has assumed a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of the other organism. Importantly, for this relationship to be properly considered ‘domestication’, it must be multi-generational, that is, the organism must have multiple generations that are within the care of the sapient species. Domestication is sometimes confused with ‘taming’, which refers to the process of modifying the behaviour of an animal, usually to make them more placid and tolerant of the tamer. While taming is often a process that is part of domestication, the two are distinctly different.

Regardless of the type of organism that is domesticated, the relationship between the domesticator and domesticated is mutualistic, meaning that both the domesticated organism and the sapient domesticator gain advantages because of their relationship. In most cases, the domesticated organism will gain access to an environment deliberately curated for it by the sapient creatures that is beneficial to the organism’s reproduction and health, giving it a distinct advantage over others of its kind that have not entered domestication. An excellent example of this are cattle; there are currently nearly 1.5 billion cows worldwide, making cows the second most numerous large land mammal on earth, after humans. The prevalence of wild cattle is almost non-existent, with the vast majority now living in domestication.

It is not just the domesticated organism that benefits however, and the domesticator gains access to a more stable supply of a resource, such as livestock that can be used as food and therefore removes the need for hunting. In some cases, the domesticator will gain access to a less tangible resource, such as a hunting partner with canines, rodent protection with felines, and in both cases, access to companionship.

Therefore, domesticated creatures are split into three main categories. Animals which are domesticated for food, called ‘livestock’, animals domesticated for labour, which are simply called ‘working animals’, and animals domesticated for companionship, called ‘pets’. Sometimes, the lines between these categories can blur, such as with dogs that can be both working animals and pets.

Of course, it is also important to discuss the reproductive side of domestication, seeing as the sapient creature’s control over the reproduction of the domesticated organism is the main defining feature of domestication. Within domestication we see both conscious selection and unconscious selection.

Conscious selection refers to the sapient domesticator deliberately selecting desirable traits of the domesticated organism, breeding them to make those traits more pronounced, such as horses that are bred to accentuate traits that make them faster or stronger. Animals that have been deliberately bred to have particular traits are called ‘breeds’, a concept which most people are familiar with in dogs, which have been consciously selected to have particular traits that differentiate them.

Unconscious selection in contrast refers to traits that have evolved as a by-product of domestication that were not intended by the sapient domesticators. Unlike conscious selection, there is no trend towards desirable traits with unconscious selection, and unfortunately, we often see negative traits that would otherwise have been naturally selected against be allowed to remain within domesticated organisms. Within animals, we can see unintended traits such as smaller sizes, shorter faces, fewer teeth, diminished horns, weak musculature, joint problems, extended immaturity, and less genetic variability.

In some cases, unconscious selection can lead to such an accumulation of negative traits that the domesticated organisms lose their ability to survive without the assistance of their sapient domesticators and can even become genetically distinct from their wild counterparts, a concept called ‘domestication syndrome’. In severe cases, this can lead to health problems affecting reproduction, and recently the topic has been raised as to whether pugs can even be considered a typical dog, from a biological and health point of view, due to the health risks the breed faces from conscious and unconscious selection.

So, now that we’ve covered the information about domesticating animals, let’s look at how to introduce them to a worldbuilding project. Historically on earth, domestication coincided with the Mesolithic period of the stone age, and we can reasonably expect that it would take place within a similar time frame on a fictional world as well. On earth, the first case of domestication was between humans and wolves, which during a period of hunter-gathering were able to supplement the hunting ability of humans. This was accentuated by the change in climate, and therefore change in access to resources at the time, driving collaboration between the species. Wolves, as social pack animals, fit neatly into the human tribal structure of the time. As humans settled and became more sedentary, other organisms began to be domesticated as well. We see a trend across ancient civilizations of larger livestock like cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs domesticated first, while smaller livestock like chickens were domesticated later.

Perhaps most importantly to consider is that while on earth we only have a single sapient species to draw our information from, across the board our prehistoric and ancient cultures independently domesticated animals based on their needs of the time. For a society that mainly hunted, domesticated animals like wolves would assist them with doing so. When those societies settled, conscious selection was made to breed wolves for herding, defence, and companionship, rather than for hunting. As time continued, the domesticated canines became differentiated from their wolf ancestors, leading to the breeds that we are more familiar with today that are docile and have friendly temperaments towards humans. This transition away from a domesticated animal’s original ancestry can be seen across the board, with cattle differentiated from their auroch ancestors, pigs differentiated from boars, and chickens differentiated from junglefowls.

This is the map of Locus, the fictional world that we’ve been building across this series. On Locus, we have four sapient species: humans, the bear-like Urakan, the reptilian Silarin, and the molluscan Na’qwuil. The humans, Urakan, and Silarin, were all primarily hunter-gatherers within their prehistoric period, and so are likely to first domesticate animals that assist them with their hunting or gathering. Rather than go through every domesticated creature for every species, let’s instead look at some of the more interesting ones, with examples of hunting partners, livestock, working animals, and eventually pets.

For our humans on Locus, as prehistoric rainforest dwellers, navigating the dense rainforests of Locus would be a primary concern, especially once they descended from the trees and began their transition into upright life. When we discussed the rainforests of Locus, we created the Visec; large insect-like creatures that create paths throughout the rainforests. Over time, the humans of Locus are likely to become reliant enough on these paths for navigation to appropriate hunting areas and gathering locations that they would foster the Visec, protecting them, ensuring they are well fed, and eventually involving themselves in conscious selective breeding, selecting Visec with wider bodies and stronger mandibles, to better form paths. Visec would be tamed to allow the humans to ride them, leading to further conscious selection of docile temperaments. As the humans of Locus settle down, Visec become referred to as ‘Pathworms’, or simply as ‘Pathers’, and are used as working animals, with different breeds emerging for tilling, transport, carrying, and of course, path-making. One breed, called ‘Tappers’ have been bred for their comparative miniature size, growing no larger than an average sized dog, used primarily as pets and named for their distinctive light tapping sound on the floors of houses. The humans of Norford and Lindale each have unique breeds of Pathers and Tappers, though the breeds of the north and south are still compatible, and as the world becomes more connected, mixed breeds start to emerge.

In the prehistoric era, the reptilian Silarin established themselves in the savannahs of Locus, which they shared with the Perilux; colour-changing hypercarnivores with spring-like rear legs that allow them to reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour for short sprints, though have difficulty changing direction at such high speeds. The Silarin learned quickly that flanking creatures the Perilux charges after leaves prey with no means of escape, increasing the hunting success and therefore food yield of both species. Over time, the Perilux are domesticated, and as the Silarin settle down and move away from a primarily hunting lifestyle, different breeds emerge. The Kathochushians breed Hesko for use in warfare, with larger bulkier bodies, sacrificing some speed in exchange for strength and viciousness. The darker side of this conscious selection has led to unprovoked attacks on younger Silarin, fighting rings where Hesko are forced to fight for entertainment, and an unconscious selection where over time Hesko have entirely lost their ability to camouflage. The Thuchushians follow a very different path of domestication, breeding Siheth, with little interest in their speed or strength but instead their colour changing abilities, relevant to their religion. Introducing magic that can influence and bend light, Siheth are bred to have innate light magic of their own, not only able to change colouration, but to glow, or even to make themselves entirely invisible. This has unfortunately led to a black market of Siheth hides, used to create garments that can glow or make the wearer invisible, and has made many breeds of Siheth endangered.

Sahakuth, as a large multi-species trade city is responsible for much of the exchange of various animals across the western continent. Perhaps of greatest importance is the involvement of Sahakuth in the distribution of livestock, of which Grillis and Isbik are the two most prevalent and widespread. Both originally domesticated by the Urakan of Senanatgru, Grillis and Isbik are the first and most plentiful livestock animals of the Kalandrian empire, and subsequently, the entire western continent, rapidly spreading to be farmed by other settlements due to the abundance of food they provide, hides suitable for the creation of clothes and tools, relatively passive natures which make them easy to manage, and hardiness which makes them thrive in a wide variety of climate zones. Outside of domestication, the extremely simple cognition of these creatures makes them prone to predators, a trait which has been compounded by conscious selection to provide more meat. Within domestication however, protected by the sapient creatures of Locus, these livestock thrive and quickly become the most numerous non-sapient large land-dwelling animals on the planet.

Sahakuth, as a very wealthy city, has also developed a significant racing scene, with annual races and animals bred for racing purposes. A domesticated breed of Perilux emerges here called Kotes, which push the biomechanical limits of the speed of land-dwelling creatures, sprinting up to 120 kilometres per hour. However, breeding for speed at the cost of all else has unfortunately led to Kotes having significant other health issues, limiting their lifespans. Similarly, the introduction of Pathers that have already been bred as working animals leads to breeds designed for speed called Runners, consciously selecting for lighter exoskeletons and eventually, its almost entire removal. Unsurprisingly, while fast, these Runners are exceptionally weak, prone to injury, and due to regular inbreeding suffer from low genetic diversity and high mortality rates from hereditary conditions.

Finally, within Tarna’qwua, the parasitic Na’qwuil have a very different view on domestication, able to hijack the minds of other creatures, including sapient creatures. Perhaps their most iconic ‘domesticated’ animals therefore are… other sapient species. Despite their exceptional intelligence, the Na’qwuil themselves are non-humanoid in body structure, and therefore lack the capacity to engage with many of the tasks that a humanoid creature could. The Urakan, Silarin, and humans of the south of the eastern continent have all fallen subject to Na’qwuilian domestication, who use them as working animals, providing them with food to survive and even become physically fitter and stronger than their usual counterparts, though have bred out much of their independence, consciously selecting submissiveness. The Na’qwuil call these creatures Zu’roz, though the other species in their own languages call them The Taken. By our standards in real life, The Taken are a horrifying example of extreme slavery, bred to reach sexual maturity as quickly as possible, selecting traits beneficial for constant labour, and to produce as many offspring as possible, with the weakest offspring killed off by their Na’qwuilian domesticators. Every now and again, a Taken will escape, and those that find their way back to other cultures are called The Returned, though this process is often extremely difficult, and many cultures reject them out of fear, refusing to support them, turning them away, or even outright killing them.

So, to recap, domestication of animals refers to the multi-generational control a sapient species has over the domesticated creature’s care and reproduction. Domesticated animals are separated into livestock, working animals, and pets, with traits that are either consciously selected for, usually desirable to the domesticator, or traits that are unconsciously selected, which are the by-products of domestication and unfortunately are often negative. Sapient creatures tend to domesticate animals based on their needs of the time, starting with creatures that support prehistoric hunting lifestyles, and shifting to livestock, working animals and pets as they settle down.

Join me next time when we’ll go into part two of domestication, discussing domesticated plants, from staple crops to beautiful flowers. And until next time… stay awesome!