Sparrows are everywhere, why can't they be raised by humans?

In fact, the reason why sparrows are not raised by human beings is that human beings have not domesticated them, and sparrows are highly vigilant and easy to refuse to accept human food, so it is difficult for human beings to domesticate them. In addition to these points, there is another reason that the commodity value of sparrows is low and it is not cost-effective to keep them in captivity.

Let's analyze it in detail.

The process of human domestication

The history of human domestication of species is also the history of human civilization. At the earliest time, Homo sapiens mainly used gathering and hunting. Collection refers to the collection of nearby massive roots, fruits, leaves and other plants that can be directly eaten by human beings. Hunting refers to people killing animals through cooperation and setting traps in order to obtain their meat or fur.

At this time, human habitation will move with the change of food. At this time, the number of homo sapiens is scarce, and gathering and hunting can meet the food needs of human beings.

Later, after the ice age passed, the earth ushered in a warm period, and grains such as rice, millet, millet, wheat and glutinous rice appeared, which were gradually domesticated by human beings. After human domesticated food, in order to ensure the healthy growth and harvest of food, human beings began to settle around farmland, and gradually formed villages, towns and cities around it, and civilization was born.

The picture below shows the time when humans domesticated plants. It can be seen that the earliest domesticated plants can be the earliest evolved civilizations.

In the past, because the living environment of human beings would migrate with food, even if human beings wanted to domesticate animals, there was no condition at that time. It was not until they settled down that humans began to domesticate animals consciously.

After human domesticated plants, in order to obtain enough protein resources, some temporarily inedible animal cubs or adult animals began to be kept in captivity.

The chickens, ducks, geese, cows, sheep and pigs we eat now are gradually domesticated.

Why don't humans domesticate sparrows?

In fact, not all species are suitable for domestication, such as zebra. Europeans spent 1000 years trying to domesticate zebras, but failed. This is because zebras have a bad temper and will bite the trainer tightly. Moreover, zebras have a wide field of vision and can see the harness of flying horses in the air, so it is easy to hide.

Scientists have carefully analyzed the species that have not been domesticated, and come to the conclusion that there are six main obstacles that make it difficult to domesticate organisms:

Food is difficult to be provided by humans, such as anteaters.

Slow growth, long reproductive interval, such as elephants.

Grumpy: tigers, leopards.

Not suitable for captivity: leopards, giant pandas.

Lack of hierarchy to follow the leader: antelope.

It is easy to panic when you are banned or encounter natural enemies: except deer.

Only when these six rules are broken at the same time can humans domesticate this species. Sparrows are obviously not suitable for captivity, because they are easy to panic after being banned, and they don't eat food provided by humans.

These are the reasons why humans don't domesticate sparrows. But there is another situation, even if it is not domesticated, humans will keep some species in captivity, such as canaries and snakes. Although humans have not domesticated them, people will keep them in captivity according to their habits in order to get a reward.

For example: captive snakes, taking snake venom; Lock up the canary and admire its feathers.

So, why are sparrows not kept in captivity by humans?

In fact, this is because the commodity rate of sparrows is low. In the bird market, humans prefer: crisp calls, bright feathers or rare and unique species. But sparrows are noisy, their feathers are dull and unsightly, and sparrows can be seen everywhere, so the commodity value is low, and there is no market for captive sparrows, so naturally no one wants to do it.

So sparrows are not kept in captivity by humans.

Disadvantages of domesticated species

Since the agricultural society, the main killers of human beings are often large-scale epidemics, such as the Black Death, smallpox and plague. Scientists have proved that the prevalence of these diseases is the time when human beings get along closely with animals.

Scientists speculate that these diseases are popular because some diseases are hosted by animals, and human beings are infected because they get along closely with animals; On the other hand, the domestication of species makes the human population rise, and the communication between people is close, which creates conditions for large-scale outbreaks. Even now, mankind is still plagued by these epidemics. Therefore, domesticating animals is also a double-edged sword.