Aladdin: Animal Domestication

We all love Raja, Jasmine's tiger from the movie “Aladdin”. It’s hilarious to see how he protects her from her ugly suitor, lives in luxury and has a beautiful friendship with the princess... Just a perfect symbiosis.
Symbiosis? What it’s that? It’s like an ‘arrangement’ between two different groups or species, to the advantage of both parties... It’s a win-win situation. Raja provided the princess with protection, and the princess provided him with food and shelter.
But... Aren’t they more like friends in the movie? The answer to this is yes, and there’s a good explanation for that, because in the movie, we don’t actually see a symbiotic relationship. In the case of some animals (like cats and dogs) and over the last centuries, this symbiosis was replaced by something else: domestication.
First, we have to know the definition of this word. Domestication is the process of breeding reorganization of wild animals and plants into domestic and cultivated forms according to the interests of people. So, a domestic animal is an animal that lives in close association with people, and because of this ‘reorganization’, it’s generally unlikely to survive in the wild, these creatures depend on us (this is not to be confused with taming, be careful! Taming is a conditioned behavioral modification of an individual, not a permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage).
After learning about this the question was, how Jasmine went from having a fierce and dangerous tiger to a friendly and charismatic companion? Well, let’s just say that what we do know is how to differentiate a domesticated animal from its wild counterpart, but we don’t know much about the exact process of it.
Domestication happens through selective breeding (also called artificial selection because of human intervention). Individuals that have desirable traits are selected to reproduce, and these desirable traits are then passed along to the future generations. This results in modifications, mostly concerning morphoanatomy and behavior. The last ones are the first to appear, being one of the most remarkable behavioral changes, shared by all domesticates, their tolerance of proximity to people. Changes concerning the morphology are all caused by a feature known as neoteny - the retention of juvenile traits like soft fur, floppy ears, and bigger heads relative to their body size.

We cannot verify that, I don’t even think on going near a tiger, suit yourself if you want to... So, what do you think? Was Raja a domesticated animal or a tamed animal?

Photograph by @TheCats

Pocahontas: Can Trees Talk?

Almost everybody has seen Pocahontas at least once. The most curious part of the movie for me? Well, it was quite shocking to see Grandmother Willow, a talking willow tree, that somewhat guided Pocahontas. Some years later, I’m asking myself this... Can trees talk? Can they communicate with us? Could we learn from them like the protagonist? Recent evidence says that trees can communicate with each other. Suzanne Simard ’s research shows that below the earth there are vast networks of roots working with fungi to move water, carbon, and nutrients among trees of all species. These complex, symbiotic networks, also known as Wood-Wide Web or mycorrhizal networks, mimic human neural and social networks. This network even has mother trees or hub trees, managing information flow, helping younger seedlings and passing wisdom from generation to generation. Peter Wohlleben , a German forester and author, also researched in this area, proving that not only through the soil can trees communi...

The Twilight Saga: How the Idea of a Soulmate Affects Our Mind

Everybody knows at least one of the synonyms for the word “soulmate”: androgynous, soulmate, destined, mate, ‘true love’, ‘one's promised’... But there’s only one definition: a special affinity, understanding, or powerful bond that exists between one person and another. For example, we see Jacob Black (one of the principal characters of the movie “ Twilight ”) in the penultimate movie of the saga finding out that Bella and Edward’s daughter, Reneesmé, is his soulmate. As I thought about this, I became very curious about one thing... How many people believed in having a soulmate? Well, according to a Marist poll , 73% of Americans believe in soulmates; more men than women believe in the ‘soulmate’ theory (males: 74%, females: 71%); and 79% of people younger than 45 believe in soulmates, while only 69% of those over 45 do. Now, that’s a lot of people! And again, thinking about this, how would this theory, believing in a ‘soulmate’ affect their minds? Luckily for me, I found some sci...

The Book of Life: The Impostor’s Syndrome

Some of you may have seen the movie The Book of Life . I liked, one way or the other, all the characters presented in the plot: some of them are odious, some are lovable... And one of the characters that’s the most pitiest, for me, is Joaquin. In the movie, we see a fearless General, ready for whatever comes in the way... Is it? Actually, no. He is consumed by guilt, really thinking that he doesn’t deserve all the medals and achievements he has. Even when he no longer has his ‘special medal’ to protect him (we have to see how ‘special’ was... Maybe it was something to lift his self-confidence, like the ‘ beauty patch ’, or the trick that Harry Potter plays on his friend Ronald ) and fights along with Manolo, almost sacrificing himself on the way, he doesn’t feel himself worthy of a medal anymore. This kind of thinking, self-doubting your competence and capacities, the overwhelming feeling that you don't deserve your success, is what we call ‘Impostor Syndrome’. As Joaquin, pe...

The Green Papyrus

Search This Blog