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Odd Question

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RadCap

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Asking on the off chance someone here might know about this: does the presence of humans around wild animals as they grow up make them more amenable to human existence in general? Does their presence during growth make any difference whatsoever? For instance, are zoo animals less likely to attack or exhibit aggressive behavior towards humans (because of their every day exposure to humans) compared to the same animals in nature (who have no exposure to humans at all)?

Oops - slipped when posting. This was supposed to be in Misc, not Member Essays. Could a mod please move this to the appropriate catagory please?

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I am not an expert on this, but I do have a biology background, including animal behavior courses and some practical experience with wild animals.

In generals, yes, wild animals raised near humans are more tolerant of humans. Basically animals are cautious of new situations until they learn how safe or unsafe they are. As long as the humans do not pose a threat to them, the animals get used to them and become more tolerant. To give an example, where I live in the northeast it's quite common for deer to wander around suburban neighborhoods. On the other hand, if the only humans deer see are hunters, they quickly learn to run away from humans.

It's even possible to raise some wild animals as pets. I have met a 7/8 wolf that acted almost exactly like friendly dog!

As for aggressive behavior, a completely wild animal will generally be the least aggressive because it will run away from humans. This is true even of animals usually thought of as dangerous, such as grizzly bears. An animal is probably most likely to attack once it becomes somewhat used to humans and lost its fear of them, for example a bear that has learned that campgrounds are a good place to look for food. I'm not sure about zoo animals specifically.

Most of this by the way applies mainly to mammals and birds, which have fairly complex learning and social abilities. More "primitive" animals like sharks are different story ...

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forgot to add: I think this belongs in the Science forum

One more thing: Some birds display what is called imprinting. Whatever moving thing the chicks see at a certain early stage will be considered their mother and they will follow it around. Usually of course this is their mother, but chicks can also become imprinted on humans.

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I don't really know much about animal behavior/conditioning and whatnot in general but from what I have observed I would say animals are very prone to growing aclimated to human presence and eventually have no fear of humans- I see this in squirrels all the time. If you're out hiking and you try to approach a squirrel in the woods they tend to be more skittish and keep their distance. We have squirrels at my college campus as well and they will stand a foot away from you and not even care.

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