bunjywunjy:

tinysaurus-rex:

sunreon:

pangur-and-grim:

luxtempestas:

luxtempestas:

what other animals have we bred to have a huge variation in sizes like dogs?

why must we play god

let’s not forget cats

Pigs.

Fully grown healthy small breeds clock in between 70-150 lbs. Extreme situation pigs (AKA minimicro teacup etc, which btw teacup puppies are also extreme situations and are not healthy) show up sometimes at less than 50lbs. There are lab breeds (pigs are used in human medical research because of their similarity in organs and tissue composition) that are rumored to be bred “safely” down to 50 lbs but lab pig breeds are pretty tightly kept confidential.

gigantic commercial breeds can weigh 700+lbs when allowed to reach full size. extreme individuals have been recorded over 1500lbs.

here’s a farm pig and a potbelly, but that farm pig is just a regular farm pig. not even one of the huge ones.

And cattle too.

Chianina (an italian draught breed now raised for meat). this is the tallest and heaviest pure breed of cattle.

But holstein-friesians are ridiculously tall. They don’t weigh as much, but they’re suuuuuuuuper tall.

vs a wide variety of mini breeds.

mini zebus

mini texas longhorns

there’s a ton of miniature breeds. A TON. Some are traditional/natural breeds, IE the entire breed is that small. Some are miniaturized versions of full sized breeds (like the longhorns above. There’s also mini holsteins, mini angus, mini herefords, you name it)

Oh my??? MINI LONGHORNS

basically any time humans domesticated an animal they went “now let’s make a small one and a big one”

anamalarky:

tilthat:

TIL some chimpanzees and bonobos are beginning to display very primitive precursors to religious behaviour

via reddit.com

Ronald K. Siegel has studied the precursors of religious faith in African elephants and concludes that “elephants are aware of natural cycles, as they practice “moon worship,” waving branches at the waxing moon and engaging in ritual bathing when the moon is full.“[7] Observations by Pliny the elder also note supposed elephant reverence for the celestial bodies.[8]

fucking cool