science

Tame animal

Tame animal is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tame animal rather than just read about it. In short: A tame animal is an animal that is relatively tolerant of human presence. Tameness may arise naturally (as in the case, for example, of island tameness) or due to the deliberate, human-directed process of training an animal against its initially wild or natural instincts to avoid or attack humans.

Key takeaways

Tame animal belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tame animal to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tame animal from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A tame animal is an animal that is relatively tolerant of human presence. Tameness may arise naturally (as in the case, for example, of island tameness) or due to the deliberate, human-directed process of training an animal against its initially wild or natural instincts to avoid or attack humans. The tameability of an animal is the level of ease it takes humans to train the animal, and varies among individual animals, breeds, or species. In the English language, "taming" and "domestication" refer to two partially overlapping but distinct concepts. For example feral animals are domesticated, but not tamed. Similarly, taming is not the same as animal training, although in some contexts these terms may be used interchangeably. Taming implies that the animal tolerates not merely human proximity, but at minimum human touching. Yet, more common usage limits the label "tame" to animals which do not threaten or injure humans who do not harm or threaten them. Tameness, in this sense, should be distinguished from "socialization" wherein the animals treat humans much like conspecifics, for instance by trying to dominate humans.

Taming versus domestication Domestication and taming are related but distinct concepts. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. Human selection included tameness, but domestication is not achieved without a suitable evolutionary response. Domestic animals do not need to be tame in the behavioral sense, such as the Spanish fighting bull. Wild animals can be tame, such as a hand-raised cheetah. A domestic animal's breeding is controlled by humans and its tameness and tolerance of humans is genetically determined. Thus, an animal bred in captivity is not necessarily domesticated; tigers, gorillas, and polar bears breed readily in captivity but are not domesticated. Asian elephants are wild animals that with taming manifest outward signs of domestication, yet their breeding is not human controlled and thus they are not true domesticates.

See also Dressage and reining for horses Lion taming Tame bear Tame elephant Animals in professional wrestling

References

Sources Geist, V (2011a). "Wildlife habituation: advances in understanding and management application". Human–Wildlife Interactions. 5: 9–12. Geist, V (2011b). "Response to Rogers and Mansfield (2011) and Stringham (2011)". Human–Wildlife Interactions. 5 (2): 192–196. Herrero, S.; Smith, T.; DeBruyn, T.; Gunther, K.; Matt, C. (2005). "From the field: Brown bear habituation to people – safety, risks, and benefits". Wildlife Society Bulletin. 33 (1): 362–373. doi:10.2193/0091-7648(2005)33[362:ftfbbh]2.0.co;2. Rogers, L. L.; Mansfield, S. A. (2011). "Misconceptions about black bears: a response to Geist (2011)". Human–Wildlife Interactions. 5 (2): 173–176. Smith, T.; Herrero, S.; DeBruyn, T.; et al. (2005). "Alaskan brown bears, humans, and habituation". Ursus. 16 (1): 1–10. doi:10.2192/1537-6176(2005)016[0001:abbhah]2.0.co;2. Stringham, S. F. 2010. When Bears Whisper, Do You Listen? WildWatch, Soldotna, AK. Stringham, S. F (2011). "ikikAggressive body language of bears and wildlife viewing: a response to Geist (2011)". Human-wildlife Interactions. 5 (2): 177–191.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tame animal

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tame animal claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tame animal before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tame animal ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tame animal

In research: Tame animal appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tame animal in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tame animal is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Human–animal interaction, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tame animal outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tame animal in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tame animal means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tame animal out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tame animal in simple terms?

Why does Tame animal matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tame animal?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tame animal.