Amber Samsel: Student Topic (Req. 3) - Blog 6

One class, we talked about the theories of how humans domesticated wolves and that the curious wolves would come close to the humans and the humans would feed them. Well, I had an example of my own. I have a tattoo on my arm because of this. So, my grandfather, Papa Phil, used to live alone, so he would often have leftovers from dinner. Every night at exactly 7:00 pm, he would grab one of those big security guard flashlights, grab the leftovers, and walk out on his balcony and make these clicking noises with his mouth to call wild foxes. Then he would throw food down to them, and aim the flashlight where the food landed so the foxes could easily find where their dinner went. He did this for years (of course I helped) and eventually the foxes just started to wait outside for him. Oftentimes, he would walk outside and four or five of them would just be sitting there patiently waiting for dinnertime. He did it for so long that it was obvious when the next generation of foxes came in, then the next, then the next. Like the humans did with the wolves so long ago- my grandfather gained the foxes trust and partially domesticated them. He didn't bring them into his house or anything, but I am confident that if he wanted to they would have gone inside. 

I was also thinking about how nature is supposed to be the opposite of culture - polarity, right? So how is it that nature and culture come together so often? I understand they're opposites, but they seem to complement each other. We can domesticate nature just as nature could do the opposite to us. So, in a way we are nature, and nature is us? Neither will be easily domesticated, so which is stronger?