Can domestic animals be considered native to a certain place? ?

Question

For example, can a domestic dog such as a labrador retriever be native to the state Massachusetts? Or can say a parakeet be native to MA? Or does being native to a particular place mean that the organism must've originated in the state, not just be regularly found there.

Answer 1

i'm thinking the original place where it was first domesticated

like if you have an irish setter.... even if it was born in usa and lived here all it's life ...irish setters would be native to ireland

Answer 2

The original domestic cats were native to Egypt, though it's debatable whether humans domesticated them, or whether the wild felines there made a deal to hang around with us and to tolerate our affections in exchange for ready access to mice in the Egyptian grain storage.

From my understanding, domestic cats of today are still fairly close on an evolutionary/genetic scale to their ancestors (and to wild cats), so they probably still can be called native to Egypt.

Dogs, on the other hand, are quite far removed from their wild canine cousins - so far so that one of my undergrad profs used to call them 'monsters' as genetically they are quite removed from anything in the wild. This makes it difficult to say where your pet puppy might be called 'native'.  

Answer 3

Native means "naturally occuring" So, even though your dog may be born in the United States it's not native, as there was a lot "against nature" that went on for that dog to be born there. Same way that you are not "native american." (I'm assuming...if you are, i'm sorry...just playing the odds, here! :-D )

Answer 4

I would imagine.  You have to figure that when our ancestors came over they brought their pets.  Isn't that how some of the breeds got here.

Answer 5

When discussing domesticated animals, usually it's referring to livestock - different breeds of animals (such as cattle and sheep) were domesticated in different locations based on the local population of the species.  So it is "native" to a specific region.

Reindeer were domesticated in Lapland for instance.

Dogs were domesticated by early man - the different breeds have come from that original domestication wherever that may have taken place.

Answer 6

Domesticated, wild, and feral species are native only to areas where they were not introduced by man.  The wild boars found across the country and domestic pigs are native to Europe- the pigs brought over as livestock and the wild and feral hogs primarily as game animals.  The wild turkey, now found in every state but Alaska, was native to Mexico and Central America, and to some other areas, but the domestic turkey is descended from the Mexico strain.

Answer 7

When talking about domesticated animals you cannot really call them "native"..this is a term used for wild animals.  These animals are no longer part of the ecosystem..as they are no longer wild and hold no niche.  Sure, many species of dog "originated" in certain parts of the world..for example, Rottweilers were originally from Germany, Chow Chows originated in China, etc.