Page 36 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 6

The Dukha are the last group of nomadic reindeer herders in Mongolia, whose history
goes back to the Tang Dynasty. The Dukha rely on reindeer to produce milk and cheese,
they use them for transport and hunting, and nowadays they are an attraction for
tourists. Unlike the Sami of northern Europe, they seem to incorporate reindeer more

into the way of life. However, it is questionable whether there is purposeful mating.

If we take Dr. Erik Zimen's definition of domestication: “Domestic animal breeds develop ...
only through selective breeding by man according to certain objectives ...”, we must
conclude that in a wild herd there is no breeding selection at all. It is even possible that
wild reindeer mix with these “semi-wild” reindeer, i.e. that a healthy natural breeding

takes place under natural conditions.

It would be interesting to know whether such a form of husbandry as with reindeer could
also be applied to the ancestors of dogs and whether this represented a first stage on the
way to domestication. That this is a very early form of rapprochement between man and

animal we will see below, in the early forms of hunting with dogs.

Kazakhstan, horses in the vast landscape, public domain

-Domestication and horses

Just for comparison, let us look at the domestication of horses. In recent years it has
become clear that the Botai culture living in the North Caucasus during the Copper Age
already kept horses in pens [23]. Whether these were “domesticated” (deliberate mating
of two individuals, Zimen) is questionable, however, if we consider the example of
reindeer husbandry. The Botai lived in large settlements with pit houses. The settlements
were 150-200 km apart, as each settlement needed an appropriate habitat to control its

own herd.