WI: The pygmies domesticated the zebra?

[justiniano]

A domesticable strain of the Zebra evolves in central Africa. One that is strong enough to carry a slightly overweight adult pygmy but not the average adult bantu. 
So I think some differences between what we'll call the ''central African zebra'' and OTL's zebra is that the Central African zebra don't get more anxious than a horse or donkey when put in captivity. The Central African Zebra have family structures like horses and don't have that ducking reflex making it very difficult for them to lasso. 

[lordroel]

Jul 9, 2022 19:10:26 GMT justiniano said:

A domesticable strain of the Zebra evolves in central Africa. One that is strong enough to carry a slightly overweight adult pygmy but not the average adult bantu. 
So I think some differences between what we'll call the ''central African zebra'' and OTL's zebra is that the Central African zebra don't get more anxious than a horse or donkey when put in captivity. The Central African Zebra have family structures like horses and don't have that ducking reflex making it very difficult for them to lasso. 

Have you done any research in this, some googling as these two maps i post here show, there is no way pygmies can domesticated the zebra.

Map: The range of zebra species



African Pygmies

[justiniano]

Those are both modern maps. Here is the historic range of the Zebra before poaching and climate change of the past millenium
And here's where the pygmies lived before the bantu expansion

Also this is ASB so some Zebra family could migrate offtrack to somewhere in the congo basin or smth and then evolve to be more domesticable.

[lordroel]

Jul 9, 2022 19:41:08 GMT justiniano said:

Also this is ASB so some Zebra family could migrate offtrack to somewhere in the congo basin or smth and then evolve to be more domesticable.

And what would be the result if it made domesticable, what would they do with it what horse in Africa could not already.

[justiniano]

Jul 9, 2022 19:51:36 GMT lordroel said:

And what would be the result if it made domesticable, what would they do with it what horse in Africa could not already.

Carry people or loads faster

[lordroel]

Jul 9, 2022 20:01:34 GMT justiniano said:

Jul 9, 2022 19:51:36 GMT lordroel said:

And what would be the result if it made domesticable, what would they do with it what horse in Africa could not already.

Carry people or loads faster

And that would change what.

Do not think zebras being used by the pygmies in any form is going to change much, you have to change the pygmies as well.

[justiniano]

Maybe there are more things that I don't know of? Maybe they'd be able to prevent their genocide at the hands of the bantus. Maybe they'd repel the Portuguese like bantus in the coastal congo basin did. Maybe they wouldn't and the Congolese would be speaking Portuguese and not French. Maybe the Pygmies would have their own expansion.

[lordroel]

Jul 9, 2022 20:55:59 GMT justiniano said:

Maybe there are more things that I don't know of? Maybe they'd be able to prevent their genocide at the hands of the bantus. Maybe they'd repel the Portuguese like bantus in the coastal congo basin did. Maybe they wouldn't and the Congolese would be speaking Portuguese and not French. Maybe the Pygmies would have their own expansion.

With the help of zebras.

Good this is in ASB ore i would have closed this thread.

[simon darkshade]

The terrain occupied by the pygmies is not conducive to zebras, as it is largely forested/jungle.

[justiniano]

Jul 10, 2022 1:32:19 GMT simon darkshade said:

The terrain occupied by the pygmies is not conducive to zebras, as it is largely forested/jungle.

Do u think maybe it could incentivize them to commit deforestation?

[simon darkshade]

No. You’ve got the cart before the zebra:

- The areas the pygmies lived in were not the areas where zebras of any description would flourish or be found
- The Pygmy developed as they did because they were overwhelmingly a forest people. The entire culture was based on that
- They would need to move into territory that did not suit them to even encounter zebras
- The Bushmen did live alongside the zebra, but even if there were a domesticable strain, there isn’t enough time nor a reason for them to go down that path

[justiniano]

Jul 10, 2022 3:11:03 GMT simon darkshade said:

The areas the pygmies lived in were not the areas where zebras of any description would flourish or be found

From the maps I posted there is an overlap around lake victoria

[simon darkshade]

One small area of nominal overlap of one subsection of the African Pygmy doth not make your proposition a go.

It is also quibbling on unsound grounds. The Twa Pygmy were predominantly found quite far from the western side of LV, in the modern border region between Congo and Rwanda, where terrain was quite heavily forested in the pre modern era. The zebra range is nominally in the same area, but that is more a testament to inaccurate computer graphics than any real incidence of jungle zebras.

You don’t just want ordinary jungle zebras, though, but mutated super horsey jungle zebras. The behaviours of horses come from their evolution in quite different environments. Let us set this aside, though, as your proposal fails on the first count - zebras don’t go in the same terrains as the Pygmy in sufficient extent to create a workable crossover potential.

[justiniano]

Jul 10, 2022 9:46:03 GMT simon darkshade said:

It is also quibbling on unsound grounds. The Twa Pygmy were predominantly found quite far from the western side of LV, in the modern border region between Congo and Rwanda, where terrain was quite heavily forested in the pre modern era.

Rwanda & burundi were both dominated by pygmies before the bantu expansion

[simon darkshade]

And during that period, there was a lack of deforestation they would follow layer, as the Pygmy were forest peoples, not mounted tribesmen.