I recently read "The Third Chimpanzee" by Jared Diamond. It contained an interesting rhetorical question that reminded me of Book of Mormon apologetics. In tackling the question of why some peoples ended up with animals that could be domesticated, while other peoples did not, he observes:

"As already mentioned, these animals provided food, power, and clothing, while the horse was also of incalculable military value. [...] Why didn't American Indians reap similar benefits by domesticating the corresponding native American mammal species: mountain sheep, mountain goats, peccaries, bison, and tapirs? Why didn't Indians mounted on tapirs, and native Australians mounted on kangaroos, invade and terrorize Eurasia?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_domesticated_animals

Horses didn't live long enough after the arrival of man in North America. The only native domesticated animals were alpacas and llamas. Wild turkeys and geese were kept but not domesticated.

and although pre-Colombian contact Native Americans knew about the wheel they didn't use it because they didn't have draught animals that could pull carts or wagons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2016 12:14PM by anybody.

Isn't that just the shits? Imagine standing there, slapping your forehead and thinking, "Damn. Wheel and no horses. I feel like such an idiot. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/4/15780-2101-17585-1-turok-son-of-stone.jpg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2016 04:18PM by anybody.

If the Indians had ridden tapirs into battle then these would have been 'night raids' as I believe most tapirs are nocturnal.

What was Diamond's answer?

"Why didn't Indians mounted on tapirs, and native Australians mounted on kangaroos, invade and terrorize Eurasia?"

I imagine that it's because tapirs and kangaroos aren't tamable or ridable. The same goes for deer, elk, and moose. Just because an animal is large enough for a human to sit on, or pull a chariot or a backpack, doesn't mean you can train one to do that.

It was rhetorical. It was made to point out how ridiculous it is to expect all cultures to have the same blessings that Europeans, Middle Easterners, and Asians had that allowed their cultures to evolve beyond so-called "primitive" cultures.

There are herds of tame deer still in Japan, Europe and NZ. Reindeer pull sleighs for Sami (aka Lapplanders) and have for centuries.

Wasn't it Sorenson that proposed deer as the actual "horses" of the BoM via loanword confusion? The funny thing about that suggestion is that it completely ignores the fact that both Hebrews and Egyptians would have had perfectly serviceable words for deer or deer-like animals.

Lord Rothschild rode a carriage pulled by zebras to Buckingham Palace. However, he never rode them, using a saddle. Zebras are ill tempered, aggressive and prone to bite and kick.

Sorry Professor Tapirson, your theory re those long-nosed pigs being the real horses of BoM times simply sucks.

My degree is inferior to yours and most of your FARMer pals but I have stumbled upon the true engine of Nephite war superiority which was mistakenly translated "Horse."

The pictograph for the animal in Yucatan is clearly an elk brought from the north in elk-drives by new-world Hebrews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4kJ9TGhJA&list=PL76E6223F2CB30019&index=2

still, you got to admit that the picture in your mind of nephite warriors standing on sleds with no wheels being pulled by pigs that eat lilies and live in water, is pretty sweet. Tapirs are 'a large, herbivorous mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout' according to Wikipedia. Right- what's 'prehensile'?

Ahem...santa people...reindeers can be draft animals and fly too...laplanders still use them today but lack modern revelation to get em off the dirt...it wasnt till centuries later a ladies company found they cud give things wings and make em fly...but dam poor riding id imagine...i chuckled reading night raids...good one...the other reason for night raids...no one could see how dam stupid nephi looked loping in on a pigs cousin...you just might laugh them to death in daylight...no weapons needed...stealth tapirs ...the sacred weapon of the nephites...mormon apologists...stupid is what we do best...we never compromise on quality

Most zoos have a tapir or two if you want to meet one. They do most resemble a pig and like to be in swampy water. It would not be possible to ride one very far, certainly not to ride like a horse. We saw one at the zoo poop and then spread the poop by shaking its tail, much like Mormon apologists.