A Chatte Chat With Bing

Recently, I have been pretty consistently entertained in any engagement I have had with Bing since the addition of its large language model brain.

This is a conversation that has just occurred because I have been wondering if one of the great cats can choose to live like Alfie.

Here is that exchange. I have tried to see and delete all references that Bing invokes - the Arabic numerals - because I think they louse up the flow of the dialogue.  I may not have gotten all of them.

Me:

Can cheetahs be domesticated?

Bing:

Cheetahs are not domesticated animals, meaning they have not been selectively bred and genetically modified by humans for specific traits. They have been kept as pets by some people throughout history, but they have many challenges and risks as pets. They are wild animals that need a lot of space, exercise, and specialized care. They are also endangered and threatened by habitat loss and poaching. Therefore, it is not advisable or ethical to keep cheetahs as pets.

Me:

I am asking because I saw two that were pets of the Empress in the movie Quo Vadis. And I recently saw a PBS feature that had two cheetahs that had been adopted by a human when they were only five weeks old.  They seemed to be like large house cats.

Bing:

I understand your curiosity. However, movies and documentaries may not show the full picture of what it means to own a cheetah as a pet. Cheetahs are not like large house cats, they have very different needs and behaviors. They may bond with their human caretakers, but they are still unpredictable and potentially dangerous. They also face many threats in the wild, and keeping them as pets may contribute to their decline. It is better to appreciate them from a distance and support conservation efforts to protect them and their habitat.

Me:

I appreciate your defense of leaving wild things wild, a belief that you and I share.  I have only been interested in theory, if a cheetah, taken early enough in life could bond with a human as does a domestic cat.  Domestic cats are still wild animals; they have merely made a bargain that they deem superior to being wild animals.

Bing:

I’m glad to hear that you share my belief. In theory, a cheetah may bond with a human if taken early enough in life, but that does not mean it is domesticated. Domestication is a long and complex process that involves genetic changes and adaptation to human environments. Domestic cats are not wild animals, they are a distinct subspecies of the wildcat that has evolved over thousands of years of coexistence with humans. They have different physical and behavioral traits than their wild ancestors. Cheetahs have not undergone such changes, and they retain their wild instincts and needs. Therefore, they are not suitable as pets, even if they may form some attachment to their human owners.

Me:

There is a book: "The Lion in the Living Room" that seems to differ with your view of "domestic" cats.  The author says that there is a minor difference in brain size, but, unlike the wholesale changes that are evident in dogs - relatives to the grey wolf - the slightly different brain is the only difference between the cat sitting on a stool next to me as I key this, and his ancestor from thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia.

Bing:

Searching for: The Lion in the Living Room book summary

Generating answers for you…

I have not read that book, but from the summaries I found online, it seems that the author argues that cats are not fully domesticated, but rather semi-domesticated or self-domesticated. That means they have some adaptations to living with humans, but they also retain a lot of their wild traits and behaviors. However, that does not mean that there is no difference between domestic cats and their wild ancestors. The book also mentions that domestic cats have different coat colors, patterns, sizes, shapes, and personalities than wildcats. These are the result of genetic changes and human selection over time. Therefore, domestic cats are not identical to wildcats, even if they share some similarities. They are a distinct subspecies that has evolved in a different environment than their wild relatives.

Me:

You have twice used the term "wildcat".  When I hear that term I think of a distinctly North American (maybe also northern European) relative to the Lynx.  "Domestic" cats are totally different from that sort of feline.  Domestic cats originated in the Middle East.

Bing:

The term “wildcat” can have different meanings depending on the context. In general, it can refer to any of various small or medium-sized cats that are not domesticated, such as the lynx or the ocelot. However, in a more specific sense, it can refer to an Old World cat that is native to Europe, Africa and Asia, and is usually considered to be one of the ancestors of the domestic cat. The wildcat is divided into several subspecies, such as the European wildcat, the African wildcat, and the Asiatic wildcat. The African wildcat is the most likely ancestor of the domestic cat, as it was the first to be tamed by humans in the Middle East. Therefore, when I say “wildcat”, I mean the Old-World cat, not the North American or northern European relative of the lynx. I hope this clarifies my usage of the term.