Litter (animal) and space, leaving the weakest young, or runts, to die through lack of care. In the wild, only a small percentage, if any, of the litter may survive to maturity, whereas for domesticated animals and those in captivity with human care the whole litter almost always survives. Kittens and puppies are in this group. Carnivores, rodents, and pigs usually have litters, while primates and larger herbivores usually have singletons. Litter (animal) A litter is the live birth of multiple offspring at one time in animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents, particularly from three to
Tame animal humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. Human selection included tameness, but domestication is not achieved without a suitable evolutionary response. Domestic animals need not be tame in the behavioral sense, such as the Spanish fighting bull. Wild animals can be tame, such as a hand-raised cheetah. A domestic animal's breeding is controlled by humans and its tameness and tolerance of humans is genetically determined. Thus, an animal bred in captivity is not necessarily domesticated; tigers, gorillas, and polar bears breed readily in captivity but are not