Editing Pet (section)

== Pet ownership by non-humans ==
Pet ownership by animals in the wild, as an analogue to the human phenomenon, has not been observed and is likely non-existent in nature.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Bradshaw|first1=J. W. S.|last2=Paul|first2=E. S.|date=2010|title=Could empathy for animals have been an adaptation in the evolution of Homo sapiens?|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a832/f3be4a565534808568a4bc808d618600c4e0.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303051800/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a832/f3be4a565534808568a4bc808d618600c4e0.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2019|journal=Animal Welfare|language=en|volume=19|issue=S|pages=107–112|doi=10.1017/s096272860000230x |s2cid=55412536|access-date=3 September 2019}}</ref> One group of [[capuchin monkeys]] was observed appearing to care for a [[marmoset]], a fellow [[New World monkey]] species; however, observations of [[chimpanzees]] apparently playing with small animals like [[hyraxes]] have ended with the chimpanzees killing the animals and tossing the corpses around.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/201006/are-humans-the-only-animals-keep-pets|title=Are Humans the Only Animals That Keep Pets?|work=Psychology Today|first=Hal|last=Herzog|date=18 June 2010|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref>

A 2010 study states that human relationships with animals have an exclusive human cognitive component and that pet-keeping is a fundamental and ancient attribute of the human species. [[Anthropomorphism]], or the projection of human feelings, thoughts and attributes on to animals, is a defining feature of human pet-keeping. The study identifies it as the same trait in evolution responsible for [[domestication]] and concern for [[animal welfare]]. It is estimated to have arisen at least 100,000 [[years before present]] (ybp) in ''[[Human|Homo sapiens]]''.<ref name=":2" />

It is debated whether this redirection of human nurturing behaviour towards non-human animals, in the form of pet-keeping, was [[maladaptive]], due to being biologically costly, or whether it was [[Directional selection|positively selected]] for.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRohBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|title=The Walking Larder: Patterns of Domestication, Pastoralism, and Predation|last=Clutton-Brock|first=Juliet|date=30 October 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-59838-1|pages=16, 19|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sj2Tk2k49ZcC&pg=PA299|title=The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Family Psychology|last1=Salmon|first1=Catherine|last2=Shackelford|first2=Todd K.|date=27 May 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-539669-0|page=299|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Two studies suggest that the human ability to domesticate and keep pets came from the same fundamental evolutionary trait and that this trait provided a material benefit in the form of domestication that was sufficiently [[Adaptation|adaptive]] to be positively selected for.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />{{Rp|300}} A 2011 study suggests that the practical functions that some pets provide, such as [[Working animal#Hunting|assisting hunting]] or [[Biological pest control|removing pests]], could have resulted in enough evolutionary advantage to allow for the persistence of this behaviour in humans and outweigh the economic burden held by pets kept as playthings for immediate emotional rewards.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gray|first1=Peter B.|last2=Young|first2=Sharon M.|date=1 March 2011|title=Human–Pet Dynamics in Cross-Cultural Perspective|journal=Anthrozoös|volume=24|issue=1|pages=18, 27|doi=10.2752/175303711X12923300467285|s2cid=144313567|issn=0892-7936}}</ref> Two other studies suggest that the behaviour constitutes an error, side effect or misapplication of the evolved mechanisms responsible for human empathy and [[theory of mind]] to cover non-human animals which has not sufficiently impacted its evolutionary advantage in the long run.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|300}}

Animals in [[Captivity (animal)|captivity]], with the help of caretakers, have been considered to have owned pets. Examples of this include [[Koko the gorilla]] who had several pet cats, [[Tonda (orangutan)|Tonda the orangutan]] and a pet cat and Tarra the elephant and a dog named Bella.<ref name=":1" />