It barely fits.) 23) Arctic fox Kevan Dee /Flickrĭamn, these are adorable. (Look at these pictures of a bison living in a home in Dallas. Do you have 24 pounds of grass? No, you don’t. 24) American bisonīison eat around 24 pounds of grass a day. You might laugh, but people have kept bears - in this country and abroad (with deadly consequences). But there are far more that don’t.īears of any kind are a great example of an animal that’s probably not a great pet. The resulting paper, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, has some fun surprises: Apparently wallabies, silva deer, and llamas make pretty decent pets.

The Dutch research team had a series of experts in ecology, animal welfare, and veterinary science rank the animals in terms of suitability for living in a human home. The exact order isn’t so important it’s more so that all of these animals fall on the “probably not great as pets” side of the spectrum. 25) American black bear Valerie / Flickrįirst off, know that these rankings are based on subjective judgments from experts. So no matter where you live, you’ll want to avoid these 25 mammals that make terrible pets. The research was done in the Netherlands, but the exotic animal trade is increasingly global. The researchers came up with a list of 90 mammals - combining data from an internet survey in the Netherlands, as well as information on animal confiscations from homes and a few other public data sources (also included: animals that appear at petting zoos).įor fun, I scrolled to the bottom of the list - to the least desirable pets. In May, a group of researchers in the Netherlands published a systematic ranking of animals’ suitability as pets, to aid public understanding and improve animal welfare. Sadly, exotic animal ownership often ends with abandonment when humans can’t (or don’t know how to) care for the creatures anymore. Other exotics are finicky eaters and need lots of space to roam and play. Chimps, for example, are cute as babies, but then grow into extremely strong - sometimes aggressive - adults.

Trouble is, some of these exotic animals don’t live well with us. But more and more people around the world are instead choosing creatures like chinchillas, dingoes, and foxes as pets - while knowing very little about them. Dogs and cats have been bred for centuries to be our companions that’s why they make great pets.

Petz 5 backup breeds