Welcome to the 156th insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we take a walk on the wild side, explaining the heights of luxury through exotic trade, consumerism and obsession.
Animals and affluence have gone hand in hand since the dawn of currency. After wolves became the world’s first domesticated counterparts over 40,000 years ago, humans quickly began establishing a distinct relationship with other forms of wildlife. Cats and birds were among some of the earliest human adaptations, hunting small prey while aiding in hunting and gathering. While many retained an essence of companionship, these pets were kept for their functional use, drawing a parallel between our relationships today.
A strange social trend has persevered since the earliest days of human civilization, regarding lore for unconventional pets. Predating the Bible by roughly 2800 years, exotic livestock was flaunted as a symbol of wealth in ancient Egypt’s earliest days. Records show that Egyptians would capture birds in 4000 BC, while Romans became interested in aquatic life around the same time period. However, the Chinese first actively kept and bred fish as an aesthetic centrepiece, establishing the origin of ‘luxury’ pets just 1500 years later.
The trend would slowly build as societies developed, limited by few feasible modes of transportation. In the West, domestic animals like rabbits, ferrets and chinchillas were domesticated but came second to reptiles as commercial trade was globalized. In the modern era, we’ve strayed even further from these relatively tame roots, opting for apex predators like komodo dragons, lions and eagles, but why?
Just like an Hermès Birkin, these rare, unattainable strands of life carry a sense of prominence. From Mike Tyson’s $50,000 tigers to Salvador Dalí’s pet anteater (yes, you read that right), these beasts turn heads and create an opulent narrative. In the age of social media where attention is currency, anything to stand out is of value, even a pet kangaroo.
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