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I once read a book by an animal trainer who maintained that animals like the challenge of learning skills. Horses are proud to run and win races- in fact you couldn't drive them to the levels of exertion to win if they didn't. No reason elephants couldn't be happy to play or win at polo. It beats being Hannibal's cavalry or hauling logs. (Anyone see the end of Alexander?) And I don't see any cattle prods.
In the wild there may be plenty of survival challenges, but as we domesticate animals they can thrive under different challenges, like frisbee catching, performing well and winning races. Some domesticated animals couldn't survive without us, btw. They lost the skills and physical attributes necessary to survive in the wild.
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