It is proposed that there were three major pathways that most animal domesticates followed into domestication: (1) commensals, adapted to a human niche (e.g., dogs, cats, fowl, possibly pigs); (2) prey animals sought for food (e.g., sheep, goats, cattle, water buffalo, yak, pig, reindeer, llama, alpaca, and turkey); and (3) targeted animals for draft and nonfood resources (e.g., horse, donkey, camel).
Why is Old World agriculture always associated with domesticated animals?
Why is Old World agriculture, unlike New World [ancient American] agriculture, always associated with domesticated animals? In contrast to hunting and gathering as a mode of life, agriculture means modifying the environment in order to exploit it more effectively. Agriculture alters both the animals and plants it domesticates.
How did humans domesticate animals?
How Did That Happen? Not counting the domestic dog, who has been our partner for at least 15,000 years, the animal domestication process started about 12,000 years ago. Over that time, humans have learned to control animal access to food and other necessities of life by changing the behaviors and natures of their wild ancestors.
What are the different types of animals that were domesticated?
Animal domestication falls into three main groupings: domestication for companionship (dogs and cats), animals farmed for food (sheep, cows, pigs, turkeys, etc.), and working or draft animals (horses, donkeys, camels). Animals that make good candidates for domestication typically share certain traits:
What plants were domesticated for food?
Plants have not only been domesticated for food. Cotton plants were domesticated for fiber, which is used in cloth. Some flowers, such as tulips, were domesticated for ornamental, or decorative, reasons. About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tame animals for meat, milk, and hides.
How are domesticated animals used in agriculture?
Animals are a part of many agricultural systems. Domesticated animals such as livestock play a critical role in diversified farming systems, both because they or their products become food and because they cycle nutrients through the farm. Wild animals can help to manage pest populations and contribute to biodiversity.
How were domesticated animals used?
Domestic species are raised for food, work, clothing, medicine, and many other uses. Domesticated plants and animals must be raised and cared for by humans. Domesticated species are not wild.
When were animals domesticated for farming?
Part of the Horse exhibition. Most of the domestic animals familiar to us today were domesticated not long after people began farming and living in permanent settlements, between 8000 and 2500 BC.
What are 5 uses for domesticated animals?
2.1 As food.2.2 For clothing and textiles.2.3 For work and transport.2.4 In science.2.5 In medicine.2.6 In hunting.2.7 As pets.2.8 For sport.
What was the role of domestication of animals and agriculture in human evolution?
1 Answer. Domestication of animals was followed by the commencement of agriculture. Humans who were food gatherers and hunters till then, now became food growers or food producers. They were prepared to overcome the effects of the climate changes like the ice age by adapting to domestication of animals and agriculture.
What led to the domestication of animals?
The domestication of animals and plants was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum around 21,000 years ago and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food difficult.
What are the 6 characteristics of domesticated animals?
In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond argues that to be domesticated, animals must possess six characteristics: a diverse appetite, rapid maturation, willingness to breed in captivity, docility, strong nerves, and a nature that conforms to social hierarchy.
When was animal domesticated first?
The first animals to be domesticated for food use are thought to be sheep, between 11,000 and 9,000 B.C. in Southwest Asia. Goats followed later around 8,000 BC. Both animals were used for their meat, milk, and coats, and became an integral part of nomadic communities.
How did domestication of animals change society?
Animal domestication changed a great deal of human society. It allowed for more permanent settlement as cattle provided a reliable food and supply source.
How does an animal become domesticated?
Domestication happens through selective breeding. Individuals that exhibit desirable traits are selected to be bred, and these desirable traits are then passed along to future generations. Wolves were the first animal to be domesticated, sometime between 33,000 and 11,000 years ago.
What are benefits of having domesticated animals?
There are many health benefits of owning a pet. They can increase opportunities to exercise, get outside, and socialize. Regular walking or playing with pets can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets can help manage loneliness and depression by giving us companionship.
Why did agriculture and domestication of animals evolved simultaneously give reasons in support of your answer?
Answer. The origin of agriculture was linked to the availability of wild plants and animals that were useful for domestication. The Fertile Crescent of southwestern Asia and the Indian subcontinent offered many varieties of wild plants and animals, which were ideal for domesti- cation.
What does domestication mean?
Domestication is the gradual process of animals becoming gentler and submitting to human instruction. In this process, an entire animal species evo…
What is the history of animal domestication?
Some of our earliest evidence of humans is tied to animals. Historians have learned a lot about domestication from archaeological evidence such as…
Why was the domestication of animals important to the development of civilization?
Animals have played a large part in the lives of humans throughout our history, becoming integral to our survival, our history and our very identit…
What are the characteristics of a domesticated animal?
A domesticated animal is typically quite gentle and submissive to human instruction.
When did humans start domesticating animals?
It is believed that humans first domesticated animals about 10,000 years ago.
What is the scientific name for a dog?
Dogs’ scientific name is canis lupus familiaris, while the scientific name for gray wolves is canis lupus. Wild Horses. The process of domestication continues. Cowboys and other horse experts train horses. Sometimes, this is called “breaking” a horse. Training a horse to allow a saddle and rider requires an enormous amount of physical work, …
What is domestication in encyclopaedia?
Encyclopedic Entry. Vocabulary. Domestication is the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use. Domestic species are raised for food, work, clothing, medicine, and many other uses. Domesticated plants and animals must be raised and cared for by humans.
How many eggs do wild chickens lay?
Wild chickens only hatched a small number of eggs once a year, while domestic chickens commonly lay 200 or more eggs each year. Effects on Humans. Domesticating plants marked a major turning point for humans: the beginning of an agricultural way of life and more permanent civilizations.
Why were cotton plants domesticated?
Cotton plants were domesticated for fiber , which is used in cloth. Some flowers, such as tulips, were domesticated for ornamental, or decorative, reasons. Animal Domestication. About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tame animals for meat, milk, and hides.
Why do people breed domesticated animals?
Throughout history, people have bred domesticated animals to promote certain traits. Domestic animals are chosen for their ability to breed in captivity and for their calm temperament. Their ability to resist disease and survive in difficult climates is also valuable.
What were the first food crops in Mesopotamia?
The first domesticated plants in Mesopotamia were wheat, barley, lentils, and types of peas. People in other parts of the world, including eastern Asia, parts of Africa, and parts of North and South America, also domesticated plants.
How much does a chicken weigh?
But over thousands of years of domestication, they have been bred to be larger. Larger chickens yield more meat. Today, domestic chickens weigh as much as 17 pounds.
What is domestication in biology?
Domestication has been defined as “a sustained multi-generational, mutualistic relationship in which one organism assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another organism in order to secure a more predictable supply of a resource of interest, and through which the partner organism gains advantage over individuals that remain outside this relationship, thereby benefitting and often increasing the fitness of both the domesticator and the target domesticate .” This definition recognizes both the biological and the cultural components of the domestication process and the effects on both humans and the domesticated animals and plants. All past definitions of domestication have included a relationship between humans with plants and animals, but their differences lay in who was considered as the lead partner in the relationship. This new definition recognizes a mutualistic relationship in which both partners gain benefits. Domestication has vastly enhanced the reproductive output of crop plants, livestock, and pets far beyond that of their wild progenitors. Domesticates have provided humans with resources that they could more predictably and securely control, move, and redistribute, which has been the advantage that had fueled a population explosion of the agro-pastoralists and their spread to all corners of the planet.
How did human selection affect domesticated animals?
One study has concluded that human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted the homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars into pigs and created domestication islands in the genome. The same process may also apply to other domesticated animals.
How does domestication affect the brain?
Foxes that had been selectively bred for tameness over 40 years had experienced a significant reduction in cranial height and width and by inference in brain size, which supports the hypothesis that brain-size reduction is an early response to the selective pressure for tameness and lowered reactivity that is the universal feature of animal domestication. The most affected portion of the brain in domestic mammals is the limbic system, which in domestic dogs, pigs, and sheep show a 40% reduction in size compared with their wild species. This portion of the brain regulates endocrine function that influences behaviors such as aggression, wariness, and responses to environmentally induced stress, all attributes which are dramatically affected by domestication.
How many genes are associated with domestication syndrome?
Geneticists have identified more than 300 genetic loci and 150 genes associated with coat color variability.
What is domestication relationship?
All past definitions of domestication have included a relationship between humans with plants and animals, but their differences lay in who was considered as the lead partner in the relationship. This new definition recognizes a mutualistic relationship in which both partners gain benefits.
How did domestication occur?
Domestication was likely initiated when humans began to experiment with hunting strategies designed to increase the availability of these prey, perhaps as a response to localized pressure on the supply of the animal. Over time and with the more responsive species, these game-management strategies developed into herd-management strategies that included the sustained multi-generational control over the animals’ movement, feeding, and reproduction. As human interference in the life-cycles of prey animals intensified, the evolutionary pressures for a lack of aggression would have led to an acquisition of the same domestication syndrome traits found in the commensal domesticates.
What is the difference between improvement and domestication traits?
Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates, and were selected during the initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant, whereas improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or regional populations.
How does domestication affect non-target organisms?
Because the phenotype of domesticated organisms differs from their wild counterparts, organisms that interact with domesticated species experience altered selective pressures to adapt to these novel phenotypes.
How does domestication affect species?
The direct effects of domestication for species. Domestication has influenced many aspects of organism life history including the behavior, genetics, demographics, and geographic range of many species. The alteration of traits is particularly well documented in modern livestock when comparing them to their wild ancestors.
What was the host shift of the wild seed beetle?
Another occurrence was studied by Frank Messina in 2004, who documented the host shift of the wild seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatu. Results showed that the competitive environment between larvae after shifting to the domesticated cowpea plant affected the phenotype and ultimately the survival of this species.
What is the human desirability of traits of value?
The human desirability of traits of value, therefore, directed the strategy and thus lineages involved in the domestication of many species. This is particularly true in dogs, which were the first domesticated animal and display some of the most extensive range of morphological traits across breeds despite being a single species.
What is domestication in agriculture?
A domesticated species is defined as a species bred in captivity under human control, who influence its food supply and reproduction, thus being a distinct process from taming wild-born animals . Domestication played a considerable influence in human history, as it is hypothesized …
How does CRISPR affect domestication?
In plants, the accelerated domestication of species through molecular techniques such as CRISPR will expand the plant types currently used in domestication. For animals, the growing diversity and abundance of species used as livestock or the pet trade will further contribute to the effects of domestication.
How did domestication contribute to evolution?
The domestication of plants and animals, therefore, contributed to human evolution by providing a greater number of resources but also by generating many consequences that are still relevant in contemporary societies.
Why did cats not take to domestication as easily as wolves/dogs did?
Cats probably did not take to domestication as easily as wolves/dogs did because cats have no social hierarchy that allows humans to take the alpha role. Wolves travel in packs, following a highest-ranking wolf, but a cat is a solitary and proud animal who takes orders from no one.
What is animal domestication?
Animal domestication is partly tied to human domestication, or the human shift from hunter-gatherer to farmer. Though hunter-gatherers worked with domesticated dogs long before human domestication, later on, farmers saw the benefit of keeping livestock.
How old are dog fossils?
Although the oldest fossils of a domesticated dog are from a 14,000-year-old dog grave, DNA evidence suggests dogs diverged from wolves much earlier than that (with estimates ranging from 15,000 to more than 100,000 years ago) [source: Wade ].
Which scientist believes that animals prefer domestication over captivity?
Budiansky subscribes to the theory that animals actually chose domestication, preferring the reliable comfort of captivity to the harsh wild [source: Budiansky ]. He also points out that there are some species that we have, or could have, saved from extinction by domesticating them.
What do poor people use goats for?
Poor people who live in areas with few other resources can use the goat for meat, milk and materials like mohair and cashmere [ Sherman ]. Pigs: From domestication of the wild boar, humans developed the pig. Having a taste for waste, pigs ate from human trash piles, allowing a primitive trash recycling.
Why do we want to include animals in our lives?
It seems natural that we would want to incorporate and include animals in our lives as much as possible for food, companionship, clothing, milk and a slew of other things. From archeological evidence such as fossils, historians have learned a lot about man’s domestication of animals.
Where did the camel originate?
CentralAsia: People raised chicken and used Bactrian camels for carrying loads in Central Asia. Arabia: As the name implies, the Arabian camel (a one-humped camel, also known as a dromedary) originated here. China: China was home to early domestication of the water buffalo, pigs and dogs.
How long has domestication been around?
Not counting the domestic dog, who has been our partner for at least 15,000 years, the animal domestication process started about 12,000 years ago. Over that time, humans have learned to control animal access to food and other necessities of life by changing the behaviors and natures of their wild ancestors.
What are the three pathways of domestication?
prey pathway, or game management: in which actively hunted animals were first managed (cattle, goats, sheep, camelids, reindeer, and swine)
What is the prey pathway?
prey pathway, or game management: in which actively hunted animals were first managed (cattle, goats, sheep, camelids, reindeer, and swine) directed pathway: a deliberate effort by humans to capture, domesticate and use the animals (horses, donkeys, camels, reindeer).
What is animal domestication?
Animal domestication is what scholars call the millennia-long process that created the mutually beneficial relationship that exists today between animals and humans.
What diseases are caused by animal pens?
But some of our most unpleasant diseases —tuberculosis, anthrax, and bird flu are just a few–come from the proximity to animal pens, and it is quite clear that our societies were directly molded by our new responsibilities.
Who is Kris Hirst?
David Wilmot. K. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science. Animal domestication is what scholars call the millennia-long process that created the mutually beneficial relationship that exists today between animals and humans.
Do humans share the benefits of a relationship?
While it may seem that people get all of the benefits out of the relationship, people also share some of the costs. Humans shelter animals, protecting them from harm and feeding them to fatten them up and make sure they reproduce for the next generation.
Abstract
In the origin of modern humans, hunting of wild animals and gathering of wild plants in nature were the primary subsistence strategies. Yet, about 12,000 years ago, the domestication of plants and animals began.
1. Introduction
Since the origin of modern humans, Homo sapiens, about 200,000 years ago, hunting of wild animals and gathering of wild plants in nature were the primary subsistence strategies [ 1 ].
2. How were animals domesticated?
Domestication is a long and endless process by which animals become adapted to both humans and captive conditions ( [ 24, 25, 26 ]; for an overview of definitions of domestication, see [ 27 ]). Three main pathways of domestication have been proposed for land animals: a commensal pathway, a prey pathway, and a directed pathway [ 6, 28, 29, 30 ].
3. How have animals evolved during domestication?
During domestication, five main genetic processes were involved [ 15, 28, 34 ], including inbreeding and genetic drift (two uncontrolled processes), natural selection in captivity and relaxation of natural selection (two partially controlled processes), and active selection (one controlled process) [ 34, 35 ].
4. A brief history of the major domesticated animals
Even though the decision to consider farmed or captive animals as domesticated is subjective and arbitrary [ 35, 41 ], most authors agree that about 40 species around the world that directly or indirectly contribute to agriculture are domesticated; this number varies between 20 and 50 following the definitions used for a domesticated animal [ 36, 42, 43, 44 ].
5. Final considerations
Ever since Darwin, the study of domestication has puzzled scientists [ 39 ]. Hundreds of articles are published each year [ 33, 39 ], as well as books, among which some are listed in Table 2. Despite this interest, both the words “domestication” and “domestic animal” remain confusing and poorly defined [ 32 ].
PDF for Printing
When you research information you must cite the reference. Citing for websites is different from citing from books, magazines and periodicals. The style of citing shown here is from the MLA Style Citations (Modern Language Association).
Citing Research References
When you research information you must cite the reference. Citing for websites is different from citing from books, magazines and periodicals. The style of citing shown here is from the MLA Style Citations (Modern Language Association).
Why is the Produce Rule required by the FDA?
Because animals have been considered a possible source of contamination in food safety outbreaks involving produce, Congress required FDA to include standards for “animals in the growing area” when developing new regulations. In the proposed Produce Rule, FDA has developed standards directed to domesticated and wild animals.
What are the three main animal populations that the FDA identifies?
The three main animal populations that FDA identifies are: Domesticated animals (e.g, livestock, working animals, and pets); Domesticated animals from a nearby area (e.g., livestock from a nearby farm); and. Wild animals ( e.g., deer and wild swine). Broadly, the proposed standards require a farmer to take certain preventative measures …
What are the proposed standards for farmers?
Broadly, the proposed standards require a farmer to take certain preventative measures if there is a reasonable probability that animals will contaminate produce covered by the new standards.
Why are animals important to agriculture?
Domesticated animals such as livestock play a critical role in diversified farming systems, both because they or their products become food and because they cycle nutrients through the farm. Wild animals can help to manage pest populations and contribute to biodiversity.
How long does it take for the FDA to approve raw manure?
This is the same interval that FDA had originally proposed between the application of raw manure and harvest, but FDA has deferred its decision on the 9-month application interval until it has more science and a robust risk assessment to justify it.
What is the evidence of animal intrusion?
Evidence of animal intrusion includes observation of significant quantities of animals, animal feces, or crop destruction due to grazing.
When is FDA required to monitor where produce is grown, harvested, held, or packed?
If there is a reasonable probability that covered produce will become contaminated due to animal intrusion, FDA requires farmers to monitor areas where produce is grown, harvested, held, or packed as needed during the growing season and immediately prior to harvest.
Overview
Definitions
Domestication has been defined as “a sustained multi-generational, mutualistic relationship in which one organism assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another organism in order to secure a more predictable supply of a resource of interest, and through which the partner organism gains advantage over individuals that remain outside this relationshi…
History, cause and timing
The domestication of animals and plants was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum around 21,000 years ago and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food difficult. The first domesticate was the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) from a wolf ancestor (Canis lupus) at leas…
Universal features
The biomass of wild vertebrates is now increasingly small compared to the biomass of domestic animals, with the calculated biomass of domestic cattle alone being greater than that of all wild mammals. Because the evolution of domestic animals is ongoing, the process of domestication has a beginning but not an end. Various criteria have been established to provide a definition of do…
Categories
Domestication can be considered as the final phase of intensification in the relationship between animal or plant sub-populations and human societies, but it is divided into several grades of intensification. For studies in animal domestication, researchers have proposed five distinct categories: wild, captive wild, domestic, cross-breeds and feral.
Wild animals Subject to natural selection, although the action of past demographic events and a…
Pathways
Since 2012, a multi-stage model of animal domestication has been accepted by two groups. The first group proposed that animal domestication proceeded along a continuum of stages from anthropophily, commensalism, control in the wild, control of captive animals, extensive breeding, intensive breeding, and finally to pets in a slow, gradually intensifying relationship between humans an…
Post-domestication gene flow
As agricultural societies migrated away from the domestication centers taking their domestic partners with them, they encountered populations of wild animals of the same or sister species. Because domestics often shared a recent common ancestor with the wild populations, they were capable of producing fertile offspring. Domestic populations were small relative to the surrounding wild populations, and repeated hybridizations between the two eventually led to the …
Positive selection
Charles Darwin recognized the small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors. He was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding in which humans directly select for desirable traits, and unconscious selection where traits evolve as a by-product of natural selection or from selection on other traits.
Agricultural History and Origins of Domestication
See more on azolifesciences.com
The Benefits and Repercussions of Domestication For Humans
-
For human populations, domestication is fundamental to establishing long-term sources of food and resources, which was a turning point in early human evolution. Current evolutionary theory suggests domestication emerged in several geographic areas throughout ancient history. Combined with the range of species now considered domesticated, this indicates that there are …
The Direct Effects of Domestication For Species
-
Domestication has influenced many aspects of organism life history including the behavior, genetics, demographics, and geographic range of many species. The alteration of traits is particularly well documented in modern livestock when comparing them to their wild ancestors. Chickens were selected to be larger, wild-caught cattle to be smaller, and sheep to lose their ke…
The Indirect Effects of Domestication in Species
-
Genetically, domestication can often lead to many changes in evolutionary lineages including the demise of species through population bottlenecks caused by a reduction in the genetic diversity of lineages. Domestication can also affect non-target organisms. Because the phenotype of domesticated organisms differs from their wild counterparts, organisms that interact with dome…