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Domestication

The domestication of livestock began as a response to the need for reliable food sources, evolving over time in various regions. Key animals such as dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, and elephants were domesticated at different points in history, significantly aiding agricultural practices. This process allowed for increased food production and the development of settled communities.

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31 views1 page

Domestication

The domestication of livestock began as a response to the need for reliable food sources, evolving over time in various regions. Key animals such as dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, and elephants were domesticated at different points in history, significantly aiding agricultural practices. This process allowed for increased food production and the development of settled communities.

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praskh
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The domestication of livestock was driven by the need to have food on hand when hunting was

unproductive. The desirable characteristics of a domestic animal are that it should be useful to man,
should be able to thrive in his company, should breed freely and be easy to tend. [1]Domestication was
not a single event, but a process repeated at various periods in different places. Sheep and goats
were the animals that accompanied the nomads in the Middle East, while cattle and pigs were
associated with more settled communities.[2]
The first wild animal to be domesticated was the dog. Half-wild dogs, perhaps starting with young
individuals, may have been tolerated as scavengers and killers of vermin, and being naturally pack
hunters, were predisposed to become part of the human pack and join in the hunt. Prey animals,
sheep, goats, pigs and cattle, were progressively domesticated early in the history of agriculture.
[2]
Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 13,000 BC.[3] Sheep were domesticated in
Mesopotamia between 11,000 and 9,000 BC.[4] Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in
the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan around 8,500 BC.[5] A cow was a great advantage to a
villager as it produced more milk than its calf needed, and its strength could be put to use, pulling a
plough to increase production of crops, and drawing a sledge, and later a cart, to bring the produce
home from the field. Draught animals were first used about 4,000 BC in the Middle East, increasing
agricultural production immeasurably.[2] In southern Asia, the elephant was domesticated by 6,000
BC.[6] Fossilised chicken bones dated to 5040 BC have been found in northeastern China, far from
where their wild ancestors lived in the jungles of tropical Asia, but archaeologists believe that the
original purpose of domestication was for the sport of cockfighting. [7] Meanwhile in South America,
the llama and the alpaca had been domesticated, probably before 3,000 BC, as beasts of burden
and for their wool. Neither was strong enough to pull a plough

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