"A domestic animal is one which has been selectivity bred in captivity and thereby modified from its ancestors for use by humans who control the animals breeding and food supply"
Human ancestors pursued animals for food and clothing for over a million years before any were domesticated. As humans established communities, albeit often a nomadic one in which the tribe or group moved to find food, domestication of some of the hitherto wild species occurred. The majority of animal species can be tamed if reared from a young age. However, few species can be domesticated because it requires both prerequisite characteristics (which are discussed later) and concerted effort. Consequently, this effort will probably have only been expended for sound reasons, related to survival, protection and the food supply.
THE DOMESTIC DOG
The asiatic wolf was probably the first wild animal domesticated by humans. It is believed to be the progenitor for the great variety of domestic dogs we have today. However until the 18th or 19th century most of the breeds of dog were described by their purpose (deer hound, sheepdog etc.) and it was in the 19th century that most breeds and show dog pedigrees were developed. Alternative candidates proposed as the ancestor of the dog are the jackal or hyena. However, wolves interbreed with dogs to produce fertile offspring and have the same chromosome numbers while jackals do not. Bones of dogs are common in camp sites of the late stone age from around 7000 to 6000 BC. Probably wolves and humans lived together in an uneasy calm and perhaps humans started to exploit the hunting skills and speed of the wolf in return for providing food, warmth and shelter.
The domestication of the wolf over time lead to a reduction in skull size, shortening of the jaw bones, a reduction in tooth size, and a variation in coat color. At around 6000 BC dog skeletons are those most commonly found in association with neolithic humans remains. Cattle, sheep and goat bones are also found.
LIVESTOCK DOMESTICATION
Exactly how, when, and in what order the major livestock species became domesticated remains uncertain. The earliest evidence of domestication of sheep and goats stems from around 8000 BC in southwest asia. This is the area of the world in which agriculture (defined as the development and husbandry of crop and animal resources in one location) developed first. Prior to that the humans survived as hunter/gatherers; harvesting foods where they could be found or following migrating herds. There are still peoples of the world who live by a nomadic hunter/gatherer system e.g. the Bushmen of the Kalahari, aboriginal tribes in Australia and New Guinea, etc. The development of agriculture had profound effects on the developments of human society as discussed below.
While southwest asia, the area now constituted by Jordan, Syria, Israel and Iraq, shows the earliest evidence of the development of agriculture several different and distinct neolithic developments of agriculture occurred at different sites in Asia, Europe, and the Americas between 8000 BC and 3500 BC. Cereal or root crops and socially inclined animals were certainly prerequisites for the development of domesticated animal agriculture as were fertile soil and an appropriate climate. These prerequisites were present in the greatest abundance in south west asia and the majority of domesticated animal species, now utilized in agriculture worldwide are Eurasian in origin (Table 1).
Table 1 . Location and Estimated
Dates of Domestication of Animals
| Species | Date (B.C.) | Location |
| Dog | 10,000 | SW Asia, China, N.America |
| Sheep | 8,000 | SW Asia |
| Goat | 8,000 | SW Asia |
| Pig | 8,000 | SW Asia, China |
| Donkey | 4,000 | Egypt |
| Horse | 4,000 | Ukraine |
| Water Buffalo | 4,000 | S.Asia or China |
| Llama/alpaca | 3,500 | S.America |
| Chicken | 3,500 | Central Asia |
| Arabian Camel | 2,500 | Arabia |
| Bactrian Camel | 2,500 | Central Asia |
Sheep and goats
Sheep and goats were the first food producing animals to be domesticated and
the relative preponderance of one species or the other in different areas
of the mid east may reflect climate or altitude differences or perhaps human
cultural preferences. Goats probably survived and grew better in the higher
more arid areas while sheep prospered in the lower regions The sheep flocks
and goat herds were driven between grazing sites. At these grazing sites
temporary settlements were established until the feed was exhausted and the
group moved on, much like the bedouin people of North Africa today.
Swine
The ancestors of domestic swine were widely spread throughout Europe, Asia
and North Africa. These are the European and Asiatic wild pigs. The nomadic
behavior of the early peoples probably precluded domestication since pigs
are difficult animals to herd and drive. Pigs were probably first encountered
as crop robbers which were hunted and killed. Perhaps the young pigs
were taken into early human settlements and raised for meat. This need for
a permanent settlement to raise pigs probably explains why they are not encountered
until rather later in human sites. Additionally, in southwest asia domestication
of pigs was not practised because of religious beliefs. The omnivorous character
of the pig meant that it would thrive on the scraps from a human community
in combination with its own rooting and foraging. As for the dog, domestic
pigs and their wild ancestor can be distinguished by differences in skeletal
remains.
Cattle
While the wild ancestors of sheep, goat and pigs still survive the ancestor
of domestic cattle is extinct. The common ancestor of domestic cattle was
Bos primigenius, the auroch. The last wild auroch was killed in Poland
in the 17th century. However from various paintings, including the neolithic
cave paintings, its appearance is known. There are considerable difficulties
in distinguishing between the skeletal remains of aurochs, early domestic
cattle, water buffalos and bison. However, DNA evidence suggests that the
modern Indian and European breeds were independently domesticated from geographically
separate populations of aurochs. In contrast the African humped cattle appear
not to have been a separate domestication but rather derived from European
and Indian breeds. Over time the domestic cattle became smaller than their
ancestors, Today the primigenius strain survives most strongly in Spanish
fighting bulls, in Highland and English Park cattle. By 3000 BC cattle had
been domesticated both as a food source and as a draught animal in
Mesopotamia, the area comprising the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates
rivers. Also around this period milking of these animals was practiced. There
is a bas-relief of 3000 BC which shows a reed cattle shed, and two men sitting
on milking stools milking cows
Poultry
Domesticated poultry stem from several ancestors. The turkey for example is
an American domestication, being derived from the wild turkey a process begun
by the Incas in Mexico. The chicken was developed as a domesticated species
in Indochina from the jungle fowl.
Horses
The horse was domesticated around 4000 BC. from wild horses in eastern
Europe. The wild ancestor of the horse, Eohippus, was not much larger
than a cat and had four toes on its fore feet and three on its hind feet.
It was probably very wildly distributed across the globe. The earliest fossil
examples are found in the American north west but it became extinct
on the American continent. Around 40 million years ago the one toed domestic
horse evolved from Eohippus. Horses played a very significant role,
not only as means of transportation and draft power, but in warfare.
Mounted soldiers remained a significant military weapon until this century.
Horses were absent from the Americas until introduced by the Spanish conquistadors,
for whom they played a critical role in the conquest of the native American
people. The only ancestor of the domestic horse is Prezalskis horse,
which exists today as small herds in zoos and in protected forests in Poland.
AGRICULTURE AND SOCIETAL CHANGE
Once humans began to domesticate plants and animals and become agriculturists human life styles changed profoundly. Agriculture requires settlement to prepare the soil, plant and tend crops and animals. It leads to concepts of ownership of the land by individuals or groups and in turn land becomes something to be protected and fought over. Growing crops such as grain means that there is a harvest at one time point so that mechanisms had to be developed to store crops for future use. The concepts of grain storage and land ownership leads to a concept of wealth that is foreign to the more nomadic way of life. As wealth develops society begins to establish hierarchies and different social orders. Some people may begin to pay others to work for them. Once people settle in an area they begin to construct permanent dwellings and the paraphernalia of life. The possessions of a nomad will be very utilitarian as they have to be carried everywhere. In settlements cooking utensils, pots and pans develop and then start to become ornate and adorned. Eventually people begin to make objects that serve a decorative purpose without necessarily being functional.
Agriculture allowed increases in the population density since more human food can be produced from an acre of cultivation than from an acre of forest or scrubland. This developed to the point where a few farmers were producing the food for others. The non-farmers could specialize in other areas and this leads to the development of new occupations including the priests, teachers, soldiers and so on. This "freedom" facilitates intellectual opportunities and technological development. A written language develops and records and a history are kept using it. The use of bronze and iron tools occurs.
Those parts of the world that had the fortuitous combinations of native species of plants and animals to domesticate, the correct climate and geography etc. started down this path and increased in wealth , numbers and technology relative to other areas where one or more critical elements were lacking. This eventually lead to the dominance of the western european powers such as Spain, Britain and France who colonized through north and south america, africa and asia.
WHY HAVE SOME ANIMALS BEEN DOMESTICATED AND NOT OTHERS?
Jared Diamond, an Anthropologist and Biologist, has studied animal domestication and its impact on human civilization closely. He states that of around 150 species of terrestrial non carnivores weighing over 100 lbs, only 14 have been domesticated. Of these 13 are of Eurasian origin, and the other is from the mesoamerica (the Llama). None derive from Australia or sub-Saharan Africa. He argues that this was a major factor in the development of economic and military power and lead to the colonial domination of the European and Asian powers at various stages over the last several thousand years.
The reason that so few animal species (around 10% of the potential candidiates)
have actually been domesticated is probably that several different characteristics
have to occur in combination. Some probable characteristics are listed in
Table 2.
Table 2. Desirable Characteristics
for Domestication of an Animal Species
| Value to humans | Food, draft, fiber, hunting |
| Diet | Large herbivores offer substantial energy use (and safety) advantages over carnivores |
| Growth | Rapidly reach their desired size |
| Breeding | Must breed in captivity |
| Calmness | Little tendency to panic when startled |
| Disposition | Amenable and tractable |
| Sociability | A social structure and hierarchy favors domestication |