The reasons behind the domestication of animals and plants by humans are numerous and the dates of the original domestication event for each species are highly differentiated. In understanding the jump to domestication, which likely began at the end of the Pleistocene era roughly 12,000 years ago, it is important to look at the changes in human lifestyle during that time. This time period was marked by an unpredictable climate (Diamond, 2002). The changes in the environment meant that the growth of wild plants that were used as food sources was not as guaranteed as it had been in the past; therefore, humans could no longer depend upon their hunter-gatherer lifestyle for survival. The evolutionary consequences of a switch to an agrarian lifestyle initially seem detrimental to humans. Diamond (2002) explains that this switch lead to more work, more diseases, and bad nutritional conditions, which all contributed to a decreased body size in humans. However, the greater food production of the agrarian culture gave rise to a population explosion alongside a technological explosion and social stratification since humans could now begin to focus on jobs other than collecting food (Diamond, 2002).
The homelands of these agricultural societies were located in regions to which domesticable species were native and numerous, the most well-known being the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East. Diamond (2002) defines a domesticate as “a species bred in captivity and thereby modified from its wild ancestors in many ways making it more useful to humans.” He goes on to explain the shared characteristics of domesticated animals, which include decreased brain size and sensory organs that were less fine-tuned, and plants – stalks that are preven...
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...companions or the potential to use maize as an alternative fuel, the negative consequences of domestication have become increasingly greater. All of the negative outcomes that have arisen from the exploitation of domesticated species began as an effort to improve human health and well-being. The products of this over-domestication are startling and have come full-circle to being a cause of exactly what they were meant to remedy. Domestication is not final until the traits that confer it have been genetically integrated into the new species and often these traits are not reversible. This means that the further evolution of domesticated species under the artificial selection of humans will continue to lead to health problems for all of the living organisms involved—from those as small as microbes to the humans that serve as the guiding force—and environmental decline.
When the word “domestication” is used when talking about dogs, most people have the misconception that humans brought dogs into their homes on purpose, and that is was something they did consciously. However, after reading about Hare’s research it is easy to understand that this
In 1865 the frontier line generally followed the western limits of the states bordering the Mississippi River, bulging outward to include the eastern sections of Kansas and Nebraska. Beyond this thin edge of pioneer farms, lay the prairie and sagebrush lands that stretched to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Then, for nearly 1,600 kilometers, loomed the huge bulk of mountain ranges, many rich in silver, gold and other metals. On the far side, plains and deserts were part of this region; here laid the "Last Frontier"--- the "Great Plains". "For a long time, the region had been called the Great American Dessert, a barrier to cross on the way to the Pacific, unfit for human habitation and therefore, to white Americans, the perfect refuge for Indians." (Tindall 857) Apart from the settled districts in California and scattered outposts, the vast inland region was populated by Native Americans: among them the Great Plains tribes -- Sioux and Blackfoot, Pawnee and Cheyenne -- and the Indian cultures of the Southwest, including Apache, Navajo, and Hopi. Soon these Indians were pushed away from their "safe haven". "They lost an estimated 86 million acres of their 130 million acres."(Tindall 873) The reason to this is because the white man went westward to expand.
...tion, including their initial evolution, their domestication, and the roles they played in human society throughout the ages. It is a relatively new book being published in 2010. Darcy Morey, the author of this book is a zooarchaeologist and focuses his research on the relationship between dogs and humans throughout time. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. This book is based on the authors own research and also refers to the information gathered by many other scientists, all of which are listed in the reference section of the book. As mentioned this book contains the results of research from many scientists and is beneficial for learning both general and more scientific knowledge on the subject. I would recommend it to anybody who is conduction a research on the topic. This book was found using I-Share using the search term the domestication of dogs.
Jared Diamond makes the argument that when humans decided 10,000 years ago to no longer be hunter-gatherers and made the decision to become sedentary and start domesticating their animals and crops, the result is that the human race has experienced a steady downfall. Diamond makes the point that “with agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence,” (Diamond). While the present system certainly is far from being perfected, Diamond’s various complaints and solutions certainly would not be of much use in the present time either.
Harris approach is the cost benefit analysis of raising some types of animals. He claims that it is more efficient for humans to eat plants since the energy lost in the food chain is less. It was better to eat plants rather than feeding plants to animal in order to get meat. By consuming animal flesh, humans only get 0.02% of the original sunlight captured by photosynthesis. Also the raising of cattle or domestic animals creates pressure in ecosystems and reproductive pressure, causing people to make a choice between crops or livestock. These factors are a key in developing states, especially in the ancient times. Despite the pressure created by the raising of domestic animals, they had plenty of benefits besides the value of meat. Domestic animals were used as tractions machines, fiber producers, fertilizers, producers of wool, hides, milk. In fact they were more valuable alive for their products than dead for their meat. The value of animal byproducts explains why meat had disappeared from the table of some ancient civili...
The downfall of artificial selection is that it decreases variation in a species. Pure bred dogs are highly susceptible to many different disorders and diseases because of the lack of variation in their genotype. With these two processes, today we have friendly canine companions.
Before the land of what we no class Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and other countries in the middle east grains, such as wheat and wild barley, could be seen growing in the wild without human hand to cultivate and nurture it (Authors 2007). Over time, humans began to recognize the benefit of the plants and began the first signs of human agriculture. The skill of farming took time and trial and error, but along the way, humans began to settle down to tend to their crops. Though the first crops were nothing more than seed s thrown about without rhyme or reason to the process we know today such as fields having, rows and sorting out the seeds to create a higher yield each harvest (Authors 2007). Because of the trial and error process, agriculture of plants did not take place of a short period but took many, many years to evolve to what we know today as agriculture; the new fa...
Many Caucasian’s have thought and believed positively they were superior to many other races. Most of these people were from a geographic area that had advanced technology, large populations, and a large workforce. This area started in the Middle East and spread laterally within a similar environment that provided a fertile habitat for farmer gatherers. Jared Diamond discovered that approximately 13,000 years ago man started out as hunter-gatherers following seasonal game migration to provide food for their survival. Man would find whatever food that grew in that area to supplement the game animals for sustenance, but this activity would take a majority of his time and would be conditional to the regions environment and his own skills. Man’s desire and ability to find innovative ways to make his life easier prompted them to plant larger open areas with some of the first edible grass seeds. They began to stay near the water and planted areas establishing more permanent shelters, which they would return to from following game. In addition, they learned to store grains for planting and future consumption, which led to a healthier lifestyle for the growing population. The first cultivated grains were wheat, barley, rice, corn, beans, millet, sorghum, squash, and yams. This farming facilitated larger production with less manpower for a growing populous. This provided time for the inventors and engineering people to find better and faster ways of production, and inventing tools. These people moved and spread east and west and began to domesticate larger indigenous animals and control breeding of goats, sheep, and pigs first, which provided meat, milk, hair, and skins. The animals best suited for domestication needed to ...
Domestication is a process in which wild species are removed their natural habitat and are acclimatised to surviving and breeding in captive. Animals are domesticated for purposes which, in general, are designed to be beneficial to humans. These reasons commonly include labour, food sources and companionship. Over generations, domestication results in genetic and physiological changes in the organism (Wilson,. Mammal Species of the World (3rd Ed.). Baltimore).
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
The blessing and curse of the Agricultural Revolution is advocated with its augmentation and dissemination. Taking the stipulative definition of “blessing” and “curse” from the original premise, one can only superimpose the layman’s terms of “negative” and “positive”. Upon examination of the two classifications within the Neolithic Period and ancient Mesopotamian civilization one can confirm the premise. Therefore, the agriculture revolution was a blessing and a curse for humanity. Human society began to emerge in the Neolithic Period or the New Stone Age. This new age began around 9,000 B.C.E. by the development of agriculture in the region surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and what is commonly referred to as “The Fertile Crescent” located in West Asia.1 The very development of agriculture had benefited humans by no longer having to move about in search of wild game and plants. Unencumbered by nomadic life humans found little need to limit family size and possessions and settled in a single location for many years. One negative aspect of this settling is that the population increased so much so that wild food sources were no longer sufficient to support large groups. Forced to survive by any means necessary they discovered using seeds of the most productive plants and clearing weeds enhanced their yield.2 This also lead humans to develop a wider array of tools far superior to the tools previously used in the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age. The spread of the Agricultural Revolution in the Neolithic Period also cultivated positive aspects by creating connections with other cultures and societies. Through these connections they exchanged knowledge, goods, and ideas on herding and farming.3 Another major positive aspec...
Scientists have been changing genomes of plants and animals by integrating new genes from a different species through genetic engineering, creating a genetically modified organism (GMO). Consumers in America have been eating GMOs since 1996, when they went on the market. There are benefits to genetically modifying crop plants, as it improves the crop quality and increases yield, affecting the economy and developing countries. But there are also negative effects from GMOs. Consumption of GMOs has various health effects on both body systems of animals and humans. GMOs also affect the environment, ecosystems and other animal species. The cons outweigh the pros in the case of GMOs.
For decades archaeologists believed that plants and animals were first domesticated in the near east (Israel, Lebanon, Syria, south west Turkey, Iraq, western Iran) early in Holocene (8000 to 10000 years ago). It is now possible to mount a challenge to this archaeological dogma about the domestication of plants and animals as evidence of that has been found in Afghanistan and Mehrgarh on the Kachi plains of Pakistan. The roots of sedentism and village farming community have been documented in the 7th millennium BC, at the site of Mehrgarh on the Kachi plains of the central Indus valley. Farming was successful here because it is thought that Pleistocene Indus River flowed in this area...
" Society & Animals 18.2 (2010): 183-203. Academic Search Premier -. EBSCO. Web. The Web. The Web.
The hunter-gatherer diet had great variation of nutrients with increased amounts of animal products and also plant foods. As they transitioned to agriculture about 10,000 years ago, the great variety of foods was impossible to maintain. Instead, humans’ diet was primarily made of larger quantities of the fewer plants they domesticated, such as rice, wheat, and corn. As dietary diversity was in decline, the energy expenditure of growing crops was higher, especially in certain seasons. Nutritional deficiencies started to show up in populations where diet was based on one or two staples of food. Ancient bones show a variety of information about how nutritional status of humans was affected by the transition to agriculture. Claire Cassidy’s comparison between Indian Knoll hunter-gatherer and Hardin Village skeletons shows that tooth decay and porotic hyperostosis are more prevalent in humans who had agricultural diets (as cited in Wiley & Allen, 2013, p.90). Also, growth disruption is more severe and occurred for a longer period of time in the groups that relied on domesticating and growing their