Animal Domestication Essay

1535 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Domestication of dogs

Animal domestication has influenced history and has had a positive impact on people of the past. Domestication can be understood as the process in which animal species have come into contact with people and has greatly changed how the animals live. Animal domestication didn’t just happen overnight; it was a complex progression that took many years. Domestication caused social, political, cultural and economic changes (Mammals and humans: Domestication and Commensals).
The dog (Canis lupus f. familiaris) was the first animal to be domesticated. An animal that has been confined and bred for a long period of time, kept in an environment where humans control its food supply and breeding, and is used economically by humans is considered a domestic animal. The start of the relationship between dogs and humans is uncertain. However, the dog’s ancestor is the wolf (Canis lupus). Wolves roamed all of Eurasia, Central America, North America, and north Africa roughly fifteen thousand years ago. The wolf developed into subspecies which vary in color and size. The two species that are believed to be the dog’s ancestor are the Eurasian wolf and the Indian wolf (See A1 and A2). Over a period of thousands of years, humans and wolves got accustomed to each other. Food was the key to attracting wolves. After luring the wolves in with food, humans appreciated the watchful nature they possessed. Since taming a full grown wolf was a difficult task, humans of the past took to taming cubs (baby wolves) instead. The cubs needed to be fed, so women would nurse them with their breast milk. The loyal ones were allowed to become adults and produce offspring (Mammals and humans: domestication and commensals). Humans greatly appreciated dogs and Herod...

... middle of paper ...

... (The Piankhi Stela). It’s unknown how the Egyptians trained their horses, but a teacher compared horses to schoolboys. “Horses brought from the field, they forget their mothers. Yoked they go up and down on all his majesty’s errands. They become like those that bore them, that stand in the stable. They do their utmost for fear of a beating” (Lichtheim). In the eastern Mediterranean, the Egyptians’ horses were admired. The Assyrians tried to get as many horses as they could (Ancient Egypt: Farmed and domesticated animals).
The domestication of dogs, goats, cattle, horses and even other animals we have today, was a gradual process. Animal domestication positively impacted people long ago. It caused economic, social, cultural and political changes. Many people today own animals that were domesticated long ago (Mammals and Humans: Domesticated animals and commensals

Show More
Related

  • History of The Domestication of Dogs: Are Dogs our Companions or Are We Their Companions?

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was further hypothesized by father-son team S.J. Olsen and J.W. Olsen (1977) that the domestication of dogs started in China. They proposed that, starting with a small subspecies of wolf, humans changed it into the modern Chinese/Mongolian subspecies of Canis lupus chanco. There is another hypothesis that even Cro-Magnons may have domesticated some breeds of dog. A piece of a dog’s right jaw was reported from a Cro-Magnon site (Nobis, 1979); the jaw was dated back to 14,000 B.P. No matter what conflicting sources say specifically, we know that dogs were domesticated before 15,000 B.P. and that they originated in Eurasia. They did in fact cross the land bridge with us to the Americas (J.A. Leonard, 2002), which means that they had a large role in influencing us and helping us to settle in the new world. Now we have a general idea of when domestication began, but the next question is why? Why did we make wolves into our buddies? Why not chimps or some other kind of primate? The answer lies in a few different reasons.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hare's The Genius Of Dogs

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Internal And Internal Factors Influencing A Dog's Behaviour Case Study

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dogs are seen as an ‘evolutionary miracle’. This is because, over 100 years, they have the most breeds and changes than any other species. They have changed spectacularly from their ancestors the wolves; they domesticated themselves into dogs and they now carry many different traits. Wolves now have little use for us unlike dogs, for example, retrievers are bred to chase and then bring back

    Read More

  • The History of the Siberian Husky

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just as humans have a family tree, so do dogs. Most if not all dogs heritage connects in some way back to the wolf. Then why are dogs domesticated, why are they best friend to man? Any wild animal can be tamed eventually through out the generations and the Chukchi people had learned that trick long ago. They became best friend to the Siberian Husky until someone got in the way, Russia. Russia tried to take over the home of the Chukchi people, Northeaster Asia, but found that the climate was much more dangerous than they though. So instead they forced the Chukchi people to open trade with them. Unknowingly they spread many diseases to the Chukchi people that they had no immunity to, many Chukchi people died. The...

    Read More

  • Animal Farm Essay Introduction

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you know what Marxism is? Do you even understand what it means? Well I bet you have no clue what I am even talking about right now so I’m going to tell you all about Marxism what it is and what types are there. I’m also going to tell you how Marxism relates to Animal Farm the book. I hope after you read this you understand and know what Marxism is. I also hope you enjoy reading this about Marxism.

    Read More

  • Animal Farm Essay

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although George Orwell’s Animal Farm was created in order to mimic individuals as well as occurrences that took place during the Russian Revolution period, it is still possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of the text without a past knowledge of history through the exploitation of human nature’s imperfections. Following the publishment of his novel, Orwell confirmed that his goal in writing this fable was to expose the wrongdoing of the Soviet Union as well as the treachery of the true ideas of the Revolution. Nonetheless, there have been several other examples of events such as the French Revolution that can effortlessly be contrasted against components of the allegory. However, we need not to dig no deeper than to the fundamental faults in human nature to witness the catastrophic consequences that attributes such as hierarchy, propaganda and betrayal have on today’s society.

    Read More

  • The History and Evolution of Dogs

    2347 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Early Humans and Their Environment

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Interestingly, a work on the nature of dogs has shed some insight into this idea of Stiner's - that the predatory competitors of humans rather than human ancestors heavily influenced humans in their hunting and lifestyle habits. It has been debated for some time how dogs became domesticated animals, how and from where they evolved, and how they helped humans to evolve. In a New York Times article by Nicholas Wade ("From Wolf to Dog, Yes, but When?"), Wade convincingly argues that perhaps dogs were never domesticated by humans, but rather domesticated themselves as a survival skill.

    Read More

  • Animal Abuse Essay

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Animals are used today for many sources of protection, food, clothing, transportation, sports, entertainment, and labor, but millions of these animals die each year from abuse. “Most of the reasons that people give for denying animals rights are: animals do not have souls, god gave humans dominion over the animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, humans are intellectually superior to animals, animals do not reason, think, or feel pain like humans do, animals are a natural resource to used as humans see fit, and animals kill each other” (Evans). It all started in the nineteenth century, when people began abusing animals by beating them, feeding them poorly, providing them with no shelter or poor shelter, left to die if they were sick or old, or by cruel sports. Most of the organized efforts to improve human treatment of animals all started in England. Around the 1800s, there was signs of rising concern for animal welfare in the United States.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Natural Selection

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Later on they were bred as companion animals. The different variations of domesticated dog will be discussed later. The down fall of artificial selection is that it decreases variation in a species. Pure bred dog are highly susceptible to many different disorders and disease because of the lack of variation in their genotype. With these two processes, today we have friendly canine

    Read More

  • Avatar The Last Airbender Analysis

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Domestication involves one organism assuming responsibility for another organism with the prospect of benefiting from the animal under care. This process of directional selection requires breeding multiple generations for their desired pre-existing traits. Often, a precursor to domestication is taming to remove an animals’ natural avoidance of humans. In Avatar, previous generations of Air Nomads are shown domesticating sky bison for their large size, strength, and airbending abilities by breeding, taming, and training young individuals using verbal commands like “yip yip”. In the present day of the show, Aang is also shown using his sky bison Appa for transportation, protection, and to practice and develop airbending skills. Furthermore, in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom ostrich horses have a long history of being used in the military and for transportation. Flashbacks in the show demonstrate ostrich horses being tamed over time much like horses in the real world. By depicting training techniques and selective breeding for flying bison and the taming process of ostrich horses over a long time period, Avatar properly demonstrates

    Read More

  • The Domesticated Horse

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Paleolithic Culture

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    The transition to the diet of the original dog as a result of beginning the relationship with humans could be attributed to the changes identified between the modern dog and original dog (wolf). The canids remain recovered in yet cave, in Belgium where Upper Paleolithic artifacts were discovered along with other object are considered to be domesticated dogs. The domestication of dog could have been driven by human need for help with herding, hunting, and early warning while the dog benefited from companionship and reliable source of food

    Read More

  • The Equine Revolution: Horseback Riding

    1424 Words  | 3 Pages

    Were there any impacts of the equine revolution on humans? This is one of the many questions that some people normally do not think about. The uses of equines have changed tremendously over their existence. Horseback riding has evolved in many ways. Today, using horses for transportation has declined, however leisure and rehabilitative activities have increased. To understand horseback riding, it is essential to look at the history of equines, the sport of horseback riding, and how to take care of a horse.

    Read More

  • Animal Rights Essay

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    Animals are so often forgotten when it comes to the many different levels of basic rights. No, they can’t talk, or get a job, nor can they contribute to society the way humans can. Yet they hold a special place in their owners’ hearts, they can without a doubt feel, show their different emotions, and they can most definitely love. In recent years there has been a massive increase in animal rights awareness, leading to a better understanding and knowledge in the subject of the humane treatment of animals. Where do humans draw the line between the concern of equality, and simple survival?

    Read More

More about Animal Domestication Essay

Open Document