"Domestication is a multi-generational relationship between humans and other organisms, in which humans take control over their reproduction and care to have a steady supply of the organisms' resources."
The process of taming wild animals and breeding them for specific traits, which began during the Neolithic period and played a key role in the development of agriculture and human societies.
Hunter-gatherer societies and the transition to agriculture: The shift from hunting and gathering to farming and animal domestication marked a major turning point in human history.
Dating domestication: Scientists have been studying the domestication of animals for years, and there are many different methods for determining how long ago a particular species was domesticated.
Animal behavior and social structures: Domesticated animals have evolved to have different behaviors and social structures from their wild counterparts, which has major implications for their care and management.
The domestication of dogs: Dogs were the first animal to be domesticated, and their history provides a fascinating case study in how humans have shaped the behavior and morphology of a species over thousands of years.
The domestication of livestock: Domesticated livestock species like cows, sheep, and pigs have been bred to be more docile and useful to humans than their wild cousins, with unknown effects on their long-term sustainability.
Genetic evidence for domestication: DNA sequencing and other genetic techniques are providing new insights into the origins and spread of domesticated species.
Regional variations in domestication: Different regions and cultures have domesticated animals in unique ways, leading to a rich tapestry of human-animal relationships across the world.
The impact of domestication on human society: The domestication of animals had profound effects on the development of human societies, including changes to food systems, social hierarchies, and labor practices.
Ethical considerations of animal domestication: The treatment of domesticated animals raises important ethical questions around animal welfare and our obligations to these creatures.
The future of domestication: As technology advances and societies continue to evolve, new possibilities for animal domestication are emerging, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of these practices.
Taming: This is the process of gradually taking wild animals into captivity and training them to obey human commands.
Selective breeding: This involves selectively breeding animals with desirable traits in order to produce offspring with those traits.
Herding: This involves domesticating large herbivores such as cattle or sheep and using them for agriculture, milk, and meat.
Hunting: This involves domesticating animals for hunting purposes, such as falcons or dogs.
Guard animals: This involves domesticating animals such as dogs to protect human settlements or herds from predators.
"One arguable view on domestication is that it is a form of mutualism, in which the survival of both humans and the organisms are benefited."
"The domestication of plants and animals by humans was a major cultural innovation ranked in importance with the conquest of fire, the manufacturing of tools, and the development of verbal language."
"Charles Darwin recognized the small number of traits that made domestic species different from their wild ancestors."
"Charles Darwin... was also the first to recognize the difference between conscious selective breeding (i.e. artificial selection), in which humans directly select for desirable traits, and unconscious selection, in which traits evolve as a by-product of natural selection or from selection on other traits."
"There is a genetic difference between domestic and wild populations."
"Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates and were selected during the initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant."
"Improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or regional populations."
"The dog was the first domesticated species."
"The dog was established across Eurasia before the end of the Late Pleistocene era."
"The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – including donkeys, horses, New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common."
"Among birds, the major domestic species today is the chicken."
"Birds are also widely kept as cagebirds, from songbirds to parrots."
"The longest established invertebrate domesticates are the honey bee and the silkworm."
"Land snails are raised for food."
"Species from several phyla are kept for research, and others are bred for biological control."
"The domestication of plants began at least 12,000 years ago with cereals in the Middle East, and the bottle gourd in Asia."
"Agriculture developed in at least 11 different centers around the world."
"Agriculture... domesticated different crops and animals."
"Given its importance to humans and its value as a model of evolutionary and demographic change, domestication has attracted scientists from archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, zoology, genetics, and the environmental sciences."