Domestication: the basics every owner should know

Domestication refers to the process of changes in interspecific relationships in which the growth and reproduction of one organism is gradually consciously used and controlled by another organism. The most typical example is humans cultivating various crops, livestock, poultry, and aquatic products. In addition, among other biological groups, there are cases such as Orbital saw damselfish cultivating algae and mysid shrimp, and leaf-cutting ants cultivating fungi. The main purpose of these domestication behaviors is to obtain stable and controllable sources of food (including staple foods such as cereals, beans, and potatoes, as well as non-staple foods such as meat, eggs, milk, honey, fruits, and vegetables). In addition, it is to obtain various economically valuable animal and plant products (such as leather, cotton, silk, and hemp). , building materials and fuels, medicinal materials and fragrances, oils, sugars and alcohols, dyes and flavors, etc.), livestock services (such as animal transport, guarding and guides, auxiliary hunting, flying pigeons to deliver messages, etc.) or purely ornamental and entertainment purposes (such as ornamental plants, sport fishing proliferation, circus performances, horse racing and cockfighting, etc.). Since entering the Holocene, a total of about 2,500 species have been domesticated by humans, and about 250 species are considered to have been fully domesticated, and some have even completely lost their wild populations. The domestication of animals and plants by late Homo sapiens is considered to be the key to its transition to modern humans and the origin of civilization. It is a milestone event in the history of human evolution. The first animal domesticated by humans was the dog, a subspecies derived from the gray wolf in the late Pleistocene, during the Last Glacial Maximum about 26,000 to 19,700 years ago. After the end of the last glacial period, the Neolithic Revolution began to appear in late Homo sapiens groups around the world. The nomadic tribes that mainly focused on fishing, hunting and gathering were gradually replaced by settled agricultural societies with higher productivity and disaster robustness. Domesticated goats, sheep, cattle and other domestic animals in Mesopotamia spread to various continents; llamas and alpacas in South America were domesticated for meat, camel labor and the production of camel hair products. Humans domesticated and began to cultivate crops at least 12,000 years ago. The earliest primitive methods of slash-and-burn were used to remove wild vegetation to create cultivated land and then sow seeds. Later, they began to use special agricultural tools and domesticated draft animals to assist in farming. Independent animal and plant domestication events occurred in at least 11 regions including the Americas, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and East Asia. Mesopotamia, the earliest agricultural civilization of mankind, planted peas, flax, chickpeas, wheat and barley at least 10,000 years ago; China independently domesticated pigs, millet, millet, soybeans and rice. Common animals domesticated by humans include livestock, poultry, and aquatic products that provide material value, as well as pets and ornamental fish that provide emotional value.