Welcome to Top10Archive!
Agriculture and the domestication of animals helped spur the human race from hunter gatherers
to self sufficient land settlers.
Looking through the history books, we sought to find the most beneficial animals humans
have domesticated through time and the resources they provided.
From the insect that generated a trade commodity to mans best friend, here are our top picks
for animals domesticated by humans.
10.
Silkmoth The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of
the domesticated silk moth, Bombyx Mori, and an economically important insect as it is
the primary producer of silk.
The domesticated variety, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, growth
rate, and efficiency of its digestion.
The silk moth has gained tolerance to human presence, handling, and living in crowded
conditions.
It can no longer fly, depending on human assistance in finding a mate, and lacks a fear of potential
predators.
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5000 years ago, and since then silk production
capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold.
Silk was an important trade commodity that started in China then spread to Korea and
Japan, India and later the West.
9.
Cat Felis catus, or the domesticated cat has had
a very long relationship with humans, but the exact domestication era is highly speculated.
Most believe the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats as early as 4,000
years ago, but some evidence of a Neolithic site of Shillourokambos, shows a purposeful
cat buried next to a human burial, dated between 7485 B.C. and 7185 B.C.
According to archaeologist J.A.
Baldwin, wild cats were most likely first attracted to human settlements to hunt rodents
that fed on agricultural stores.
Their skill in hunting may have earned them the affectionate attention of humans for their
inherent pest control.
Early Egyptians were known to worship a cat goddess, and even mummified their beloved
pets for their journey to the next life with mummified mice.
8.
Camel The two surviving species of camel are the
dromedary, or one humped camel, which inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, and
the Bactrian, or the two humped camel, which inhabits Central Asia.
Both species have been domesticated, providing milk, meat, hair for textiles and goods such
as felt pouches, and are working animals with tasks ranging from human transport to bearing
loads.
Dromedaries are believed to have been domesticated by humans in Somalia and Southern Arabia around
3,000 B.C. and the Bactrian in central Asia around 2,500B.C.
Around 1200 B.C., the first camel saddles appeared, allowing for easier transportation
and trade, and by 500 to 100 B.C., Bactrian camels attained military use.
7.
Goat Goats were among the first domesticated animals
and were adapted from the wild version of Capra egregious.
Beginning around 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers began keeping small herds
of goats for their milk and meat, their dung for fuel, and hair, bone, skin, and sinew
for clothing and tools.
Archaeological data suggests that two distinct places may be where goats were first domesticated,
the Euphrates river valley at Nevali Cori, Turkey, and the Zagros Mountains of Iran at
Ganj Dareh, but other sites such as the Indus Basin in Pakistan and central Anatolia are
also mentioned.
Goats are browsing animals, not grazers like cattle and sheep, and will readily revert
to the wild and become feral if given the opportunity.
Today there are more than 300 breeds of goats living in climates ranging from high altitude
mountains to deserts. 6.
Sheep Ovis aries, or Sheep were domesticated between
11,000 and 9000 B.C. in ancient Mesopotamia from the wild mouflon.
Sheep were among the first to be domesticated by mankind along with the goat and dog, with
their wild relatives having several ideal characteristics such as lack of aggression,
a manageable size, early sexual maturity, a social nature, and high reproduction rates.
Today, Ovis aries is an entirely domesticated animal that is largely dependent on man for
its health and survival, although feral sheep do exist, it is only in areas devoid of large
predators and not on the scale of other feral domesticated species.
While rearing of sheep for secondary products began in either southwest Asia or Western
Europe, initially sheep were kept solely for meat, milk, and skins.
Researchers believe that the development of warmer garments from sheep allowed man to
traverse into colder climates. 5.
Pig The domestic pig, scientifically named Sus
domesticus, is also referred to as swine or hogs.
Archaeological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated from wild boar as early
as 13,000 to 12,700 B.C. in the Near East's Tigris Basin.
Remains of pigs have been dated to earlier than 11,400 B.C. in Cyprus.
Research also shows a separate domestication in China, which took place about 8000 years
ago.
The adaptable nature and omnivorous diet of the wild boar allowed early humans to domesticate
it readily.
Pigs were mostly used for food, but early civilization also used pig's hide for shields,
bones for tools and weapons, and bristles for brushes.
Domestic pigs have become feral again in many parts of the world, including New Zealand
and Northern Queensland, and have caused substantial environmental damage.
4.
Chicken One of the most common and widespread domestic
animals, with a population of more than 19 billion in 2011, Gallus domesticus, or the
common Chicken, is a domesticated fowl used primarily as a source of food, both for their
meat and eggs.
Derived from the wild red junglefowl approximately 10,500 years ago, the bird still runs wild
in most of southeast Asia.
Recent research suggests however that here may be multiple origins of domestication in
distinct areas of South and Southeast Asia, including North and South China, Thailand,
Burma, and India.
Behaviorally, domesticated chickens are less active, have fewer social interactions, are
less aggressive to predators, and are less likely to go looking for foreign food sources
than their wild ancestors.
They also have increased adult body weight, simplified plumage, their egg production starts
earlier and more frequently, and produce larger eggs.
3.
Horse Perhaps the most majestic of all domesticated
animals, horses appear in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 B.C., but these wild
horses were probably hunted for meat.
How and when wild horses were domesticated is disputed, but the clearest evidence of
early use was as a means of transport due to chariot burials dated to 2000 B.C.
However, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated
in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 3500 B.C.
Regardless of the specific era of domestication, the use of horses spread rapidly across Eurasia
for transportation, agricultural work, and warfare.
Many populations of feral horses exist throughout the world, but are descended from domesticated
animals, giving researchers a glimpse at how their prehistoric ancestors may have lived.
2.
Cattle Cattle, or cows, are raised as livestock for
meat, milk and other dairy products and as draft animals.
Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel.
Cattle have been domesticated since the early Neolithic period, approximately 10,500 years
ago from wild aurochs.
There are two major places of domestication, one in the Middle East and Europe that gave
us the taurine line and the second in the Indian subcontinent which resulted in the
indicine line.
As early as 9000 B.C., both grain and cattle were used as money or as barter, giving the
seller the ability to set a fixed price.
According to an estimate in 2003, there are approximately 1.3 billion cattle in the world,
and in 2009, cattle became the first livestock animal to have a fully mapped genome.
1.
Dog Also referred to as canines, the domestic
dog, the gray wolf, and the extinct Taymyr wolf diverged at around the same time of approximately
35,000 years ago.
This implies that the earliest dogs arose in the time that humans were still hunter
gatherers and not agriculturists.
When and where dogs were first domesticated has vexed geneticists for the past 20 years
and archaeologists for many decades longer.
Identifying the earliest dogs is difficult because the key morphological character that
are used by zooarchaeologists to differentiate domestic dogs from their wild wolf ancestors
were not fixed during the initial phases of the domestication process.
Regardless, dogs top our list due to the many abilities that they offer.
The old adage of "man's best friend" deserves its meaning, but other than companionship,
dogs are natural hunters, great trackers, and protectors.