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Domestication, or domestication (from lat. domesticus- “domestication”) is the name given to the process of changing wild animals, during which these animals are subjected to artificial selection and kept isolated (for many generations) from their wild form. However, not all animals were able to get along with humans, since few of them were able to overcome their fear of him.

Geneticists have found that the first wolves were domesticated in South Asia. The oldest find indicating the domestication of the wolf is a skull found in the Goyet cave in Belgium, its age is 31,700 years, slightly less than the age of the remains discovered in the Chauvet cave in France - 26 thousand years.

As soon as man began to lead a sedentary lifestyle (about 10 thousand years ago) and took up farming, a cat appeared in his house, which protected his grain reserves stored in barns from rats and mice.

flickr/cat woman of 3

The first occurred in the Middle East, through the domestication of a wild Nubian (Middle Eastern) cat. Millions of cats living today can “boast” of their Middle Eastern origin.

For almost the same amount of time (at least 10 thousand years), sheep and goats have lived next to humans. The ancestor of the domestic goat was the mountain sheep, which lives in Western Asia and Southern Europe. As a result of careful selection and crossing, more than 150 breeds appeared, vaguely reminiscent of their wild and ancient ancestor.

Around the same period, the first ones appeared, descended from the wild bezoar, or, who lived in the same areas as the mouflon. There are not so many breeds of domestic goats, however, they are very diverse.

It is assumed that the horse was domesticated more than 6-7 thousand years ago (from other sources - about 9 thousand years ago). The ancestor of the modern horse is (lat. Equus ferus ferus) - an inhabitant of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Eurasia.

Domestication occurred, according to scientists, in several areas at once. This is justified by the fact that domestic horses do not have a common genetic root. The first domestic horses were kept by people for their meat, milk and hide. They saddled the horse much later.

The first pigs were domesticated about 7 thousand years ago (from some sources - perhaps earlier) and they descended from the wild pig (lat. Sus scrofa). It spread mainly in East Asia, Western countries and Oceania, where it became the main source of meat and lard.

The ancestor of the domestic cow (lat. Bos taurus taurus) was a wild bull (lat. Bos taurus).

In the early stages of domestication, cows spread from the Balkan Peninsula and from South-West Asia to Africa (7 thousand years ago), and to Central Europe (approximately 5 thousand years ago). Since then, the cow has become a valuable source of milk and meat.

7.5 thousand years ago the Asian buffalo (lat. Bubalus bubalis) is a strong and dangerous beast, which is now called an ox. Now in hot Asian countries they have become the main source of meat and skins, as well as an indispensable draft force.

It was previously thought that the first domesticated chickens appeared in India about 2,000 years ago, but more recent research has shown that the first chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asia and China about 6,000-8,000 years ago. And domestic chicken evolved from wild banker chicken (lat. Gallus gallus), living in Asia.

The goose is considered one of the oldest domestic birds and was domesticated quite early (more than 3-4 thousand years ago) in Ancient China. Its ancestor is considered to be the wild gray goose (lat. Anser anser). New breeds of domestic goose were bred mainly in Europe.

They were domesticated in China and Europe at the same time as geese, and then they spread to other countries. Domestic ducks originated from the common wild duck, or mallard (lat. Anas platyryncha). The domestication of ducks took place very quickly.

The bee was domesticated by humans approximately 5 thousand years ago. Since those ancient times, people have been using beekeeping products: honey, wax, poison, propolis, beebread, etc. It was impossible to tame bees (in a certain sense), but people still learned to use them for their own purposes.

Silkworm

Silkworm (lat. Bombyx mori) is a butterfly, thanks to which man learned what silk is. It was domesticated by humans in China approximately 3000 BC. Sericulture is the most important industry in China, breeding silkworms to produce silk.

Human activity has affected nature by changing the environment: where once there were steppes, forests and swamps, houses have appeared, roads and agricultural land have been laid out. Man cultivated plants and tamed animals for food and other needs; for many people, animals became pets.

Domestication is the domestication of wild species. domesticated for wool, milk, eggs and meat or to work on farms. Today there are a huge number of domesticated animals that were domesticated at different times and for different purposes. Presented to your attention are domesticated animals, which we are accustomed to consider as domestic animals and have already forgotten that they were once wild.

Dogs: from 12000 l. BC.

john malley

One of the first domesticated animals were their descendants, dogs. The earliest known evidence of a domesticated dog is its jawbone, which was found in a cave in Iraq. It differs from the wolf in that it has smaller jaws and teeth. Selection influences species quite quickly and is a natural process for humans, but it is likely that the first instances of domestication occurred by accident rather than by design.

Images in Egyptian paintings and sculptures, Assyrian and Roman mosaics, prove that by that time, these civilizations had many dogs of various shapes and sizes. One Roman writer from the same period even gave advice on the color of a dog: shepherds' dogs should be white (to distinguish them from wolves in the dark), but farm dogs should be black (to scare thieves).

Sheep and goats, pigs and cows: 9000-7000l. BC.

Bibrak Qamar

Soon after dogs, goats, sheep, cows and pigs appear among the domesticated animals. Sheep were first domesticated as a food source in the Middle East. Later, goats and sheep became the permanent animals of nomadic pastoralists - tribes who move throughout the year with their herds, guided by the availability of fresh grass.

Cows and pigs are more associated with settled communities. According to historical data, the pig was first domesticated in China. During their lifetime, these animals provided people with milk, meat and manure. When they died, the skin and wool were used for clothing; horns and bones for sharp objects (needles and arrows); tallow candle fat; hooves for glue.

Oxen and buffaloes: from 4000 l. BC.

Jennifer McLeod

Of the four main agricultural animal groups, cattle represent the most significant development in village life. The brute strength of an ox is an excellent complement to the muscular strength of a person. At first they transported sleighs, and somewhat later, plows and wheeled carts (almost simultaneously in the Middle East and Europe). In India and Southeast Asia, buffalos were used as cargo animals.

Cats: from 3000 l. BC.

Tambako The Jaguar

Cats have stayed away from people for a long time. Their solitary lifestyle (not gregarious or group) was a great help in this. Cats were attracted to the food and shelter they could find in human settlements. Once domesticated, cats quickly spread and increased in numbers due to their high reproductive rate. In many cultures and religions, cats are considered sacred. For example, in Egypt, where they were even mummified. In folk stories of different nations, the cat was a natural companion of man.

Horses: from 3000l. BC.

Moyan Brenn

Humans found their most important ally in the animal kingdom when they domesticated the horse. Wild horses of various species had spread throughout much of the world by the time human history began. Their bones have been found among the remains of early human food, and they are depicted in rock art with other animals. Some of the earliest fossils were found in America, but they became extinct on that continent.

The original purpose of domesticating horses, like cattle, was to obtain a reliable source of meat and milk, and later people realized that they had an excellent means of transportation at their disposal.

The first domesticated horses were the size of ponies. All modern horses known to us are the result of human selection. Other wild breeds are now extinct.

Donkeys: 3000 l. BC.

Rinaldo R

Almost at the same time as the taming of the wild horse, the taming of the donkey was taking place. They are often mentioned in two ancient civilizations: Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Camels: 3000-1500 l. BC.

Renzo Ottaviano

As beasts of burden and transport, camels occupy an important place along with horses and donkeys. Two small members of the camel family, the llama and the alpaca, were domesticated primarily in South America. This saved both species from complete extinction. Neither the llama nor the alpaca currently exists in the wild.

In the parched regions of North Africa and Asia, two different species of camel become the most important beasts of burden - the dromedary camel (North Africa, Middle East, Indies) and the Bactrian camel (Central Asia, Mongolia). Both are well adapted to desert conditions.

: from 2000 l. BC.

Erik 1967

About 2,000 years ago, wild jungle birds began to be domesticated in Asia. Almost at the same period, pigeons appeared in Egypt. At first, pigeons simply lived and bred in close proximity to humans. But some time later, people discovered their unusual talent - to fly home.

: 2000 l. BC.

Sumit Gupta

India is the region where elephants were domesticated during the Indus Civilization. It is not known exactly when elephants began to be trained for war, but there is ample evidence that they were a valuable military force in India and North Africa. The ability to learn tricks also made elephants a popular animal in the Roman circus.

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You will learn from this article which animals were domesticated by humans.

What types of domesticated animals are there?

What was the first animal domesticated by man and why?

Have you ever wondered which animal was the first to be domesticated? What immediately comes to mind dog. About 10-15 thousand years ago, when the Earth was in the Stone Age, the first domesticated animal was the wolf. It was he who became the main and first companion of a person in life, and dogs have already descended from him. Geneticists have established that the wolf was first domesticated in areas of South Asia. Now you know which animal was the first to be domesticated by humans.

What other animals have humans domesticated?

• cat

About 10 thousand years ago, people began to lead a more sedentary lifestyle. He took up farming and began storing supplies. This is where the question became acute: who would protect the grain reserves from mice and rats. This is how a cat appeared in a man’s home. It was first domesticated in the Middle East in the form of the Nubian wild cat.

• Goats and sheep

The ancestor of the domestic goat is the bearded goat, which lived in Southern Europe and Western Asia.

• Horse

Scientists suggest that the horse was domesticated approximately 7 thousand years ago. The ancestor of the modern horse, the tarpan, lived in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia. Initially, the horse was domesticated for the purpose of obtaining milk, meat and hide. They saddled her later.

• Pig

The pig was domesticated more than 7 thousand years ago in Western countries, East Asia and Oceania. It was the main source of lard and meat.

• cow

The ancestor of the domestic cow is the wild bull. Cows were first distributed in the Balkan Peninsula and South-West Asia, from where they spread to Africa and Central Europe. Kept as a source of meat and milk.

• Chicken

Researchers believe that the first chicken was domesticated about 8,000 thousand years ago in China and Southeast Asia. The ancestor of the modern chicken is the wild banker chicken, native to Asia.

• Honey bees

The bee was first domesticated about 5 thousand years ago. Of course, it is impossible to tame them, but man has learned to use them to produce honey, wax, poison, beebread and propolis.

What is domestication?

Domestication is the process of changing the lifestyle of wild animals, during which they are kept isolated from the wild and subject to artificial selection. But not all animals were able to get along with humans and overcome their fears. It is worth noting that for a long time man managed to domesticate only 25 animals.

We hope that from this article you learned which animals have been tamed by humans.

Today it is hardly possible to imagine a person’s life without pets. They are a source of food, clothing, fertilizer, and household aid. For many, pets become true friends. But once upon a time, our pets lived in the wild, getting their own food and avoiding strange two-legged creatures. Let's talk about which animal was the first to be domesticated by man.

Let's understand the terms

This means forming in him a feeling of attachment to a person, making a wild beast obedient. Probably, primitive people did not set themselves such tasks. However, having killed a female during a hunt, they took her cubs with them. This is exactly what modern savages do, in any case, bringing young animals into their homes without any ulterior motive.

From this point of view, it is difficult to name the very first animal domesticated by man. It could be a deer, or it could be a cave bear, crocodile or fox. It is known that many emperors, for example Genghis Khan, kept tame cheetahs.

However, it is not enough to raise an animal in captivity for it to become a pet. Painstaking work is required to select the resulting offspring. Only by selecting the most valuable specimens from each litter (with reduced aggressiveness) and raising them among people can you get a domesticated animal.

Let's dive into history

There is no exact data left about the first domestic animal domesticated by man. In the earliest images from the 5th-6th centuries BC. Dogs and pigs are already found. In the most ancient monuments of writing, in prehistoric myths and legends, the main domestic animals appear. Some of them were revered as sacred.

To dig deeper, we will have to turn to archaeologists for help. Thanks to the remains of camps, bones, cave drawings, they draw conclusions about the life, activities, nutrition and other features of the life of primitive people. Early Stone Age sites show that at that time man had not yet entered into alliances with animals, obtaining food for himself through hunting or gathering. However, in the Upper Paleolithic era, when Europe was covered with ice and reindeer roamed the Crimea, the situation changed.

Friendship with a dog

Which animal was the first to be domesticated by humans and why? Archaeologists claim that in time immemorial the dog or its closest ancestor, the wolf, became a faithful friend of savages. The remains of these animals are found at sites dating back 13-17 thousand years. A grave has been discovered in Israel in which a woman and her dog have been buried side by side for 12 thousand years. Dog skulls dating from the 34th and 31st millennia BC were found in Belgium (Goya) and Altai (Robber Cave). Scientists are still finding it difficult to determine the exact date when the process of domestication of the four-legged friend took place.

It is unlikely that it was purposeful. Most likely, the animals came to the savages’ cave, smelling the smell of food. After receiving the bones, they began to visit more often, getting used to their unusual neighbors. People, in turn, have discovered that the dog can be an excellent guard. Human-raised puppies provided invaluable assistance during hunting, finding wild animals and helping to cope with them. Each clan tried to keep several dogs, which were trained to track animals and bark in case of danger. People and animals became very close, they lived in the same room and slept together to escape the cold.

Cattle breeding development

The first animal domesticated by man proved the undoubted benefits of such unions. With the development of agriculture, our distant ancestors began to lead. This created the preconditions for the emergence of cattle breeding.

Sheep and goats were domesticated at least 10 thousand years ago. This happened in the territories of North America, Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. Most likely, after the hunt, small lambs were left “in reserve.” Soon people realized that they could provide not only meat, but also wool and milk. Goats began to be purposefully bred.

The domestication of the tur, which happened 10 or 9 thousand years ago, turned out to be extremely useful. This one was used as a traction force, the females gave milk. It was more difficult to tame buffaloes and horses. The first became human friends 7.5 thousand years ago, the second - 6 thousand years ago.

sacred cat

The first animals domesticated by humans led a gregarious or gregarious lifestyle. Another thing is an independent cat walking at night. For a long time it was believed that the furry Murkas were domesticated by the Egyptians in the 4th millennium BC. At least the oldest cat mummies date back to this time. The graceful animal in Egypt was revered as the embodiment of the goddess Bast, a symbol of the moon and fertility. An Egyptian could pay with his life for killing a cat.

However, many researchers believed that the animal could have been domesticated earlier, along with the emergence of agriculture. After all, cats are indispensable helpers in protecting crops from rodents. In 2004, these guesses were confirmed. The remains of a 9-month-old kitten were found on the island of Crete. He was buried next to the man. The age of the find is 9.5 thousand years. It is significant that there have never been wild cats on the island itself. Consequently, the animal was specially brought there.

Poultry yard

We talked about the first animals domesticated by humans. It's time to remember about birds. Initially, man hunted them, but, having moved to a settled life, he wanted to have food at hand. According to researchers, geese were the first to be domesticated. Drawings depicting them were found in Egypt and date back to 11 thousand BC.

Ducks were originally bred in Mesopotamia and China. They were domesticated in the 5th millennium BC. For a long time it was believed that they became the second domesticated bird. However, paleozoologists recently discovered the remains of chickens in Northern China. They were dated to the 6th millennium BC.

The first animal domesticated by man marked the beginning of a long process of domestication that continues to this day. Currently, people are actively working to domesticate zebras and ostriches. Moose, deer, mink, and sable are next in line. There have already been some successes in taming them.

For centuries, many peoples have tried to tame and domesticate a wide variety of animals. In addition to cats, dogs, horses and cows, the list included antelopes, crocodiles and even cave bears and Megatherium (the now extinct giant sloths). However, as we see, only a few were able to truly get along with a person. Today they are the ones who live in our homes and are our true friends, helpers and even breadwinners.

To tame does not mean to domesticate

Let us note that throughout time people have managed to domesticate no more than 25 species of animals. But all the others, who can only tolerate the presence of a person next to them, in particular crocodiles, tigers, jaguars, foxes and bears, are only tamed.

What needs to be done to domesticate an animal?

Domestication is a very long and painstaking process, during which a wild animal must get used to living in captivity and begin to regularly bear offspring. Only then can we start selecting. By preserving from each litter an individual with the most valuable properties for humans (the main one is the reduction of aggressiveness) and isolating it from its wild counterparts, after many centuries you can get not just a tamed, but a real domestic animal.

For example, in ancient times, cheetahs were often kept at the courts of the rulers of Syria, India, Central Asia and even Europe. Emperors valued them for their beauty, strength and excellent hunting qualities. Genghis Khan and Charlemagne had tame cheetahs, but they have not yet become pets.

Man's first satellite

The first to join man was the wolf. Only scientists have not yet come to a consensus on when this actually happened. According to the most common version, the wolf was domesticated approximately 10-15 thousand years ago, during the Late Paleolithic. It is assumed that it was from domesticated wolves, and possibly jackals, foxes or hyenas (depending on the area of ​​habitat), that the domestic dog originated.

How was the domestication of a wild dog carried out?

Due to the fact that not a single written source remains, and the remains found by archaeologists are poor in detail, it is not known for certain how the dog was domesticated. The only thing that is clear is that this process was preceded by domestication. It is assumed that the wolf came to the man's dwelling, smelling the smell of food. People began to find benefit in a dangerous neighborhood, so they began to feed the animals, catch them and take the puppies from the den. When they grew old and died, they acquired new ones, and so on over and over again. However, this method soon ceased to justify itself: firstly, it is not known when the dog will die, and secondly, the puppies must first be found, and then raised and tamed. This whole process was very long and not always effective. Therefore, people came up with the idea of ​​​​breeding: they began to keep several dogs in the family, which ensured the change of generations without interruption.

Human friendship with sheep, goats and cows

Human friendship with sheep and goats lasts almost as long (at least 10 thousand years) as with dogs. The stories of their domestication are even somewhat similar.

The first who began to domesticate mountain sheep (mouflons) and bearded goats were the inhabitants of Southern Europe, North America and North Africa. Hunters kept lambs and kids caught in the mountains “in reserve” near settlements. Over time, sheep and goats began to breed in captivity, their numbers increased sharply, so they needed pastures. Thus the need for a nomadic lifestyle arose.

By the way, the nomadic peoples of the Arabian, Central Asian and once existing North African steppes raised very large numbers of sheep. As a result of crossing and careful selection, they created 150 breeds of these domestic animals. With goats everything turned out much more modest. The number of their breeds is small, but they are very diverse: Angora with excellent wool, Swiss milk, small Cameroon, excellent at climbing trees, etc.

Domestic goat

Of course, the greatest benefit to humans came from the domestication of the aurochs, the ancestor of the modern cow (about 9-10 thousand years ago). Male aurochs were used by people as traction force during construction and arable farming, and their females provided milk.

Wild aurochs were found in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and the Caucasus and became extinct relatively recently. Thus, the last female on earth was killed in Poland, in the forests of Mazovia in 1627.

Strong helpers: when people domesticated the buffalo and the horse

Man domesticated a strong and dangerous animal, the Asian buffalo, much later than goats and sheep. This happened 7.5 thousand years ago. Today, domestic buffaloes live mainly in warm countries and are not only a source of meat and hides, but also an indispensable traction force.

Scientists are still arguing about who was the ancestor of the horse: the exterminated Tarpan or Przewalski's horse. One thing is known that the horse pedigree begins relatively recently - 5-6 thousand years ago.

Cats were once wild

About 10 thousand years ago, man switched to a sedentary lifestyle and began to develop agriculture. When settlements and barns full of food appeared, the first domestic cats appeared.

The domestication of cats occurred in the Middle East, in the Fertile Crescent region. The wild Middle Eastern (otherwise Libyan or Nubian) cat began to increasingly come to people and receive treats from them. The man liked the purring furry creature and decided to keep it at home. The taming and domestication of cats was slow, but people still managed to do it.

The steppe cat (Felis silvestris lybica), ancestor of the modern domestic cat

The appearance of a poultry yard

Today we absolutely cannot do without chickens. For modern people, they are not only a source of meat, but also eggs, which everyone uses almost every day in preparing one dish or another. Modern chickens descend from the bank and red chickens of South and Southeast Asia. By the way, people began to domesticate them about 5 thousand years ago. At the same time, geese, descendants of the wild gray goose, also settled in the barnyard; 3-4 thousand years ago, ducks were domesticated in Europe and China, and guinea fowl in West Africa.

Note that experiments in the field of domestication are still ongoing. However, breeders have so far only managed to tame elk, antelope, red deer, musk oxen, sables and minks. Perhaps one day we will be able to admire them not only in a picture or in a zoo cage, but also in someone’s backyard.

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