Domestication

• MBG 203 Fall 2024
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Domestication is the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use.
Domestic species are raised for food, work, clothing, medicine, and many other uses.
Domesticated plants and animals must be raised and cared for by humans. Domesticated species are not
wild.
Video Link Domestication https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cOMEwySlY4

Plant Domestication
People first domesticated plants about 10,000 years ago, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
in Mesopotamia (which includes the modern countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria).
People collected and planted the seeds of wild plants. They made sure the plants had as much
water as they needed to grow and planted them in areas with the right amount of sun. Weeks or
months later, when the plants blossomed, people harvested the food crops.
The first domesticated plants in Mesopotamia were:

wheat (Triticum aestivum),
barley (Hordeum vulgare),
lentils (Lens culinaris or Lens esculenta), and
types of peas.
People in other parts of the world, including eastern Asia, parts of Africa, and parts of North and
South America, also domesticated plants.
Other plants that were cultivated by early civilizations included rice (Oryza sativa in Asia)
and potatoes (Solanum tuberosum in South America).
Plants have not only been domesticated for food.
Cotton plants were domesticated for fiber, which is used in cloth.
Some flowers, such as tulips, were domesticated for ornament or decorative, reasons.
Animal Domestication
About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tame animals
for meat, milk, and hides. Hides, or the skins of animals, were used for clothing, storage, and to
build tent shelters.
Goats were probably the first animals to be domesticated, followed closely by sheep (Ovis aries).
In Southeast Asia, chickens (Gallus domesticus) also were domesticated about 10,000 years ago.
People began domesticating larger animals, such as oxen (Bos taurus) or horses (Equus ferus
caballus), for plowing and transportation.
Domesticating animals can be difficult work.

The easiest animals to domesticate are herbivores that graze on vegetation because they are
easiest to feed:
They do not need humans to kill other animals to feed them or to grow special crops.
Cows, for instance, are easily domesticated.
Herbivores that eat grains are more difficult to domesticate than herbivores that graze because
grains are valuable and also need to be domesticated.
Chickens are herbivores that eat seeds and grain.
Some animals domesticated for one purpose no longer serve that purpose. Some dogs (Canis
lupus familiaris) were domesticated to assist people in hunting, for instance.
There are hundreds of domestic dog species today. Many of them are still excellent hunters, but
most are pets.
Throughout history, people have bred domesticated animals to promote certain traits.
Domestic animals are chosen
for their ability to breed in captivity and
for their calm temperament
for their ability to resist disease and survive in difficult climates is also valuable.
Over time, these traits make domestic animals different from their wild ancestors.
Dogs were probably domesticated from gray wolves (Canis lupus).
Domesticated animals can look very different from their wild ancestors.
For example, early wild chickens weighed about 0.9 kilograms (two pounds).
But over thousands of years of domestication, they have been bred to be larger.
Larger chickens yield more meat.
Today, domestic chickens weigh as much as 7.7 kilograms (17 pounds).
Wild chickens only hatched a small number of eggs once a year, while domestic chickens
commonly lay 200 or more eggs each year.
Effects on Humans
Domestication marked a major turning point for humans:

- the beginning of an agricultural way of life and more sedentary communities.
Humans no longer had to wander to hunt animals and gather plants for food.
It's important to understand, however, that while hunter-gatherers did not grow crops, they tended
plants in allotted areas.
Once grown, the plant could then be collected as food.
Agriculture—cultivating domestic plants—allowed fewer people to provide food for the community.
The stability that came with regular, predictable food production led to increased population density.
The world's first villages and cities were built near flood plains where fields of domesticated plants
could be grown more easily.
Plant domestication also led to advances in tool production.
The earliest farming tools were hand tools made from stone.
People later developed metal farming tools and eventually used plows pulled by domesticated
animals to work fields.
FAST FACT
Dogs and Wolves
Though today's dogs were likely domesticated from gray

wolves, they are now a distinct species.
Dogs' scientific name is canis lupus familiaris, while the A dog (Canis lupus familiaris) wears a costume
scientific name for gray wolves is canis lupus. during Carnival celebrations in Venice, Italy. Dogs
were originally domesticated to assist people in
hunting. There are hundreds of domestic dog
species today, but most are pets.
FAST FACT
Wild Horses
The process of domestication continues.

Cowboys and other horse experts train horses (Equus ferus
caballus).
Sometimes, this is called "breaking" a horse.
Training a horse to allow a saddle and rider requires an
enormous amount of physical work, training, and patience. Columbines
The white-and-lavender columbine (Aquilegia
Horses that are born on ranches or in stables still need to caerulea) is the state wildflower of Colorado,
be trained, although training a young horse is easier than United States. However, horticulturalists have
domesticating a horse caught in the wild. successfully domesticated the columbines in
this photo for large blooms and rich color.
Ox Cart in India Wheat Harvest
Oxen (Bos taurus), like this one, were one of The domestication of wheat (Triticum aestivum), like these
the first animals to be domesticated. Oxen fields in Las Rosas, Argentina, was crucial to the
are very strong, healthy animals that are development of civilization. People first domesticated wheat
used for agriculture, industry, and, and other plants in the fertile area between the Tigris and
occasionally, transportation. Here, an ox cart Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq.
pulls a man in Secunderabad, India.
Cat Diversity
Wildcats (Felis sylvestris) are small cats native to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
They are adapted to a variety of habitats, including savannah, open forest, scrubland,
swamp, and farmland.
Throughout history, wildcat adaptability and proximity to humans has increased.
The wildcat's self-domestication is thought to have coincided with the rise of farming
communities.
This serves as an example of human-cat coevolution.
As grain harvests increased, so did rodent populations.
Rodents then became an even more important part of the wildcat's diet.
These factors may have driven wildcats to evolve into a separate domesticated species
(Felis catus) or subspecies (Felis sylvestris lybica) between 9,000-10,000 years ago.
Today, there are over 600 million domestic cats living as pets throughout households on
six different continents.

Domestication

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• MBG 203 Fall 2024

• Team code: qr3oay0

Video Link Domestication https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cOMEwySlY4

The first domesticated plants in Mesopotamia were:

Plants have not only been domesticated for food.

Cotton plants were domesticated for fiber, which is used in cloth.

Domesticating animals can be difficult work.

Larger chickens yield more meat.

Today, domestic chickens weigh as much as 7.7 kilograms (17 pounds).

Domestication marked a major turning point for humans:

Plant domestication also led to advances in tool production.

Though today's dogs were likely domesticated from gray

The process of domestication continues.

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