Why do you think the animals used in modern agriculture were domesticated PLEASE TELL ME!!!!!!?

Question

Why do you think the animals used in modern agriculture were domesticated PLEASE TELL ME!!!!!!?

Answer 1

When humans discovered that some animals were tractable and frequented human habitations, they started 'domesticating' them - feeding them scraps, touching them, etc. some animals were intelligent enough to be tamed; i.e., capable of behaving in predictable ways to stimulus given by the human; e.g., responding to a call, standing still to be fondled, etc. then humans found that some, though big and strong, could be managed forcefully by physically painful means, and made to do work such carrying loads for humans. Some animals like dogs that are pack animals transferred some behaviour styles like obedience to human masters. Humans developed agriculture; initially human females provided the labour; but gradually, animals were trained to replace them

Answer 2

Well, I guess if an animal wasn't capable of being domesticated, there's no way you could domesticate it (like a zebra).  If it was, then over time animals were selected for desirable traits.  Besides, I'd much rather milk a docile old cow than to try to milk a grouchy polar bear.

Answer 3

It made the cows so much easier to milk? Or maybe the horses easier to ride and pull plows. The wild ones made such crooked rows.

Answer 4

So they wouldn't kill the owner or person that uses them to farm and so forth....

Answer 5

Animals used in modern agriculture, "livestock" per se, were domesticated because it was their manifest destiny (except maybe for the dogs in China.)

Much as natural selection has caused fruiting plants to become sweeter and more enticing to organisms which consume their fruit, thereby facilitating their propagation, animals with tasty meat have evolved to ensure their survival as a species by making their species a coveted resource by our culinary tastes.  Or so things have worked out.

If it helps blueberry plants to have their seeds deficated by birds, or flowers to be fertilized by honeybees, or cattle to be cultivated by naked apes, it's all good in nature's grand scheme of things.

Answer 6

to make the acquisition of food easier.

Domesticated animals = no having to hunt and gather for food.

Answer 7

Human laziness is the real mother of invention.

People in the past couldn't just run down to McDonalds or Wally-world and get a goat-burger or a new robe....they figured out that it was easier to have the animals close at hand, manage their breeding for better fiber, milk or meat  and get easier products without having to hunt all day or pick fiber off tree branches and thorns. Having a horse, donkey or ox to pull your travois or chariot or a camel to ride is easier than carrying a load yourself and the draft animal can pull/carry a heavier load. Having an ox to plow the field means more crops can be tilled.  Having a milk goat, cow, sheep or mare around is convenient and milk is the basis for many nutritious foods.

Goats and dogs are especially intelligent and know a good thing when they see one.....easy food for them, shelter and a safer environment. Sheep aren't that bright, maybe primitive ones were smarter, but they do flock together and learn to recognize their care-givers. Horses were probably a challenge, but they were probably also smaller then and not fed the high-energy feeds we have today.  

I LOVED the quote about milking and plowing with wild animals....that was classic.

Answer 8

Originally animals were domesticated and used by people to make things easier for them.  For example, horses made it easier to pull the plow through the ground.  Donkeys helped carry heavy loads, sheep gave us wool for clothing, and cattle and pigs were bred as food, because it was easier than hunting wild animals (example: buffalo), and it meant people didn't always have to travel with herds of animals to hunt them.  It allowed for a more stationary and easy life.  The problem is, we live in a society where we don't have to rely on animals to use, for clothes, food,etc.  Yet we still exploit them for economic gain.  Because there are so many humans and so many are meat eaters, it has caused the springing up of factory farms everywhere, and much suffering ad cruelty that is NOT necessary.

Answer 9

Most all of the animals utilized for food consumption have been bred to improve their traits: ie. growth, production, feed efficiencies, quality of product.    Along with these improvements are a number of challenges that require good management practices from the farmers and caretakers of the various animals.

We are beginning to narrow our genetic traits for example with the Holstein breed of dairy cattle a large percentage of the breed currently milking in the US can trace their genetic lineage back to common sire named Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation.   We need to continue to develop breeds of animals that are outcrossed  to genetics that do not promote inbreeding of a given specie.  

Domestication of animals allows the American farmer to provide the ample food products that we have in the stores today.

Answer 10

To have been ideal for domestication, and animal must have had certain characteristics including: tractability (could be tamed), relatively fast growth and/or reproductive rate, and a diet not competing directly for food with humans.