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Domestic Animal

Domestic animal

This is a list of animals that have been domesticated by humans. The list includes species or larger formal and informal zoological categories that include at least some domesticated individuals. To be considered domesticated, a population of animals must have their behavior, life cycle, or physiology systemically altered as a result of being under humans control for many generations. (Please see the main article on domestication for more information.) Animals included in this list that do not fully meet this criterion are designated "captive-bred" or semi-domesticated. The term domestic animal applies to domesticated animals that actually live in physical proximity to humans, such as pets and guard animals, or even food species kept very close, e.g. to live on domestic food scraps and/or so their body heat can be used as 'stable heating'. This list is organized by the original or primary purpose for which the animals were domesticated. Animals with more than one significant human use have been listed in more than one category.

Socio-economical uses

The body and natural produce, as well as the labour and senses of various animals have been made useful for a wide variety of human activities. In this section profitable uses are treated; naturally other purposes usually also have an economical value

Food

- Livestock
- cattle
- deer
- goat goat
- honey bee
- pig
- sheep
- Fowl
- chicken
- duck
- goose
- guinea fowl
- pigeon
- swan (captive-bred)
- turkey
- Other food sources
- dog
- guinea pig
- rabbit
- snails
- Raised as food for other animals
- cricket (captive-bred)
- mealworm
- nightcrawler or earthworm (captive-bred)

Other animal-produced Commodities

- Fiber (for textiles)
- chinchilla (captive-bred)
- rabbit
- dog Some long haired dogs in Russia have had their hair spun into a type of yarn.
- wolf
- sheep
- silk worm
- camel
- yak
- possum
- cat
- Leather or furs
- alligator (captive-bred)
- cattle
- ermine (captive-bred)
- ferret
- fox (captive-bred)
- mink (captive-bred)
- ostrich (captive-bred)
- otter (captive-bred)
- Other commodities
- pearl oyster (captive-bred)

Labor and similar activities

See the article on Working animals for various ways in which the muscle power, sensorial functions and other natural abilities of animals (not always domesticated) are put to use in the service of human culture
- alpaca
- camel
- dog
- donkey
- elephant (captive-bred)
- ferret
- horse
- llama
- oxen
- reindeer (domesticated caribou)
- water buffalo
- yak

Other socio-economical purposes

- ladybug (captive-bred)
- sterile insects (for control of their wild fellows)

Intrinsically non-profit uses

Research and science

While nearly all species can potentially be involved in research related to their natural behaviour, we are concerned here with a limited number of species that are frequently choses, for convenience and/or as 'representative' substitute for test which would be unethical to perform on human test persons. As there are also ethcial reservations concerning the use of animals for such purposes, legislators and sections of the scientific community tend to encourages or even impose restrictions or, rather, alternatives, such as tests of tissue cultures and computer simulations.
- the very name of the guinea-pig has become synonymous with the use of animals for laboratory tests
- dolphin (captive-bred)
- fruit fly
- mice
- lab rat
- tame silver fox (isolated Russian experiment)
- primates, the very order man belongs to, are for that very reason often the best physical choice for research concerning human bodily functions, from invaluable medical to mere cosmetic products, but also arouse the strongest ethical and emotional objections; within the order, rhesus monkeys are most used, while again because of even closer genetical proximity for certain tests only man-apes (mainly chimpansee; orang-outang and gorilla are even rarer and harder to breed) are considered fully satisfactory, again also arousing even stronger objetions
- Żubroń, a cross-breed between Wisent and domestic cattle

Other Medical purposes

- leech (captive-bred)

Pets

(See main article on pets for animals whose main pupose is human enjoyment, rather than 'impersonal' value) A few common examples :
- carp
- cat
- chinchilla
- dog
- ferret
- gerbil
- goldfish
- guinea pig
- guppy
- hamster
- mouse
- rabbit
- rat
- skunk
- tilapia
- Some species of reptiles, such as the ball python and leopard gecko

Collection and display

While many more wild species can be put on display after capture in the wild or bred in captivity intended to resemble natural reproduction as closely as possible (sometimes sadly very different) in scientifical and/or survival programs, an impressive number of species is bred, often alongside (often illegal) capture in the wild, not for any useful purpose (listed above or under working animal) except their collection and/or display in private or for the public (not necessarily managed for profit), as in an aquarium or vivarium, in zoos, safari parks etc. This is the case with many (especially tropical) fish, butterflies etc.

Domesticated

Domesticated animals, plants, and other organisms are those whose collective behavior, life cycle, or physiology has been altered as a result of their breeding and living conditions being under human control for multiple generations. Humans have brought these populations under their care for a wide range of reasons: for help with various types of work, to produce food or valuable commodities (such as wool, cotton, or silk), and to enjoy as pets or ornamental plants. In a related way the notion of domestication is used in domestication theory that describes the process of the 'taming' or appropriation of technology by its users.

Process of domestication

There is debate within the scientific community over how the process of domestication works. Some researchers give credit to natural selection, wherein mutations outside of human control make some members of a species more compatible to human cultivation or companionship. Others have shown that carefully controlled selective breeding is responsible for many of the collective changes associated with domestication. These categories are not mutually exclusive and it is likely that natural selection and selective breeding have both played some role in the processes of domestication throughout history. The domestication of wheat provides an example of how natural selection and mutation can play a key role in the process. Wild wheat falls to the ground to reseed itself when it is ripe, but domesticated wheat stays on the stem when it is ripe. There is evidence that this critical change came about as a result of a random mutation near the beginning of wheat's cultivation. Wheat with this mutation was much more useful to farmers and became the basis for the various strains of domesticated wheat that have since been developed. The example of wheat has led some to speculate that mutations may have been the basis for other early instances of domestication. It is speculated that a mutation made some wolves less wary of humans. This allowed these wolves to start following humans to scavenge for food in their garbage dumps. Presumably something like a symbiotic relationship developed between humans and this population of wolves. The wolves benefited from human food scraps, and humans may have found that the wolves could warn them of approaching enemies, help with hunting, carry loads, provide warmth, or supplement their food supply. As this relationship evolved, humans eventually began to raise the wolves and breed the types of dogs that we have today. Nonetheless, some researchers maintain that selective breeding rather than mutation or natural selection best explains how the process of domestication typically worked. Some of the most well-known evidence in support of selective breeding comes from an experiment by Russian scientist, Dmitri Belyaev, in the 1950s. His team spent many years breeding the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) and selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyaev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans. He ended up with a population of grey fox whose behavior and appearance was significantly changed. These foxes no longer showed any fear of humans and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. Despite the success of this experiment, it is clear that selective breeding cannot always achieve domestication. Attempts to domesticate several kinds of wild animals in this way have failed repeatedly. The zebra is one example. The historical process of domestication cannot be fully explained by any one principle acting alone. Some combination of natural selection and selective breeding has played a role in the domestication of the various species that humans have come into close contact with throughout history.

Domestication of animals

According to physiologist Jared Diamond, animal species must meet six criteria in order to be considered for domestication: #Flexible diet — Creatures that are willing to consume a wide variety of food sources and can live off less cumulative food from the food pyramid are less expensive to keep in captivity. Most carnivores can only be fed meat, which requires the expenditure of many herbivores. #Reasonably fast growth rate — Fast maturity rate compared to the human life span allows breeding intervention and makes the animal useful within an acceptable duration of caretaking. Large animals such as elephants require many years before they reach a useful size. #Ability to be bred in captivity — Creatures that are reluctant to breed when kept in captivity do not produce useful offspring, and instead are limited to capture in their wild state. Creatures such as the panda and cheetah are difficult to breed in captivity. #Pleasant disposition — Large creatures that are aggressive toward humans are dangerous to keep in captivity. The African buffalo has an unpredictable nature and is highly dangerous to humans. #Temperament which makes it unlikely to panic — A creature with a nervous disposition is difficult to keep in captivity as they will attempt to flee whenever they are startled. The gazelle is very flighty and it has a powerful leap that allows it to escape an enclosed pen. #Modifiable social hierarchy — Social creatures that recognize a hierarchy of dominance can be raised to recognize a human as its pack leader. A herding instinct arguably aids in domesticating animals: tame one and others will follow, regardless of chiefdom.

Domestication of plants

Given agriculture's importance to humans, the domestication of plants is even more important than the domestication of animals. Plants were first domesticated around 9000 BC in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. The first plants domesticated were generally annuals with large seeds or fruits. These included certain pulses such as peas and grains such as wheat. Reflecting human cultural proclivity to alter consciousness, plants with psychoactive properties were also domesticated early, such as the opium poppy, the cannabis plant and grapes for fermenting into wine. The Middle East was especially suited to these species; the dry climate was conducive to large seeds, and the variety of elevations led to a great variety of species. As it took place humans began to move from a nomadic hunter-gatherer society to a settled agricultural society. This change would eventually lead, some 4000 to 5000 years later, to the first city states and eventually the rise of civilization itself. Domestication was gradual, a process of trial and error that occurred slowly. Over time perennials and small trees began to be domesticated including apples and olives. Some plants were not domesticated until recently such as the macadamia nut and the pecan. In different parts of the world very different species were domesticated. In the Americas squash, maize, and beans formed the core of the diet. In East Asia rice, and soy were the most important crops. Some areas of the world such as Australia never saw local species domesticated. Over the millennia many domesticated species have become utterly unlike their natural ancestors. Corn cobs are now dozens of times the size of their wild ancestors. A similar change occurred between wild strawberries and domesticated strawberries. See also: Cultigen

Degrees of domestication

The boundaries between surviving wild populations and domestic clades of elephants, for example, can become vague. This is due to their slow growth. Similar problems of definition arise when, for example, domesticated cats go feral. A classification system that can help solve this confusion might be set up on a spectrum of increasing domestication:
- Wild: These species experience their full life cycles without deliberate human intervention.
- Raised at zoos or botanical gardens: These species are nurtured and sometimes bred under human control, but remain as a group essentially indistinguishable in appearance or behavior from their wild counterparts. (It should be noted that zoos and botanical gardens sometimes exhibit domesticated or feral animals and plants such as camels, dingoes, mustangs, and some orchids.)
- Raised commercially: These species are ranched or farmed in large numbers for food, commodities, or the pet trade, but as a group they are not substantially altered in appearance or behavior. Examples include the ostrich, deer, alligator, cricket, pearl oyster, and ball python. (These species are sometimes referred to as partially domesticated.)
- Domesticated: These species or varieties are bred and raised under human control for many generations and are substantially altered as a group in appearance or behavior. Examples include dogs, sheep, cattle, chickens, guinea pigs and laboratory mice. This classification system does not account for several complicating factors: genetically modified organisms, feral populations, and hybridization. Many species that are farmed or ranched are now being genetically modified. This creates a unique category because it alters the organisms as a group but in ways unlike traditional domestication. Feral organisms are members of a population that was once raised under human control, but is now living and multiplying outside of human control. Examples include mustangs and probably the Australian dingo. Hybrids can be wild, domesticated, or both: a liger is a hybrid of two wild animals, a mule is a hybrid of two domesticated animals, and a beefalo is a cross between a wild and a domestic animal. A great difference exists between a tame animal and a domesticated animal. The term "domesticated" refers to an entire species or variety while the term "tame" can refer to just one individual within a species or variety. Humans have tamed many thousands of animals that have never been truly domesticated. These include the elephant, giraffes, and bears. There is debate over whether some species have been domesticated or just tamed. Some state that the elephant has been domesticated, while others argue the cat has never been. One dividing line is whether a specimen born to wild parents would differ in behavior from one born to domesticated parents. For instance a dog is certainly domesticated because even a wolf (genetically the origin of all dogs) raised from a pup would be very different from a dog.

History of domestication

The earliest known domestic animal seems to probably have been the dog, possibly as early as 10000 BC in the Natufian culture of the Levant. However there is evidence of an association between humans and wolves going back 150000 years. Also some early evidence of beekeeping, in the form of rock paintings, dates to 13,000 BC. The next three - the goat, sheep and pig - were domesticated around 8000 BC, all in Asia. However, there is recent archaeological evidence from Cyprus of domestication of a type of cat by perhaps 7500 BC: this might make the cat second. The earliest evidence of horse domestication (probably in northern Russia) dates to near 4000 BC. Local equivalents and smaller species were domesticated from the 2500s BC. The processes of domestication and the distribution of domesticated species were both radically affected by the establishment of regular contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres following the voyages of Christopher Columbus. This sudden increase in the transmission of organisms between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres is referred to as the Columbian Exchange.

Approximate dates and locations of first domestication
Species	Date	Location
Dog	10000 BC to 150000 BC	Asia
Sheep	8000 BC	Middle East
Goat	8000 BC	Middle East
Pig	8000 BC	China
Cow	8000 BC	Egypt or Sub-sahara [http://www.comp-archaeology.org/WendorfSAA98.html]
Horse	4000 BC	Ukraine
Donkey	4000 BC	Egypt
Water buffalo	4000 BC	China
Honeybee	4000 BC	Southern Asia
Chicken	3500 BC	Southeast Asia
Cat	3500 BC to 7500 BC	Egypt or Cyprus
Llama	3500 BC	Peru
Alpaca	3500 BC?	Peru?
Silkworm	3000 BC	China
Bactrian camel	2500 BC	Central Asia
Dromedary (Arabian camel)	2500 BC	Arabia
Turkey	100	Mexico
Guinea pig	900	Peru
Rabbit	1500	Europe
Fox	1800s	Europe
Mink	1800s	Europe
Hamster	1930s	United States
Deer	1970s	New Zealand

Obviously, these are not dates that are set in stone. In fact, these dates are possibly far from being accurate due to scanty evidence. The earliest estimates, however, are that animals started to be domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago (8000 B.C).

Limits of domestication

Despite long enthusiasm about revolutionary progress in farming, few crops and probably even fewer animals ever became domesticated. While the process continues with plants (berryfruits, for example), it appears to have ceased with animals. Domesticated species, when bred for tractability, companionship or ornamentation rather than for survival, can often fall prey to disease: several sub-species of apples or cattle, for example, face extinction; and many dogs with very respectable pedigrees appear prone to genetic problems. One side-effect of domestication has been disease. For example, cattle have given humanity various viral poxes, measles, and tuberculosis; pigs gave influenza; and horses the rhinoviruses. Humans share over sixty diseases with dogs. Many parasites also have their origins in domestic animals.

External links

- [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1499.htm Discussion of animal domestication]
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (ISBN 0393038912)
- [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2004/0408cats.shtml News story] about an early domesticated cat find
- [http://www.devbio.com/article.php?ch=23&id=223 Belyaev experiment] with the domestic fox
- [http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/domestic.htm Use of Domestic Animals in Zoo Education]
- [http://www.primitivism.com/future-primitive.htm An essay on the effects of domestication on ecology and civilization] Category:Agriculture Category:Biology Category:Domesticated animals Category:Prehistory

Ethology

Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior considered as a branch of zoology. A scientist who practices ethology is called an ethologist.

Origins of the name

The term “ethology” derives from the Greek language, as ethos (ήθος) is the Greek word for "custom". Other words that derive from the Greek word ethos are: ethics and ethical. The term was first popularised in English by the American Myrmecologist William Morton Wheeler in 1902. An earlier, slightly different sense of the term was proposed by John Stuart Mill in his 1843 System of Logic. He recommended the development of a new science, "ethology," whose purpose would be the explanation of individual and national differences in character, on the basis of associationistic psychology. This use of the word was never adopted, however.

Differences and similarities with comparative psychology

Ethology can be contrasted with comparative psychology, which also studies animal behaviour, but construes its study as a branch of psychology. Thus where comparative psychology sees the study of animal behaviour in the context of what is known about human psychology, ethology sees the study of animal behaviour in the context of what is known about animal anatomy and physiology. Furthermore, early comparative psychologists concentrated on the study of learning, and thus tended to look at behaviour in artificial situations, whereas early ethologists concentrated on behaviour in natural situations, tending to describe it as instinctive. The two approaches are complementary rather than competitive, but they do lead to different perspectives and sometimes to conflicts of opinion about matters of substance. In addition, for most of the twentieth century comparative psychology developed most strongly in North America, while ethology was stronger in Europe, and this led to different emphases as well as somewhat different philosophical underpinnings in the two disciplines. A practical difference is that comparative psychologists concentrated on gaining extensive knowledge of the behaviour of very few species, while ethologists were more interested in gaining knowledge of behaviour in a wide range of species, not least in order to be able to make principled comparisons across taxonomic groups. Ethologists have made much more use of a truly comparative method than comparative psychologists ever have.

Darwinism and the beginnings of ethology

Because ethology is understood as a branch of biology, ethologists have been particularly concerned with the evolution of behaviour and the understanding of behaviour in terms of the theory of natural selection. In one sense the first modern ethologist was Charles Darwin, whose book The expression of the emotions in animals and men influenced many ethologists. However, he pursued his interest in behaviour by encouraging his protégé George Romanes, who investigated animal learning and intelligence using an anthropomorphic method that did not gain scientific support. The early ethologists, such as Oskar Heinroth and Julian Huxley instead concentrated on behaviours that can be called instinctive, or natural, in that they occur in all members of a species under specified circumstances. Their first step in studying the behaviour of a new species was to construct an ethogram, a description of the main types of natural behaviour with their frequencies of occurrence. This approach provided an objective, cumulative base of data about behaviour, which subsequent researchers could check and build on, and as a way of building a science of behaviour, it proved much more fruitful.

The Fixed Action Pattern and animal communication

An important step, associated with the name of Konrad Lorenz though probably due more to his teacher, Heinroth, was the identification of fixed action patterns (FAPs). Lorenz popularized FAPs as instinctive responses that would occur reliably in the presence of identifiable stimuli (called sign stimuli or releasing stimuli). These FAPs could then be compared across species, and the similarities and differences between behaviour compared with the similarities and differences in morphology (biology) on which taxonomy was based. An important and much quoted study of the Anatidae (ducks and geese) by Heinroth used this technique. The ethologists noted that the stimuli that released FAPs were commonly features of the appearance or behaviour of other members of their own species, and they were able to show how important forms of animal communication could be mediated by a few simple FAPs. The most sophisticated investigation of this kind was the study by Karl von Frisch of the so-called “dance language” underlying bee communication. Lorenz developed an interesting theory of the evolution of animal communication based on his observations of the nature of fixed action patterns and the circumstances in which animals emit them.

Imprinting

A second important finding of Lorenz concerned the early learning of young nidifugous birds, a process he called imprinting. Lorenz observed that the young of birds such as geese and chickens spontaneously followed their mothers from almost the first day after they were hatched, and he discovered that this following response could be transferred to an arbitrary stimulus if the eggs were incubated artificially and the stimulus was presented during a critical period (now called a sensitive period) that covered the few days after hatching. The concept of imprinting has been widely adopted in developmental psychology.

Tinbergen's four questions for ethologists

Lorenz’s collaborator, Niko Tinbergen, argued that ethology always needed to pay attention to four kinds of explanation of any instance of behaviour:
- Function: how does the behaviour impact on the animal’s chances of survival and reproduction?
- Causation: what are the stimuli that elicit the response, and how has it been modified by recent learning?
- Development: how does the behaviour change with age, and what early experiences are necessary for the behaviour to be shown?
- Evolutionary history: how does the behaviour compare with similar behaviour in related species, and how might it have arisen through the process of phylogeny?

The flowering of ethology

Through the work of Lorenz and Tinbergen, ethology developed strongly in continental Europe in the years before World War II. After the war, Tinbergen moved to the University of Oxford, and ethology became stronger in the UK, with the additional influence of William Thorpe, Robert Hinde and Patrick Bateson at the Sub-department of Animal Behaviour of the University of Cambridge, located in the village of Madingley. In this period, too, ethology began to develop strongly in North America. Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for their work in developing ethology.

Social ethology and recent developments

In 1970, the English ethologist John H. Crook published an important paper in which he distinguished comparative ethology from social ethology, and argued that much of the ethology that had existed so far was really comparative ethology, looking at animals as individuals, whereas in the future, ethologists would need to concentrate on the behaviour of social groups of animals and the social structure within them. This was prescient. E. O. Wilson’s book ‘’Sociobiology’’ appeared in 1975, and since that time the study of behaviour has been much more concerned with social aspects. It has also been driven by the stronger, but more sophisticated, Darwinism associated with Wilson and Richard Dawkins. The related development of behavioral ecology has also helped transform ethology. At the same time a substantial rapprochement with comparative psychology has occurred, so the modern scientific study of behaviour offers a more or less seamless spectrum of approaches, from animal cognition, more traditional comparative psychology, ethology, sociobiology and behavioural ecology.

Notes

- There are often mismatches between human senses and those of the organisms they are observing. To compensate, ethologists often reach all the way back to epistemology to give them the tools to predict and avoid misinterpretation of data.

List of ethologists

People who have made notable contributions to the field of ethology:

Physiology

Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human animal species. Plant physiology also borrows techniques from both fields. Its scope of subjects is at least as diverse as the tree of life itself. Due to this diversity of subjects, research in animal physiology tends to concentrate on understanding how physiological traits changed throughout the evolutionary history of animals. Other major branches of scientific study that have grown out of physiology research include biochemistry, biophysics, biomechanics, and pharmacology.

History

It was Abu Bakr Al Razi (popularly known as Rhazes) who described certain physiological parameters when he went to establish a hospital at Baghdad in the eighth century AD. Razi was followed by Al Kindi, who wrote a treatise on human physiology. Anatomist William Harvey described blood circulation in the 17th century, providing the beginning of experimental physiology. Herman Boerhaave is sometimes referred to as the father of physiology due to his exemplary teaching in Leiden and textbook 'Institutiones medicae'(1708).

Areas of physiology

Human and animal

Human physiology (main article) is the most complex area in physiology. This area has several subdivisions which overlap with each other. Many animals have similar anatomy to humans and so share many of these areas.
- myophysiology deals with the operation of muscles
- neurophysiology concerns the physiology of brains and nerves
- cell physiology addresses the functioning of individual cells
- membrane physiology focuses on the exchange of molecules across the cell membrane
- respiratory physiology goes into the mechanics of gaseous exchange at the lung
- circulation also known as cardiovascular physiology, deals with the heart, blood and blood vessels and issues arising
- renal physiology focuses on the excretion of ions and other metabolites at the kidney
- endocrinology covers endocrine hormones which affect every cell in the body
- neuroendocrinology concerns the complex interactions of the neurological and endocrinological systems which together regulate physiology
- reproductive physiology concerns the reproductive cycle

Plant

Plant physiology has differing subdivisions. For example, since plants do not have muscles and nerves, neither myophysiology nor neurophysiology applies.
- Transpiration is the study of water loss from the plant leaves
- Photosynthesis is the conversion of sunlight energy, water and CO₂ to form sugars (glucose). Category : Subjects Taught in Medical School ja:生理学 simple:Physiology th:สรีรวิทยา

Domestication

Process of domestication

Domestication of animals

Domestication of plants

Degrees of domestication

History of domestication

Approximate dates and locations of first domestication
Species	Date	Location
Dog	10000 BC to 150000 BC	Asia
Sheep	8000 BC	Middle East
Goat	8000 BC	Middle East
Pig	8000 BC	China
Cow	8000 BC	Egypt or Sub-sahara [http://www.comp-archaeology.org/WendorfSAA98.html]
Horse	4000 BC	Ukraine
Donkey	4000 BC	Egypt
Water buffalo	4000 BC	China
Honeybee	4000 BC	Southern Asia
Chicken	3500 BC	Southeast Asia
Cat	3500 BC to 7500 BC	Egypt or Cyprus
Llama	3500 BC	Peru
Alpaca	3500 BC?	Peru?
Silkworm	3000 BC	China
Bactrian camel	2500 BC	Central Asia
Dromedary (Arabian camel)	2500 BC	Arabia
Turkey	100	Mexico
Guinea pig	900	Peru
Rabbit	1500	Europe
Fox	1800s	Europe
Mink	1800s	Europe
Hamster	1930s	United States
Deer	1970s	New Zealand

Limits of domestication

External links

Cattle

:"Cow" redirects here, for other uses, see Cow (disambiguation).
Cattle (called cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather and as draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some countries, such as India, they are subject to religious ceremonies and respect. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion head of cattle in the world today [http://cattle-today.com/]. Cattle were originally identified by Carolus Linnaeus as three different species. These were Bos taurus, the European cattle, including similar types from Africa and Asia; Bos indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and European cattle. More recently these three have increasingly been grouped as one species, sometimes using the names Bos primigenius taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos primigenius primigenius. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between European cattle and zebu but also with yaks, banteng, gaur, and bison, a cross-genera hybrid. For example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only humpless "Bos taurus-type" cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of European cattle, zebu and yak. Cattle cannot successfully be bred with water buffalo or African buffalo. (See aurochs for the history of domestication, and zebu for peculiarities of that group.)

Terminology

zebu The word "cattle" did not originate as a name for bovine animals. It derives from the Latin caput, head, and thus originally meant "unit of livestock" or "one head". The word is closely related to "chattel" (a unit of property) and to "capital" in the sense of "property." Older English sources like King James Version of the Bible refer to livestock in general as cattle, or sometimes the archaic kine (which comes from the same English stem as cow). Additionally other species of the genus Bos are often called cattle or wild cattle. This article refers to the common modern meaning of "cattle", the European domestic bovine. Young cattle are called calves. A young male is called a bull-calf; a young female before she has calved is called a heifer (pronounced "heffer"). Male cattle bred for meat are castrated unless needed for breeding. The castrated male is then called a bullock or steer, unless kept for draft purposes, in which case it is called an ox (plural oxen), not to be confused with the related wild musk ox. If castrated as an adult, it is called a stag. An intact male is called a bull. An adult female over two years of age (approximately) is called a cow. The adjective applying to cattle is bovine. There is no singular equivalent in modern English to cattle other than the various gender and age-specific terms (though "catron" is occasionally seen as a half-serious proposal). Strictly speaking, the singular noun for the domestic bovine is ox: a bull is a male ox and a cow is a female ox. That this was once the standard name for domestic bovines is shown in placenames such as Oxford. But "ox" is no longer used in this general sense, being restricted to the sense given above. Today "cow" is probably the closest to being gender-neutral, although it is usually understood to mean female (females of other animals, such as whales or elephants, are also called cows.) To refer to a specific number of these animals without specifying their gender, it must be stated as (for example) "ten head of cattle." Some Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Scottish farmers use the term "cattlebeast". "Neat" (horned oxen, from which "neatsfoot oil" comes from), "beef" (young ox) and "beefing" (young animal fit for slaughtering) are obsolete terms. Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle. Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the older term beef (plural beeves) is still used to refer to an animal of either gender. Cows of certain breeds that are kept for the milk they give are called dairy cows. Herds are counted as, for example, "one hundred head". The term cattle itself is not a plural, but a mass noun. Thus one may refer to some cattle, but not three cattle. The word cow can also be used derogatively, when describing a person, whom one expresses a dislike for. In some countries, such as the UK, this slur is used exclusively for women whereas in others it may be used for both genders.

Biology

|mass noun |- |mass noun |{{Commons|Bos taurus{Wikibooks|Raising Cattle

Goat

:This article is about goats, the animals. For other uses, see Goat (disambiguation).
See Species and subspecies A goat is a mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. The animal most commonly known as a "goat" is the domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus), a domesticated subspecies of the Wild Goat. Goats are bovids (members of the family Bovidae) and caprins (subfamily Caprinae). Goats are ruminants, meaning they chew cud. These animals have a four-chambered stomach which plays a vital role in digesting, reguritating and re-digesting their food. A male goat is called a buck or billy, and a female is called a doe or nanny. Young goats are called kids. The Rocky Mountain Goat, despite its name, is not considered a true goat by scientists as it belongs to the genus Oreamnos.
Species and subspecies
Oreamnos
Domestication and Uses
: Main article: Domestic goat Domestic goat Along with sheep, goats were among the first domesticated animals, the domestication process starting at least 10,000 years ago. Easy human access to goat hair, meat, and milk were the primary motivations. Goat skins were popularly used until the Middle Ages for water and wine bottles when traveling and camping and as parchment for writing in certain regions. The meat and milk of goats is still consumed, though not as commonly in the United States as in other regions of the world. However, goat's milk has become more popular because it is easier to digest than cow's milk. Many call goat's milk a universal milk, because it can be given to most mammals. In India goat's meat is often called 'mutton' or even 'lamb'. Goat skin is still used to make kid gloves and other items of clothing. Angora goats produce mohair, a fine soft lusterous fiber. Pygora goats produce a cashmere type fiber. Cashmere and Mohair that can be made into sweaters and other items.Some people keep goats as pets as well. sweater sweater sweater These are the goats that create the fiber used in high fashion garments.
Similarity to Sheep
The goat is closely related to the sheep, but differs from it in that the tail is shorter and the hollow horns are long and directed upward, backward, and outward while those of the sheep are spirally twisted. Like sheep, goats are herd animals and survive better in a herd situation than alone. A herd typically has a Herd Queen, who leads the herd while browsing. They are also much more lively than sheep and their inquisitive nature makes them curious pets.
Hybrids With Sheep
Although sheep and goats seem similar and can be mated together they belong to different genera. Goats are caprinae and have 60 chromosomes while sheep are ovinae and have 54v chromosomes. This mismatch of chromosomes means any offspring of a sheep-goat pairing is generally stillborn (the famous geep is a chimera, not a hybrid). At Botswana Ministry of Agriculture, a ram that was kept with a nanny goat impregnated the goat resulting in a live offspring that had 57 chromosomes. This was called "The Toast of Botswana". The hybrid is intermediate between the two parent species in type. It has a coarse outer coat, awoolly inner coat, long goat-like legs and a heavy sheep-like body. Although infertile, the Toast of Botswana had to be castrated to prevent unwanted sexual behaviour because it continually mounted the sheep and goats sharing its enclosure. In 1969, Australian farmer Dick Lanyon, who farmed near Melbourne, Australia, kept a billy-goat among his sheep to scare off foxes during the lambing season. In September of the same year, he claimed to have dozens of ‘lambs’ which were sheep-goat hybrids. The goat was locked up while scientists examined the supposed hybrids. As no more was heard of this case, it is believed that the lambs were pure-bred sheep. There is a longstanding belief in sheep/goat hybrids which is due to the animals' resemblance to each other. Some primitive varieties of sheep may be misidentified as goats. In "Darwinism An Exposition Of The Theory Of Natural Selection With Some Of Its Applications" (1889), Alfred Russel Wallace wrote: :[...] the following statement of Mr. Low: "It has been long known to shepherds, though questioned by naturalists, that the progeny of the cross between the sheep and goat is fertile. Breeds of this mixed race are numerous in the north of Europe." Nothing appears to be known of such hybrids either in Scandinavia or in Italy; but Professor Giglioli of Florence has kindly given me some useful references to works in which they are described. The following extract from his letter is very interesting: "I need not tell you that there being such hybrids is now generally accepted as a fact. Buffon (Supplements, tom. iii. p. 7, 1756) obtained one such hybrid in 1751 and eight in 1752. Sanson (La Culture, vol. vi. p. 372, 1865) mentions a case observed in the Vosges, France. Geoff. St. Hilaire (Hist. Nat. Gén. des reg. org., vol. iii. p. 163) was the first to mention, I believe, that in different parts of South America the ram is more usually crossed with the she-goat than the sheep with the he-goat. The well-known 'pellones' of Chile are produced by the second an third generation of such hybrids (Gay, 'Hist, de Chile,' vol. i. p. 466, Agriculture, 1862). Hybrids bred from goat and sheep are called 'chabin' in French, and 'cabruno' in Spanish. In Chile such hybrids are called 'carneros lanudos'; their breeding inter se appears to be not always successful, and often the original cross has to be recommenced to obtain the proportion of three-eighths of he-goat and five-eighths of sheep, or of three-eighths of ram and five-eighths of she-goat; such being the reputed best hybrids."
Behavior
Goats are extremely curious and intelligent. They are easily housebroken, and trained to pull carts and walk on leads. They are also known for escaping their pens. If you have inferior fencing, be assured your goats will test it and soon you will know where the gaps are. Goats are very coordinated and can climb and hold their balance in the most precarious places. Goats are also widely known for their ability to climb trees, although the tree generally has to be on somewhat of an angle. A common misconception is that goats will eat anything. This is not true at all; in reality they are fastidious eaters and will not even take a bite of something that has fallen onto the ground or that something else has had in its mouth. Goats prefer to browse shrubbery and weeds for food. Goats browse more like deer than sheep, preferring woody shrubs rather than grasses. Mold in a goat's feed can make it sick and possibly kill it. Nightshade is also poisonous; wilted fruit tree leaves can also kill goats. Goats should not be fed grass with any signs of mold. Silage (corn stalks) is not good for goats, but haylage can be used if consumed immediately after opening. Alfalfa is their favorite hay, fescue the least palatable and least nutritious.
Goats in Folklore and Mythology
Since its inception, Christianity has associated goats with Satan. A common superstition in the Middle Ages was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. The origin of this belief was probably the behavior of the buck in rut, the very epitome of lust. The common mediaeval depiction of a devil was that of a goat like face with horns and small beard (a goatee). The Black Mass, a probably-mythological "Satanic mass," was said to involve a black goat, a form in which Satan supposedly manifested himself for worship. The goat has had a lingering connection with Satanism and pagan religions, even into modern times. The pentagram, a symbol used by both Satanism and Wicca, is said to be shaped like a goat's head. It is sometimes called the goat of Mendes, after a goat that supposedly copulated with priestesses during certain rituals in an ancient cult in Mendes, Greece. The Norse god of thunder, Thor, had a chariot that was pulled by several goats. At night when he would set up camp, Thor would eat the meat of the goats, but take care that all bones remained whole. Then he would wrap the remains up, and in the morning, the goats would always come back to life to pull the chariot. When a mortal who was invited to share the meal broke one of the goats' legs to suck the marrow, however, the animal's leg remained broken in the morrow, and the mortal was forced to serve Thor as a servant to compensate for the damage. The goat is also one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. It is thought that each animal is associated with certain personality traits; those born in a year of the goat are predicted to be shy, introverted, creative, and perfectionist. See Sheep (Zodiac). The Capricorn sign in the Western zodiac is usually depicted as a goat with a fish's tail.
Gallery
Image:Gorge_du_Verdon_Goat_0254.jpg|Goat in the mountains above Gorges du Verdon, Provence, South-France Image:Goat skull.jpg|Goat skull Image:Brown female goat.jpg|Female goat, also called a nanny Image:Goats in mountains.jpg|Domestic Goats high up in the hills Image:Karjus.jpg|Man herding goats in Tunisia Image:Domestic goat warsaw pg.JPG|Domestic goat in Warsaw, Poland More pictures on: [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Goat], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Goat]
See also

- Domestic goat
- Goat Glossary of Terms
- Livestock
- Royal antelope
- Bill the Goat
- Goatstown Category:Goats ko:염소 (동물) ja:ヤギ ms:Kambing

Honey bee

Conservation status: DomesticatedCategory:Domesticated animals A. mellifera — western honeybee
A. florea
A. dorsata
A. cerana — eastern honeybee Honeybees are a subset of bees which fall into the Order Hymenoptera and Suborder Apocrita. Of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees, there are eleven species within the genus Apis, all of which produce and store honey to some degree. Four species have historically been cultured for or robbed of honey by humans: Apis mellifera (Western honeybee), Apis florea (Dwarf honeybee/little bee), Apis cerana and Apis dorsata. They have been domesticated at least since the time of the building of the Egyptian pyramids.
- Apis florea and Apis cerana are small honeybees of southern and southeastern Asia which are cultured for honey in a similar fashion to Apis mellifera. Their stings are often not capable of penetrating human skin, so the hive and swarms can be handled without protection.
- Apis dorsata, the giant honeybee, is native to south and southeastern Asia, and usually makes its colonies on high tree limbs, or on cliffs, and sometimes on buildings. It is wild and can be very fierce. It is robbed of its honey periodically by human honey gatherers, a practice known as honey hunting. Its colonies are easily capable of stinging a human being to death when provoked.

Other honey collecting insects

Other non-Apis species of honeybees have been cultured or robbed for honey:
- Melipona beecheii, known as the stingless bee, is native to south-eastern Mexico and northern Central America. This bee has long been cultivated by the Maya peoples. The bee and its culture are dying out due to deforestation, pesticides, and the labor intensivity of its honey production. This bee is in some danger of becoming extinct.
- Ten species of genera Trigona and Austroplebeia in Australia produce and store honey. Australian Aborigines have used this as a source of food. More recently, these bees (called "native bees") in Australia have been cultivated on a small, "cottage industry" scale. The most important species for this industry are Trigona carbonaria and Trigona hockingsi.

Origin and distribution of the genus Apis

cottage industry Theora enabled player, such as VideoLAN.]] VideoLAN Honeybees probably originated in Tropical Africa and spread from South Africa to Northern Europe and East into India and China. The first bees appear in the fossil record in deposits dating about 40 million years ago during the Eocene period. At about 30 million years before present they appear to have developed social behavior and structurally are virtually identical with modern bees. Apis mellifera, the most commonly domesticated species, is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. It is also called the Western honeybee. There are many sub-species that have adapted to the environment of their geographic and climatic area. Behavior, color and anatomy can be quite different from one sub-species or race to another. In 1622, first european colonists brought the sub-species Apis mellifera mellifera to the Americas. Many of the crops that depend on honeybees for pollination have also been imported since colonial times. Escaped swarms (known as wild bees, but actually feral) spread rapidly as far as the Great Plains, usually preceding the colonists. The Native Americans called the honeybee "the white man's fly." Honeybees did not naturally cross the Rocky mountains; they were carried by ship to California in the early 1850s.

Beekeeping

The honeybee is a colonial insect that is often maintained, fed, and transported by beekeepers. Honeybees collect nectar and store it as honey in their hives. Nectar and honey provides the energy for the bees flight muscles and for heating the hive during the winter period. Honeybees also collect pollen which supplies protein for bee brood to grow. Centuries of selective breeding by humans has created honeybees that produce far more honey than the colony needs. Beekeepers, also known as "apiarists", harvest the honey. Beekeepers often provide a place for the colony to live and to store honey in. There are seven basic types of beehive: skeps, Langstroth hives, top-bar hives, box hives, log gums, D.E. hives and miller hives. Most U.S. states require bekeepers to use moveable frames to allow bee inspectors to check the brood for disease. This allows the Langstroth, top-bar and D.E. hives, but other types of hives require special permitting, such as for museum use. The type of beehive used significantly impacts colony health, and wax and honey production. Modern hives also enable beekeepers to transport bees, moving from field to field as the crop needs pollinating and allowing the beekeper to charge for the pollination services they provide. In cold climates, some beekeepers have kept colonies alive (with varying success) by moving them indoors for winter. While this can protect the colonies from extremes of temperature and make winter care and feeding more convenient for the beekeeper, it can increase the risk of dysentery (see the Nosema section of diseases of the honeybee) and can create an excessive buildup of carbon dioxide from the respiration of the bees. Recently, inside wintering has been refined by Canadian beekeepers who build large barns just for wintering bees. Automated ventilation systems assist in the control of carbon dioxide build-up. carbon dioxide; see the Queen article for an explanation of the color)]]

Honeybee life cycle

Like other eusocial bees, a colony generally contains one breeding female, or "queen"; a few thousand males, or "drones"; and a large population of sterile female workers. The female workers mature from nurse bees to become foragers. The foragers die usually when their wings are worn out after approximately 500 miles of flight. Honeybee wings beat at a rate of 12,000 beats/minute. The population of a healthy hive in mid-summer can average between 40,000 and 80,000 bees. The workers cooperate to find food and are widely believed to use a pattern of "dancing" (known as the bee dance or waggle dance) to communicate with each other.

Products of the honeybee

Pollination

Main article: Pollination management Pollination management The honeybee's primary commercial value is as a pollinator of crops. Orchards and fields have grown larger; at the same time wild pollinators have dwindled. In several areas of the world the pollination shortage is compensated by migratory beekeeping, with beekeepers supplying the hives during the crop bloom and moving them after bloom is complete. In many higher latitude locations it is difficult or impossible to winter over enough bees, or at least to have them ready for early blooming plants, so much of the migration is seasonal, with many hives wintering in warmer climates and moving to follow the bloom to higher latitudes. As an example, in California, the pollination of almonds occurs in February, early in the growing season, before local hives have built up their populations. Almond orchards require two hives per acre (2,000 m² per hive) for maximum yield and so the pollination is highly dependent upon the importation of hives from warmer climates.
Honey
Main article: Honey Honey is the substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees.
Beeswax
Main article: Beeswax Worker bees of a certain age will secrete beeswax from a series of glands on their abdomen. They use the wax to form the walls and caps of the comb. When honey is harvested, the wax can be gathered to be used in various wax products like candles and seals.
Pollen
Main article:Pollen Bees collect pollen in the pollen basket and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing. In certain environments, excess pollen can be collected from the hive. It is often eaten as a health supplement.
Propolis
Main article: Propolis Propolis (or bee glue) is created from resins and tree saps. Honeybees use propolis to seal cracks in the hive. Propolis is also sold for its reported health benefits. Holistic therapists often utilize propolis for the relief of arthritis and in conjunction with acupunture. Propolis is also believed to promote heart health and reduce the chances of cataracts.
Hazards to honeybee survival

- North American and European honeybee populations were severely depleted by varroa mite infestations in the early 1990s. Chemical treatments saved most commercial operations and improved cultural practices and bee breeds are starting to reduce the dependency on miticides (acaracides) by beekeepers. Feral bee populations were greatly reduced during this period but now are slowly recovering, mostly in areas of mild climate, owing to natural selection for varroa resistance and repopulation by resistant breeds.
- Crop dusting insecticides and pesticides also deplete bees.
- Africanized bees have spread across the southern United States where they pose a small danger to humans, although they may make beekeeping (particularly hobby beekeeping) difficult and potentially dangerous.
- As an invasive species, feral bees have become a significant environmental problem in places where they are not native, including Australia. Imported bees compete with and displace native bees and birds.
- Various bee pests and diseases are becoming resistant to medications (e.g. American Foul Brood, Tracheal Mites and Varroa Mites).
Honeybee Communication
See also: Bee learning and communication Bee learning and communication Honey bees are an excellent animal to study with regards to behavior because they are abundant and familiar to most people. An animal that is disregarded every day has very specific behaviors that go unnoticed by the normal person. Karl von Frisch studied the behavior of honey bees with regards to communication and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine in 1973. Von Frisch noticed that honey bees communicate with the language of dance. Honey bees are able to direct other bees to food sources through the round dance and the waggle dance. The round dance tells the other foragers that food is within 50 meters of the hive, but it does not provide much information regarding direction. The waggle dance, which may be vertical or horizontal, provides more detail about both the distance and the direction of the located food source. It is also hypothesized that the bees rely on their olfactory sense to help locate the food source once the foragers are given directions from the dances. Another signal for communication is the shaking signal, also known as the jerking dance, vibration dance, or vibration signal. It is a modulatory communication signal because it appears to manipulate the overall arousal or activity of behaviors. The shaking signal is most common in worker communication, but it is also evident in reproductive swarming. A worker bee vibrates its body dorsoventrally while holding another honey bee with its front legs. Jacobus Biesmeijer examined the incidence of shaking signals in a forager’s life and the conditions that led to its performance to investigate why the shaking signal is used in communication for food sources. Biesmeijer found that the experienced foragers executed 92.1% of the observed shaking signals. He also observed that 64% of the shaking signals were executed by experienced foragers after they had discovered a food source. About 71% of the shaking signal sessions occurred after the first five foraging success within one day. Then other communication signals, such as the waggle dance, were performed more often after the first five successes. Biesmeijer proved that most shakers are foragers and that the shaking signal is most often executed by foraging bees over pre-foraging bees. Beismeijer concluded that the shaking signal presents the overall message of transfer work for various activities or activity levels. Sometimes the signal serves to increase activity, when bees shake inactive bees. At other times, the signal serves as an inhibitory mechanism such as the shaking signal at the end of the day. However, the shaking signal is preferentially directed towards inactive bees. All three types of communication between honey bees are effective in their jobs with regards to foraging and task managing.
Sources

- Biesmeijer, Jacobus. "The Occurrence and Context of the Shaking Signal in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Exploiting Natural Food Sources". Ethology. 2003.
- Kak, Subhash C. "The Honey Bee Dance Language Controversy". The Mankind Quarterly. 2001.
- Schneider, S. S., P. K. Visscher, Camazine, S. "Vibration Signal Behavior of Waggle-dancers in Swarms of the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Ethology. 1998.
Trivia

- Honeybees are one of the very few invertebrates in which sleep-like behavior, similar in many respects to mammalian sleep, is known to exist
- Honey, as well as propolis, have antibiotic properties
- Honeybees are one of the very few invertebrates that produce a sort of "milk" for their young, royal jelly , which is the only food the larvae will eat early in development
- Like other social insects, they have an advanced immune system
- They have specially modified hairs on their body that develop a static electricity charge which attract pollen grains to their bodies
- They have a well developed time sense (circadian rhythm)
- They navigate by using a combination of memory, visual landmarks, colors, the position of the sun, smell, polarized light and magnetic anomalies
- Their aging is controlled by a hormone which regulates the production of a protein called vitellogenin
- The honeybee was a prominent political symbol in the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, representing the Bonapartist bureaucratic and political system.
Designated state insect

- Arkansas (1973)
- North Carolina (1973)
- New Jersey (1974) - state bug
- Georgia (1975)
- Maine (1975)
- Nebraska (1975)
- Kansas (1976)
- Louisiana (1977)
- Vermont (1977)
- Wisconsin (1977)
- South Dakota (1978)