Domestication of the Wild

Long time, humans have used their living area for hunting and gathering. However, with in-creasing human pressure on natural resources resulting in a decline in the availability of food from nature (such as hunted game and gathered edible wild plants), it became increasingly important and practical to produce food close to settlements rather than rely solely on hunting and gathering. 

Domestication (Latin Domesticus: 'belonging to the house') entails more than just the coexist-ence of humans with wild animals and crops. Domestication means improvement of genotype – environment interactions of crops and animals.

What is certain is that the transition from mere hunting and gathering to the keeping of livestock and cultivation of crops was a lengthy process spanning many generations. We do not know the exact details of this transition (Naithani 2021). Nomadic animal husbandry with domesticated livestock was the way of life in natural grassland.

The domestication of animals started with wild young dog puppies, goat kids, or sheep lambs were brought home and kept alive in the homestead. Over time, both humans and animals be-came accustomed to living together. The first domesticated animal was the dog, serving as a partner for humans to provide protection or assistance in hunting. They became 'friends', and the dogs were regarded as human pets. Other livestock served purposes such as providing meat, milk, wool, leather, or, later, animal traction (Figure).

Figure: Primary regions of domestication of major livestock worldwide

Source: Mignon-Grasteau et al. (2005)

The transformation of the wild animals into a high performing domesticated animal is the result of a long selection process. It can be seen in the example of sheep. The wool quantity and quali-ty are/were a main selection criteria for thousands of years breeding. The sheep breeds today are much different compared with the wild relatives: 4-6 kg wool per year can be sheared. The wool (under hair) is not lost in spring, the white color selected, and the length and fineness of the wool improved (Figure)..

Figure: Effects of selection and breeding from wild towards domesticated sheep

Source: Uerpmann (1990, cited in Rahmann 2024)

Historically, sheep were mainly breed for wool. The beginnings of sheep's wool use are still largely unknown and are difficult to prove by examining bone finds. The oldest depiction of a wool sheep is a clay statuette from around 6,000 B.C. According to written sources, a distinc-tion was already being made in ancient Babylonian times between wool sheep and meat sheep on the one hand, and in the case of wool sheep even regarding brown or white wool color. From the Middle Kingdom (1991-1650 BC) onwards, wool-bearing sheep were found in Egypt. This breed of sheep was probably introduced from the Near East and quickly replaced the old hair sheep breed. Studies on skin remains of sheep from Sudanese sites from around 2000 BC prove the existence of fleece-bearing sheep, as some samples already show a mixed hair-wool - the first stage in fleece formation.

Photo: At the end of the 4th millennium BC, a new, larger "sheep breed" was imported into Europe, whereby it is assumed that these larger sheep were woolly sheep, which were first spread from the Near East to Greece and from there later to other parts of Europe. Wool sheep were spread over large parts of Central Europe and southern Scandinavia during the 3rd millen-nium BC.

Sheep farming was very important in Roman agriculture at the time of Christ's birth. The focus was on the use of wool and milk. The occurrence of different coat colors is documented (grey-black, grey, dark brown, red; Newah & Forkel, 1989), whereby white was preferred due to its better dyeability. Wool quality was an important factor in sheep breeding. Textile remains show that mixed wool dominated, but there was also short and fine wool. The high standard of Ro-man sheep breeding also had an impact in the Roman provinces. The sheep found there were significantly larger than those from the previous Latène period or than the sheep population in the Germanic area at the same time. In Britain, a well-organized wool industry was established under Roman influence, so that mixed to fine-wool, unpigmented wool was produced here as early as the 3rd to 4th century. These sheep became the basis for Britain's flourishing wool pro-duction in the Middle Ages.

Humans have always used animals, both as wild and domesticated animals. Many wild animal species have been domesticated, i.e. have become pets, with humans determining their living environment and behavior. Wild animals have/have been adapted to these conditions in such a way that they can be distinguished from their wild counterparts by their altered physiology, anatomy and, in some cases, behavior.
Archaeological excavations today can discern differences in the bones found in human settle-ments, distinguishing between those from hunted game and domesticated livestock. In 2015, the FAO published the 2nd compilation of the genetic diversity of livestock breeds, which was an update from 2007 (Tables).

According to Groenefeld and Glodek (2000), around 100 different animal species have been domesticated to date, including around 40 mammals, 24 bird, 18 fish and several insect species. Thousands of different breeds have evolved from them, depending on their use and environ-mental conditions.

Domestication of livestock began around 16,000 years ago with the dog as a hunting and pro-tection companion. As humans became sedentary, and agriculture began - especially in Mesopo-tamia - goats, sheep, cattle and pigs were used primarily as a source of meat. Keeping them was easier than hunting the increasingly rare wild animals (Rahmann 2003).

Over the millennia, domestic animal husbandry was developed to include many other functions. Not only meat but also milk, eggs, honey and blood were obtained from them as food. Products that were not eaten also became increasingly important. Hair, feathers, fibers, hides and bones were and are still used today as clothing and jewelry, or for everyday objects or tools. Their traction and carrying capacity were used for transport work of all kinds (agricultural, urban, military) and their droppings and urine were used as fertilizer. Domestic animals were used to open new landscapes and areas.

Table: Domestication of important livestock

Source: FAO (2015)

Global livestock farming has expanded considerably since the Second World War. The global population has increased two and a half times since I was born in 1962 (+248%), while the live mass of the most important livestock species has increased fourteenfold (+1447%, Table 2). The effects of the Second World War with low livestock numbers in 1961 are clear. Between 1981 and today, the biomass of livestock (LM) has stabilized around the value of one ton of live mass per person. Of course, this is in some regions/countries than in others (Figure 1). With a rising world population, a (disproportionate?) increase in livestock farming can also be assumed (OECD-FAO 2023, FAO 2023). Special forms of livestock farming, such as beekeeping, have also been part of this development (+207%). So, there can be no talk of bees dying out.

Table: Functions of animal husbandry

Source: Rahmann (2004)

However, pets were increasingly used not only physically, but also psychologically: for enter-tainment, companionship or therapy. The keeping of pets (dogs, cats, ornamental birds, orna-mental fish, etc.) split off from the keeping of farm animals (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, chickens, ducks, turkeys, carp, trout, salmon, bees, silkworms, etc.) several centuries ago. Sci-ence also practices special animal husbandry. Wild animals, laboratory rodents, primates and farm animals are still used and bred for research purposes today.
Domestication of plants took part simultaneously when humans settled down and started culti-vating plants. Wild plants have been collected, seeded and the seeds of the cultivated plants have been reused many times for next seasons. Selection of high performing, more resilient, better digestible or more tasty seeds formed domesticated crops (Figure).

Figure: Primary regions of domestications of major food crops worldwide

Source: Khoury et al. (2016)