Domestic animals

There is a bounty of options when it comes to picking the right poultry for your farm. Each variety brings its own unique needs and benefits, and you might find room for all of them or discover that only one type will really fit your lifestyle. People might think chickens are the only option for farm fresh eggs, but that is not the case. Most farmyard poultry lay eggs, all the species are prized for their meat, and some have other special skills to offer the homestead. 1. Chickens Shutterstock As the best known backyard farm bird, chickens are valued because they are easy keepers and quite useful. They’ve been part of farmyards for about 5,000 years, since first being domesticated in Asia from a wild bird known as Red Junglefowl. These spangled birds are still found on islands across the South Pacific today. The appeal of chickens in ancient societies and our modern world is their incredible versatility as a domesticated animal. Chickens do it all: They lay delicious eggs, they provide meat, they eat bugs, they can have beautiful spangled feathers, they can be great pets, they give you organic manure, and they are cheap and easy to keep. An adult hen lays four to six eggs a week, which means three or four chickens are enough to keep a family well supplied. They do not need a rooster to lay. Raised for meat, a chicken can feed a family for several days, providing lunch meat, salads and soups. Chickens require about 4 square feet per bird, and a small run. They eat approxima...

pet, Any animal kept by humans for companionship or pleasure rather than for utility. The main distinction between pets and domesticated livestock is the degree of contact between owner and animal. Another distinction is the owner’s affection for the animal, which is often returned. Dogs are known to have been kept as pets since prehistoric times; cats, since the 16th century bc; and horses, since at least 2000 bc. Other common pets include birds, rabbits, rodents, raccoons, reptiles, amphibians, and even insects. The trend toward making pets of exotic animals (e.g., monkeys and ocelots) is worrisome because owners can rarely provide for their needs, and the animals’ already precarious populations are further depleted when members are sold for pets. Related Article Summaries

They say dogs are man’s best friend, but horses could also claim that title. Horses gave us a way to transport people and goods — literal horsepower. They changed warfare: drawing chariots, carrying the cavalry. They’ve inspired artists from Stone Age cave painters to the makers of “My Little Pony.” Their role in industry may have waned in favor of machines, but they still maintain a place in sport, in leisure and in our collective hearts. Horses have been intertwined with human culture since at least 2000 B.C.E. and were associated with certain human groups even earlier. “Horses are the animal that has changed history,” says Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist at the University of Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier in France. Today, horse breeds number in the hundreds, from the high-stepping Equus caballus, joined in the modern equid family by donkeys, zebras and the Equus ferus for wild horses, and classification of Przewalski’s horses can vary). The evolutionary path leading up to Equus is a E. caballus all look pretty much the same, whether wild or domestic, so they couldn’t answer a longstanding question: Where and when did humans first domesticate horses, linking the two species on a road that would lead to horse-drawn carriages, horse-racing and so much more? Today, a revolution in the study of DNA, from both ancient and modern creatures, is providing answers. Applying the same approach used in a landmark 2010 Equus caballus. They have tracked how ancient wild horses...

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. 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 wildplants. 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, barley, lentils, 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 (in Asia) and potatoes (in South America). Plants have not only been domesticated for food. Cottonplants were domesticated for fiber, which is used in cloth. Some flowers, such as tulips, were domesticated for ornamental, or decorative, reasons. Animal Domestication About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tameanimals for meat, milk, and hides. Hides, or the skins of animals, were used for clothing, storage, and to ...

Why subscribe? • The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe • Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5' • Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews • Issues delivered straight to your door or device About 11,000 years ago, humans realized there was a better place for some animals than the other end of a spear. We started coaxing them into our settlements, gradually molding their natures to better suit our needs for food, labor and companionship. Over the millennia, we dabbled with the domestication of many species. But only a few — most notably, the cow, goat, sheep, chicken, horse, pig, dog and cat — have proved themselves so useful that they have piggybacked their way across the globe, flourishing almost everywhere humans do. But why just those animals? Why not the rhinoceros, tiger, zebra, or any of the hundreds of other seemingly suitable creatures that didn't make the cut, and by consequence have been According to the evolutionary physiologist and geographer Jared Diamond, in his acclaimed book "Guns, Germs and Steel" (Norton, 1997), there are six criteria that animals must meet for domestication. Many species come close, but very few fit the bill. First, domestic animals cannot be picky eaters; they must be able to find enough food in and around human settlements to survive. The herbivores, such as cows and sheep, must be able to forage on grass and eat o...

Cattle are important domesticated animals that provide meat and milk. Many breeds exist, some emphasizing beef production, others emphasizing dairy production. The Smithsonian's National Zoo exhibits a polled Hereford, which is a beef breed. Cattle are members of the Bovidae family, which also includes gazelles, African antelope, Asian water buffalo, bison and domesticated species, such as sheep and goats. Domestic cattle belong to the genus Bos and the species taurus and indicus. All British and European cattle breeds, such as Angus, Hereford, Holstein, Shorthorn and Simmental, belong to the taurus species. The humped cattle of tropical countries, such as Brahman and Africander, belong to the indicus species. They are also called Zebu or "eared" breeds. An individual may be referred to as a bull, cow, heifer, steer or calf. These terms refer to an animal's sex, age and reproductive status. Calves are cattle of either sex that are 1 year old or younger. Bulls are intact male cattle of any age, while the term steer refers to castrated male cattle. A heifer is a female that has not yet had a calf, and a cow is a female that has had at least one calf. In most species, the bull is much larger than the cow. Breeds can be polled (genetically hornless) or horned. Both male and female wild cattle species have horns, and the bull's horns are larger and thicker than the cow's. Unlike humans, cattle have panoramic vision, which means they can see almost all the way around themselves ...

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions. • Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives. • In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions. • In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find. • In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history. • Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more. • While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today. • Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians. • Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! • Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space! Animals included under the term cattle are the Western or European domesticated cattle and the Indian and African domesticated cattle. Other bovids such as the Asian water buffalo, the Tibetan yak, the gayal and banteng of Southeast Asia, and the plains bison of North America have also been domesticated or semi-do...

Animals included under the term cattle are the Western or European domesticated cattle and the Indian and African domesticated cattle. Other bovids such as the Asian water buffalo, the Tibetan yak, the gayal and banteng of Southeast Asia, and the plains bison of North America have also been domesticated or semi-domesticated and are sometimes considered to be cattle.

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. 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 wildplants. 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, barley, lentils, 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 (in Asia) and potatoes (in South America). Plants have not only been domesticated for food. Cottonplants were domesticated for fiber, which is used in cloth. Some flowers, such as tulips, were domesticated for ornamental, or decorative, reasons. Animal Domestication About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tameanimals for meat, milk, and hides. Hides, or the skins of animals, were used for clothing, storage, and to ...

Why subscribe? • The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe • Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5' • Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews • Issues delivered straight to your door or device About 11,000 years ago, humans realized there was a better place for some animals than the other end of a spear. We started coaxing them into our settlements, gradually molding their natures to better suit our needs for food, labor and companionship. Over the millennia, we dabbled with the domestication of many species. But only a few — most notably, the cow, goat, sheep, chicken, horse, pig, dog and cat — have proved themselves so useful that they have piggybacked their way across the globe, flourishing almost everywhere humans do. But why just those animals? Why not the rhinoceros, tiger, zebra, or any of the hundreds of other seemingly suitable creatures that didn't make the cut, and by consequence have been According to the evolutionary physiologist and geographer Jared Diamond, in his acclaimed book "Guns, Germs and Steel" (Norton, 1997), there are six criteria that animals must meet for domestication. Many species come close, but very few fit the bill. First, domestic animals cannot be picky eaters; they must be able to find enough food in and around human settlements to survive. The herbivores, such as cows and sheep, must be able to forage on grass and eat o...