Domestication, or domestication (from lat. domesticus- "domestic") - this is the name of the process of changing wild animals, during which these animals are subjected to artificial selection and kept isolated (for many generations) from their wild form. However, not all animals were able to get along with humans, as few of them were able to overcome their fear of him.
Genetic scientists have found that the first wolves were domesticated in South Asia. The oldest find that testifies to the domestication of a wolf is a skull found in the Goyet cave in Belgium, its age is 31,700 years, slightly less than the age of the remains found in the Chauvet cave in France - 26 thousand years.
As soon as a person began to lead a sedentary lifestyle (about 10 thousand years ago) and took up agriculture, a cat appeared in his house, which protected his grain stocks from rats and mice, which were stored in barns.
flickr / cat woman of 3
The first occurred in the Middle East, through the domestication of a wild Nubian (Middle Eastern) cat. Millions of cats living in our time can "boast" of their Middle Eastern origin.
For almost the same period (at least 10 thousand years), sheep and goats live next to humans. The ancestor of the domestic goat was a mountain sheep, which lives in Western Asia and Southern Europe. As a result of careful selection and crossing, more than 150 breeds have emerged that vaguely resemble their wild and ancient progenitor.
Around the same period, the first appeared, descended from the wild bezoar, or, who lived in the same areas as the mouflon. There are not so many breeds of domestic goats, however, they are very diverse.
It is assumed that the horse was domesticated more than 6-7 thousand years ago (from other sources - about 9 thousand years ago). The ancestor of the modern horse is (lat. Equus ferus ferus) Is an inhabitant of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Eurasia.
Domestication took place, according to scientists, in several areas at once. This is justified by the fact that domestic horses lack a common genetic root. The first domestic horses were kept by people for meat, milk and skins. They saddled the horse much later.
The first pigs were domesticated about 7 thousand years ago (from some sources - possibly even earlier) and they descended from a wild pig (lat. Sus scrofa). It spread mainly in East Asia, in the Western countries and in Oceania, where it became the main source of meat and lard.
The ancestor of the domestic cow (lat. Bos taurus taurus) was a wild bull (lat. Bos taurus).
In the early stages of domestication, cows spread from the Balkan Peninsula and from Southwest Asia to Africa (7 thousand years ago), and to Central Europe (about 5 thousand years ago). Since then, the cow has become a valuable source of milk and meat.
7.5 thousand years ago, the Asian buffalo was domesticated (lat. Bubalus bubalis) is a strong and dangerous beast, which is now called an ox. Now in hot Asian countries, they have become the main source of meat and skins, as well as an irreplaceable draft force.
It was previously thought that the first domestic chickens appeared in India about 2,000 years ago, but more recent studies have shown that the first chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asia and China around 6,000-8,000 years ago. And the domestic chicken originated from the wild bank chicken (lat. Gallus gallus) living in Asia.
The goose is considered one of the oldest domestic birds and was domesticated quite early (more than 3-4 thousand years ago) in ancient China. Its ancestor is considered to be a wild gray goose (lat. Anser anser). New breeds of domestic goose were developed mainly in Europe.
They were domesticated in China and Europe at the same time as the geese, then they spread to other countries. Domestic ducks originated from the wild common duck, or mallard (lat. Anas platyryncha). The domestication of ducks took place very quickly.
The bee was domesticated by humans about 5 thousand years ago. Since those ancient times, people have been using beekeeping products: honey, wax, poison, propolis, bee bread, etc. It was impossible to tame bees (in a certain sense), but people still learned to use them for their own purposes.
Silkworm
Silkworm (lat. Bombyx mori) - a butterfly, thanks to which a person learned what silk is. Was domesticated by humans in China around 3000 BC. Sericulture is the most important industry in China, breeding silkworms for silk.
I wonder which animal was first tamed by man and what do the researchers say about it? Scientists believe that the very first pet was a dog. The history of the domestication of dogs goes back to the deep past (the last centuries of the Stone Age). Therefore, 15-14 thousand years ago, people already kept tamed domesticated dogs. At that ancient time, people were still engaged in cattle breeding, so the main occupation was hunting wild animals. Dogs guarded a person, helped him in hunting and thus became good helpers in finding food and loyal friends, as well as guides for people.
First pet: faithful dog
The question of the origin of the domesticated dog has not yet been fully studied, so there is no exact information. Some researchers believe that her ancestor was a gray wolf or an extinct species of wild dog.
The homeland of the ancestors of the modern four-legged friend of man is South Asia (in China, in the mountains of Tibet and on the plains of Siberia). Scientists have counted about 14 dog breeds whose genotype is similar to that of wild wolves.
The first pet for a child: choice
Many parents are interested in what first pet can be purchased for a child so that it is interesting for him to play with and easy to care for. Before buying a pet, you need to weigh the pros and cons well.
The child needs to be told that a pet is not fun, but a serious responsibility. A person should be responsible for the animal that he has tamed. Otherwise, the animal or bird can quickly get bored with the child, and taking care of the pet will fall on the shoulders of older family members.
If the lifespan of the selected animal is short, then parents recommend buying animals of standard colors. In the event of their unexpected death, you should immediately buy the same animal while the child does not know anything. Small children are very painful to experience the loss of their beloved animal, and such "dishonesty" and "substitution" will help not to injure the child's psyche.
Human activities have affected nature by changing the environment: where there were once steppes, forests and swamps, houses have appeared, roads and agricultural lands have grown. Man domesticated plants and tamed animals for food and other needs, for many people animals have become pets.
Domestication is the domestication of wild species. tamed for wool, milk, eggs and meat, or for farm work. Today, there are a huge number of domesticated animals that were domesticated at different times and for different purposes. Here are tamed animals, which we used to think of as pets and have already forgotten that they were once wild.
Dogs: from 12,000 liters. BC.
john malley
One of the first tamed animals were their descendants, dogs. The earliest known evidence of a tamed dog is its jawbone, which was found in a cave in Iraq. It differs from the wolf in that it has smaller jaws and teeth. Breeding affects species quite quickly, and it is a natural process for humans, but it is likely that the first cases of domestication were accidental and not deliberate.
Images in Egyptian paintings and sculptures, Assyrian and Roman mosaics, prove that by that time, these civilizations had many dogs of various shapes and sizes. One Roman writer of the same period even gave advice on the choice of dog color: shepherd dogs should be white (to distinguish them from wolves in the dark), but farm dogs should be black (to scare thieves).
Sheep and goats, pigs and cows: 9000-7000l. BC.
Bibrak qamar
Soon after dogs, among the tamed animals, goats, sheep, cows and pigs appear. The first sheep were domesticated as a food source in the Middle East. Later, goats and sheep became permanent animals of nomadic pastoralists - tribes who move throughout the year with their herds, guided by the availability of fresh grass.
Cows and pigs are more associated with sedentary communities. According to historical data, the pig was first domesticated in China. During their lifetime, these animals provided people with milk, meat and manure. When they died, the skin and wool were used for clothing; horns and bones for sharp objects (needles and arrows); grease for tallow candles; hooves for glue.
Oxen and buffaloes: from 4000 liters. BC.
Jennifer McLeod
Of the four main agricultural groups of animals, cattle represent the most significant development in village life. Brute willpower is a great addition to a person's muscular strength. At first, they carried sleds, and somewhat later, plows and wheeled carts (almost simultaneously in the Middle East and Europe). In India and Southeast Asia, buffaloes were used as cargo animals.
Cats: from 3000 l. BC.
Tambako the jaguar
Cats stayed away from people for a long time. Their lonely lifestyle (not herd or group) helped a lot in this. Cats were attracted to the food and shelter they could find in human settlements. After domestication, cats spread rapidly and increased in numbers due to their high breeding rate. In many cultures and religions, cats were considered sacred. For example, in Egypt, where they were even mummified. In the folk stories of different peoples, the cat was a natural companion of man.
Horses: from 3000hp BC.
Moyan brenn
Humans found their most important ally in the animal kingdom when they domesticated the horse. Wild horses of various species had spread throughout much of the world by the time human history began. Their bones have been found among the remains of early human food, and they are depicted in cave paintings with other animals. Some of the earliest fossils have been found in America, but since then they have become extinct on this continent.
The original goal of taming horses, like cattle, was to acquire a reliable source of meat and milk, and later people realized that they had an excellent means of transportation at their disposal.
The first domesticated horses were pony-sized. All modern horses known to us are the result of human selection. Other wild breeds are now extinct.
Donkeys: 3000 HP BC.
Rinaldo R
At almost the same time as the domestication of the wild horse, the domestication of the donkey is taking place. They are often mentioned in the two oldest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Camels: 3000-1500 HP BC.
Renzo Ottaviano
As beasts of burden and transport, camels occupy an important place along with horses and donkeys. Two small members of the camel family, the llama and the alpaca, were tamed primarily in South America. This saved both species from extinction. Neither llama nor alpaca currently exist in the wild.
In the scorched regions of North Africa and Asia, two different camel species are becoming the most important beasts of burden - the one-humped camel (North Africa, the Middle East, India) and the two-humped camel (Central Asia, Mongolia). Both are well adapted to desert conditions.
: from 2000 l. BC.
Erik 1967
About 2,000 years ago, wild jungle birds began to be domesticated in Asia. Almost in the same period, pigeons appeared in Egypt. At first, pigeons simply lived and bred in close proximity to humans. But some time later, people discovered their unusual talent - to fly home.
: 2000 l. BC.
Sumit gupta
India is the region where elephants were tamed during the Indus civilization. It is not known exactly when the elephants began to be trained for war, but there is a large body of evidence that they were a valuable military force in India and North Africa. The ability to learn tricks also makes elephants a popular animal in the Roman circus arena.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
The history of domestic animals dates back to the Stone Age. The process of domestication of wild animals is carried out through the crossing of certain species in order to achieve the conditioned traits in the offspring that people need. Individuals for this are selected according to certain characteristics. It is especially important in case of artificial, selective selection, the absence or significant reduction of aggression in an animal towards people and towards individuals of its own species. This maximally contributes to the so-called taming of the instincts of wild animals.
The purpose of domestication of a wild animal is to use it in agricultural activities, or to settle at home as a domestic friend, a pet. If this problem is solved, it means that the animal has become completely domesticated. The natural, natural development of an individual is replaced by artificial crossing according to the parameters necessary for a person. This radically changes the conditions and history of the further continuation of the species. Thus, the genetic constituents of the breeds are also changing.
The history of domestic animals clearly illustrates the fact that not all wild creatures are able to take root with people. Only a few of them have overcome their natural fear of humanity. Many researchers claim that ancient people could have tamed crocodiles, or, for example, cave bears. But to domesticate an animal is still something more. In fact, there are about 25 species of animals domesticated by humans.
First of all, for the domestication of a wild animal, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for the reproduction of future offspring. Then you need to start selection, thereby leaving the most developed individuals, thanks to which, after hundreds of years, you can get a really pet. There are examples from antiquity when wild cheetahs were kept in captivity at the palaces of the kings. For example, the great conqueror Genghis Khan had a tamed cheetah. But it was never really possible to domesticate these individuals.
- Wolf and dog
The wolf is considered the first domesticated wild animal. This beast became a companion of people in the Stone Age. It is genetically proven that the ancestry of wolves began in South Asia. So, after many centuries, a dog appeared. Calculations and data of scientists indicate that the wolf and the dog finally separated 12 thousand years ago. The first ever documented proof of friendship between a man and a domestic dog was discovered in a French rocky cave. It was a wolf's paw print and a child's footprint. The age of these finds is 10 thousand years.
- Sheep, goats
Also, for ten thousand years, human communication with these animals continues. As a result of crossing and selection of mountain sheep, people reproduced more than a hundred species of domestic sheep. Today's goats originated from the bearded mountain goat that lived in southern Europe and Asia. People have managed to get a wide variety of breeds of these animals. There are Angora goats with excellent wool, Swiss, Cameroon. The most useful domesticated animal for humans turned out to be the tour, the distant ancestor of the cows we know.
- Buffalo
The ancient buffalo was a rather dangerous and scary beast. This animal became domestic 7 thousand years ago. In southern countries, its pulling power, the value of meat, warm skin are well applicable.
- Horse
The ancestor of the domestic horse is the bal tarpan. He was found in the fields of Eurasia. The horse was domesticated about 6 thousand years ago. Despite this, many scientists believe that the first ancestor of this animal was a wild horse, it is also called the Przewalski's horse.
- Cat
With the beginning of the development of land cultivation and a sedentary lifestyle, a cat began to accompany people. She fell in love with the remnants of food in the first human settlements and barns. The history of the domestic cat begins in the East. All cats living on earth today are the direct descendants of several species of Libyan and Nubian wild cats. At the present time, more than two hundred breeds of domestic cats are recognized by international organizations.
- Birds
5.5 thousand years ago, the history of domestic chickens and geese began, which originated in East Asia. Ducks were domesticated around the same time in China and Europe. And in hot Africa, they tamed the guinea fowl.
Experiments in the history of pets have always taken place, and are still ongoing. Breeding work is carried out with some breeds of antelope, deer, mink, sable and many other fluffy individuals. New breeds of domesticated animals are being developed. Of course, it is impossible not to pay attention to the fact that a person should be responsible for the domesticated animals. It is his sacred duty to take care, and not to use gullible domesticated animals only as suppliers of wool, meat or milk.
Briefly about the article: Close contacts of the fourth kind Civilization, real or fictional by a science fiction writer, is built not only on social relations, discoveries and religion, but also on contacts of the leading intelligent biological species with other species. Long before the start of the search for our big brothers in the cosmic depths, homo sapiens turned his gaze to the smaller brothers. The "friendship" of man with animals has directly influenced the formation of the present civilization. Using the example of history, we will trace what gave humanity contact with other types of creatures.
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind
Domestication of animals
Civilization, real or fictional by a science fiction writer, is built not only on social relations, discoveries and religion, but also on the contacts of the leading intelligent biological species with other species. Long before the start of the search for our big brothers in the cosmic depths, homo sapiens turned his gaze to the smaller brothers. The "friendship" of man with animals has directly influenced the formation of the present civilization. Using the example of history, we will trace what gave humanity contact with other types of creatures.
The search for the best (in terms of price and effort) options for cultural development led our species to the variety of sources of clothing, food, raw materials, fertilizers, means of transportation, household help and simply - pleasure, which is provided by countless and close relationships with domesticated animals.
Humanity's first partner
One of the first, and possibly the very first animals that humans underwent a pleasant, but difficult procedure for domestication (and scientifically - domestication), became dog... It happened 9-17 thousand years ago.
The study of the fossil remains of ancient dogs began in 1862, when skulls of the Neolithic period were found in Switzerland. This dog was named "peat", and later its remains were found everywhere in Europe, including on Lake Ladoga, as well as in Egypt. The peat dog did not change outwardly during the entire Stone Age, its remains were found even in the sediments of the Roman era. The spitz-like Samoyed dog is considered a direct descendant of the peat. A dog from Lake Ladoga, larger than a typical peat one, is attributed to the ancestors of mastiff-like, and sometimes - huskies.
With the ancestors of the dog itself, there is less clarity. These are: 1) wolves - both our gray Tambov comrade and Indian (the most common hypothesis); 2) wolves and jackals; 3) the now extinct wild "great dog" - so thought Carl Linnaeus, the creator of the first classification of living beings.
According to the method of application, there are five main types of dogs: mastiffs, wolf dogs, greyhounds, hunting pointers and herding dogs.
Since ancient times, dogs have been drawn, carved in stone, minted on coins - this gives us the opportunity to trace the development of the "relationship" between a dog and a person. In ancient Egyptian tombs, images of a pharaoh dog, deified by the Egyptians, were found: for example, according to Herodotus, in connection with the death of a dog, mourning was declared in Egyptian houses. On the bas-reliefs of Babylon and Assyria, we see mastiffs used for hunting and as war dogs. In Greece and Rome, there are many coins depicting dogs, the oldest of which date back to the 7th-6th centuries. BC NS.
War dogs were in special demand. In the army of Alexander the Great, they occupied an honorable place. Assyro-Babylonian dogs, known as Epirus or Molossian Great Danes, were brought to Ancient Greece and Rome, where they were also used as fighting dogs. Hunting dogs, greyhounds and hounds were highly valued (the constellation of the Hounds, who remained in the sky with their owner, Actaeon, was named after them).
In Rome, fighting dogs began to act as gladiators, single-handedly competing with bulls, lions, elephants, bears. There were also widespread miniature decorative melites, which later became known as Maltese lapdogs. The matrons' fascination with dogs was so great that the emperors repeatedly condemned him, since, in their opinion, this prevented the noble ladies from having children.
In the 1st century BC. NS. the first known treatise on dogs appears. In Mark Terentius Varro's encyclopedic essay On Agriculture, he describes the different types of dogs, puppy selection, dog food, breeding, and dog training. However, even earlier in China and Japan, written records of the upbringing and breeding of dogs were preserved - they are about four thousand years old.
A monument was erected to the dog that saved the ancient Greek city of Corinth. And in the ash-covered Pompeii, a large dog was found, covering the body of a child. The inscription on the silver collar said that the dog had already saved the life of its owner twice ...
Shepherd's pets
The next most timed domestication, apparently, was goat... It happened 9-12 thousand years ago on the territory of modern Iran, Iraq, Palestine. Her wild ancestors were the bezoar and the horned goats. The goat was respected as a nurse (according to legend, the goat Amalfei nursed the baby Zeus), and the goat skin refers to the divine garment of Pallas Athena. There are also images of goats on the frescoes of Ancient Egypt.
Not all the consequences of friendship with goats were predictable. The domestication of goats gave man high quality milk, wool, skin, but also harmed his habitat. Where herds of goats graze for a long time, all vegetation disappears, and a desert enters the flowering land. Goats not only destroy shoots completely - they even get to shallow seeds that could germinate in the coming rainy season. Soil exposed by goats is subject to erosion. The same fate befell the Castile highlands, Asia Minor, and the once famous Moroccan and Lebanese cedar groves.
Around the same time - 10-11 thousand years ago - on the territory of modern Iran was domesticated sheep... From there, domestic sheep - the descendants of wild rams argali and mouflons - came first to Persia, then to Mesopotamia. Already in the twentieth century. BC in Mesopotamia there were various breeds of sheep, one of which - a fine-fleece sheep with horns twisted in a spiral - was widespread: merino sheep later became the pride of Spain.
The ones that walk on their own
7-12 thousand years ago, next to a person appeared cat... Cats that have settled next to a person's dwelling of their own free will are an exception among domestic animals. It is generally accepted that the common ancestor of the domestic murka is the North African and Western Asian steppe dun cat, which was domesticated in Nubia about four thousand years ago. From here, the domestic cat came to Egypt, and later crossed with the forest Bengal in Asia. In Europe, the fluffy aliens met a local, wild European forest cat. The result of crosses is a modern variety of breeds and colors.
Fossil remains of cats have been found in the Neolithic and Bronze layers of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, Jordan and the cities of Ancient India. On the murals in the tombs of Sakkarah (2750-2650 BC), a cat is depicted with a collar, and on a fresco from Beni Hasan - in a house next to the mistress.
In Egypt, cats were in a special position among other deified animals. Their corpses were embalmed and buried in lush tombs in special cemeteries. They were considered the embodiment of Bast, the goddess of the moon and fertility, in whose temple in Bubastis sometimes up to 700 thousand believers gathered for the holidays. Archaeologists have discovered about 300 thousand cat mummies dating back to the 4th millennium BC. NS. In the 19th century, an enterprising merchant loaded an entire ship with them in Egypt and brought it to Manchester, thinking of selling it for fertilizer. The idea failed, and most of the mummies ended up in scientific collections.
The law also protected the sacred animal: for killing a cat, severe punishment, including the death penalty, was threatened (Herodotus tells about the unfortunate Greek who unknowingly killed the cat).
The export of cats abroad has been banned for a long time. Only in the second millennium BC, domestic cats appeared in Babylon, then in India, China and Japan. From Egypt, the cat on the ships of Phoenician merchants got to many parts of the Mediterranean, but until the beginning of the Commonwealth. NS. she was a rare and expensive beast.
The demand for cats began to fall sharply only with the spread of Christianity, which took them sharply negatively. If in the era of early Christianity cats could still live in monasteries (in a number of women's monasteries they were generally the only animals that were allowed to keep), then later cats (especially black ones) began to be perceived as accomplices of witches, sorcerers and the devil personally. Innocent animals became victims of the Inquisition, they were hanged and burned as heretics. On all Christian holidays, the unfortunate animals were burned alive and buried in the ground, roasted on iron rods and in cages with ceremonial ceremonies in front of crowds of believers. In Flanders, in the city of Ypern, Wednesday in the second week of Lent was called "feline" - on this day, cats were thrown from a high tower. The custom was introduced by Count Baldwin of Flanders in the 10th century and lasted until 1868.
European cats would have inevitably been exterminated, but they were saved by the invasion of rats, which brought with them the "black death" - the plague, and the cats found a worthy use for themselves, and then the respect of their owners.
Egg & Feather Suppliers
The "peers" of cats - by the time of domestication - are geese... Geese were the first to be domesticated among birds: the wild gray species in Europe, the Nile in North Africa, and the Siberian-Chinese in China. Found drawings of the Nile goose, bred in Egypt in the 11th millennium BC. NS.
Chickens as poultry first appeared in South Asia. Their wild ancestor was a bank rooster. Chickens were bred for both eggs and meat, and for fights. Themistocles, going to the war with the Persians, included cockfighting in the training program so that the soldiers, looking at the birds, learned from them fortitude and courage. The Gauls people got their name from the bold, cocky birds.
Does the buffalo give a lot of milk?
Buffalo- the most valuable domestic animals in the countries of Southeast Asia - were domesticated 9 thousand years ago. Surprisingly unpretentious in food, tireless in work and immune to many diseases that are destructive to other livestock, with the conquests of Islam, they were brought by the Arabs to Southwest Asia and North Africa, from Egypt to East. The Arabs brought buffaloes to Sicily and northern Italy, and the Turks to the Balkans.
8.5 thousand years ago was domesticated cow... This happened, according to various versions, on the territory of modern Turkey, in Spain, South Asia ... Her wild ancestor Tur was exterminated in the Middle Ages, and the cow, which had spread throughout the world in antiquity, was everywhere and was elevated to the rank of a sacred animal. This status is still maintained in many Indian religious schools and in Africa. Sacred winged bulls, carved from stone, adorned the temples of Assyria and Persia. In Egypt, the bull Apis was the earthly embodiment of the patron god of Memphis, Ptah. In Crete, the birthplace of the bull-headed minotaur, bulls participated in the famous bull games - circus performances with a religious background. And it's not for nothing that one of the epithets of the goddess Hera is "hair-eyed" ...
Buffaloes and bulls were widely used not only as sources of milk, meat, skins, but also as draft animals. They dragged heavy carts and rallies behind them, helping man to farm.
Their counterpart in South America has become lama and alpaca, tamed five to seven thousand years ago in Peru. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, llamas were the only transport animals among the Indians. On mountain roads, a llama can carry a load of 50-60 kilograms, which is quite a lot, considering that she herself weighs about a hundred. Alpacas are bred for the sake of fine wool.
Acorn lovers
9000 years ago in China and Southeast Asia were domesticated pigs bred for meat and skins. Somewhat later, their images appear on the frescoes of Ancient Egypt. Pigs of those times are not similar to the usual pigs, but to the modern wild boars: wiry, mobile, very thin by modern standards.
In Europe, pigs were grazed on peculiar lands - in oak groves. These artiodactyls love to feast on acorns, although they are able to digest almost any organic food.
Eternally hungry pigs were the source of misfortune in medieval cities. Their common crime is infanticide. They were treated like criminals - they were arrested, kept in a city prison on a par with people, tried, sentenced to be hanged ... And the piglet children were confiscated in favor of the court.
Perhaps the most famous history of antiquity, to which, although clearly against its will, a sheep was involved - the sailing of the Argonauts for the golden fleece. This treasure of King Eet was kept in Colchis (Caucasus), in the sacred grove of Ares. Scientists have not come to an unambiguous conclusion what exactly was the golden fleece. There are at least two plausible versions:
1) that the Argonauts actually swam after fine-fleeced sheep, which at that time were not in Greece, but were in Georgia;
2) that the fleece was indeed gold. In the gold-bearing rivers, the precious metal was mined in this way: they put sheep's skin on the bottom, and the wool retained the heavier particles of gold. If this happened long enough, the hide really acquired a fair amount of monetary value.
Hoofbeats
The first foci of domestication horses emerged in 4 thousand years BC. NS. Presumably, two types of wild horses were domesticated: small, broad-browed steppe horses, vaguely similar to tarpans (wild European horses that died out in the Middle Ages), and larger forest horses, with a narrow forehead, a long facial part of the head and thin limbs. Domestic horses have long retained the traits of wild ancestors. The peoples of the Ancient East were the first to improve horses. In the VII-VI centuries. BC NS. The best in the world were the non-sean horses of the Persian kingdom. The regions adjacent to the Caspian Sea were famous for horse breeding. At the end of the first millennium BC. NS. the glory of nonsean horses was inherited by the horses of the Parthian kingdom, which was formed on the site of the northern provinces of Persia and Bactria. Parthian horses of golden-red color were stately and for those times high (one and a half meters), they became the coveted military prey of any state.
In those days, horse breeding in the forest belt of Eastern Europe was completely different - here horses were used mainly for meat, their height was only 120-130 cm.
In the XVII century BC. NS. chariots appeared. Thanks to them, the Hyksos, alien tribes, conquered Egypt for a long time. Much later, cavalry appeared - armed horsemen in large military formations (there were individual riders much earlier), this happened at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. NS. among the Assyrians. It is interesting that at first the equestrian warrior, as well as in chariots, had a charioteer-ruling: in battle he controlled two horses (his own and his warrior's), while the fighter had both hands free for shooting and throwing darts.
The African wild donkey was domesticated 5-6 thousand years ago. Domestic donkeys have long been the main transport animals, especially in those countries where horses were not known or for some reason the use of donkeys was preferable. A donkey's hooves are much stronger than those of a horse, and they do not need horseshoes even on rocky and uneven mountain soil. Donkeys have been widely used as mounts and pack animals for many millennia, they were used in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and even in battles. So, the Persian king Darius once, with the help of donkeys, dispersed the army of the Scythians, who had never seen these animals and were frightened.
In Europe and Asia, strong, tall breeds of domestic donkeys were bred, such as the Khomad ones in Iran, the Catalan ones in Spain, and the Bukhara ones in Central Asia. In Greece, the donkey was dedicated to the god of winemaking Dionysius and entered his drunken retinue along with the Silens and satyrs.
Hunting and postage services
Originating about five thousand years ago in India, falcon hunting quickly conquered the world, and the "sport of kings" flourished in the early Middle Ages. In Europe, falconry was widespread: it was a hobby of both feudal lords and commoners. There was a special table of ranks, prescribing to whom and with what bird to hunt. In England, stealing or killing someone else's falcon was punishable by death.
Genghis Khan's hunts were enormous and majestic, with the participation of hundreds of birds and thousands of dogs. Many hundreds of birds were kept under Ivan the Terrible - they even took the road tax from merchants with pigeons for falcons.
Actually pigeons man domesticated 6.5 thousand years ago (in Mesopotamia). Pigeons were often depicted in Assyrian bas-reliefs. In many countries, pigeons were sacred animals dedicated to the goddesses of love - Astarte, Aphrodite. In ancient Rome, in special rooms- columbariums pigeons were bred for meat. Pliny the Elder wrote that his contemporaries were "obsessed with roast pigeons." But the main purpose of the pigeon is different. This is the only bird that faithfully serves as air mail, thanks to its ability to find a way to home.
In extreme conditions
5000-6000 years ago domesticated camels: in Arabia - one-humped (dromedary), in Central and Central Asia - two-humped (Bactrian). A statuette of a loaded dromedary was found in Egypt, which is more than 5000 years old. Apparently, drawings of the same age depicting one-humped camels on the rocks of Aswan and Sinai. In the literature, both camels have been mentioned since 700-600 BC. NS. Herodotus wrote a lot about camels in connection with the great importance of these animals for wars. "Ships of the Desert" were famous for their ability to go without food and water for a long time.
The north was not left without pets either. Two to three thousand years ago in Chukotka was born reindeer husbandry... In the rather poor world of the tundra, the deer has become a real salvation for the northern peoples. The carcass of the animal was used in its entirety, and not just meat and skin. Everything went for food, including young horns, tendons, bone marrow and larvae of the subcutaneous gadfly!
The same salvation in the mountains, steppes and semi-deserts of Tibet became yak, tamed in the first millennium BC. NS. From fatty - twice as fat as cow's milk, in addition to ordinary butter and cheese, special cottage cheese is made, which does not spoil for a long time and weighs almost nothing (which is very convenient for travelers). The wool and skin of yaks saves from the cold, and dried manure was often the only fuel available in the mountains.
Winged six-legged
A little later - according to various estimates, from 2300 to 5000 years ago - people began to domesticate bees... The oldest image of a bee was found in the Aran cave (Spain) - a picture of the Paleolithic period more than 15 thousand years old. The systematic breeding of bees was begun by the ancient Egyptians, and in Egypt beekeeping was nomadic: hives on rafts, as the honey plants bloomed in the northern provinces of Egypt, slowly moved down the Nile.
From the second millennium BC in Assyria there was a custom to cover the bodies of the dead with wax and immerse them in honey. The custom lasted a long time - until Alexander the Great, whose body was also transported in a coffin, filled to the brim with honey, to the place of his burial in Egypt.
Judging by the frequency of references in the literature, bees were one of the most popular animals in antiquity: King Solomon and Democritus, Aristotle and Virgil, Aristophanes and Xenophon wrote about them. In 950, by order of Emperor Constantine VII, an encyclopedia of beekeeping - "Geoponics" was compiled. Honey was practically the only raw material for making sweet dishes until the middle of the Middle Ages, and wax was used to make candles.
At the opposite end of Eurasia, another insect, the butterfly, was used. silkworm... The first mention of silk is found in an ancient Chinese manuscript c. 2600 BC NS. For more than twenty centuries, the Chinese maintained a monopoly on silk production. According to legend, the first successful attempt to smuggle caterpillar cocoons was made in the 4th century. n. NS. one Chinese princess who married the king of Bukhara Minor and brought him silkworm eggs hidden in her hair as a gift. It was not possible to breed silkworms outside of China.
The second smuggling was more successful in 552, when two monks carried cocoons in staffs and presented them to Emperor Justinian. From that time on, silkworm breeding began to develop outside of China. True, then for some time it died out, but was revived after the Arab conquests.
Cabbage eaters
A rabbit began to domesticate back in ancient Rome - there the animals were kept in special pens- leporaria. As everyone knows, the rabbit is "not only valuable fur." The Romans began to feed them for meat (gourmets especially loved rabbit embryos and newborn rabbits). Rabbits were also appreciated in medieval Europe - for example, in England at the beginning of the XIV century. a rabbit was worth as much as a pig.
And already in ancient times, the rabbit began to cause a lot of trouble. On the Balearic archipelago, from a couple of rabbits released into the wild, so numerous offspring occurred that the locals began to ask Emperor Augustus to help them cope with the misfortune and send soldiers to fight the voracious animals. Judging by Australia, "eaten" by rabbits already in modern times, this story has not taught anyone anything.
Each creature has a pair
Several thousand years BC. BC domestication began in the New World guinea pigs... It is likely that these animals, in search of protection and warmth, themselves came to the human dwelling. Among the Incas, pigs were sacrificial animals, which they brought as a gift to the sun god, and also ate on holidays. Pigs with variegated brown or white color were especially popular. They were brought to Europe in the 16th century. They are now called "sea" rather by mistake - it is much more correct to call them "overseas".
Ostrich, for the sake of feathers and eggs, were domesticated five thousand years ago by the ancient Egyptians. The birds were kept in herds and guarded. Young animals were tamed, which after reaching adulthood were periodically plucked. Ostriches were also domesticated in eastern Sudan, where they were kept with herds of cattle and camels.
In ancient Egypt, they began to breed and guinea fowl... For a long time, guinea fowls in Greece and Rome were only sacrificial birds. This continued until the emperor Caligula, who decreed: as a sign of "divine greatness" to sacrifice the guinea fowl to him - that is, to the table.
In the V century. n. NS. from the wild carp was bred carp... In Europe, carp were bred mainly in monastery ponds. The first mention of them is in the orders sent by the Minister Cassiodorus to the governors of the provinces: the minister demanded that carps be regularly supplied to the table of King Theodoric (456-526).
Since ancient times, there have been such pets, whose functions were reduced to purely decorative. In the X century. BC NS. in China, various breeds were bred from carp goldfish which quickly spread to Japan and Indonesia. And in the Middle Ages (XV century) was domesticated canary.
Today we can hardly imagine as pets such as blackbirds, partridge, swans, storks, cranes, pelicans- in Egypt they were fattened for meat and used as layers. For the sake of meat they bred and hyenas(!), they were also used as guard animals. In ancient rome sleepyhead(small rodents) were kept in special pots ( lobes), where they were fed with nuts. Their meat was prized as a great delicacy. It has long been the custom at feasts to put scales on the table, weigh dormouse on them in the presence of a notary and enter its weight in the protocol. Serving the most well-fed sleepyheads was a matter of prestige and pride for the rich. And in ancient Roman ponds, to the delight of gourmets, they bred moray eels.
In the Ancient East leopards and lions were kept as sacred and sacrificial animals (and also for the sake of the prestige of the ruler). They even hunted with lions, although they were much more popular as hunters. cheetahs... In some places with them, as well as with tamed much later - 1000-2000 years ago - caracals(large wild cats) hunt now.
The use of tamed cormorants- in China and Japan they are used as "live fishing rods": an iron ring is put on the bird's neck, which does not allow swallowing fish, after which the cormorant is released for fishing.
In the last two centuries, attempts have been made to domesticate several more animals: moose, musk ox, antelope; as well as decorative animals - Syrian hamsters and many aquarium fish.
Since cats were rare in antiquity, the service of a catcher of mice was carried out by tamed ferrets and caress, and in Ancient Egypt - also a well-known exterminator of snakes, a relative of the mongooses ichneumon ("Pharaoh's mouse" - see the picture). The albinistic form of the black ferret has been known since antiquity - furo(he, and not at all an ermine, is depicted in the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Lady with an ermine"). It was bred 2500-2000 years ago in southern Europe and for a long time replaced the cat, and was also used for hunting rabbits. At the end of the IV century. n. NS. the Roman writer Palladius advised replacing the domestic ferret with a cat in the fight against mice and moles ("pests of artichokes"), but the charming representatives of the weasel are still pets, although they are much less common than cats.
* * *
Humanity would have developed differently if its path did not intersect with the roads of smaller brothers. Would people be able to survive and create a modern culture without the participation of dogs, cows, horses, sheep? Even the absence on Earth of such a simple species of insects as bees would greatly change the way of life in the Middle Ages.
Domestication animals are the most important condition in the development of civilization, and if you ever begin to create your own fantastic or fairy-tale world, your peoples and countries - do not forget about the faithful friends of intelligent creatures, about domestic animals.
