domestication
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.5|Dogs and [[sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated, at least 15,000 and 11,000 years ago respectively.]] thumb|upright=1.5|Rice was domesticated in China, some 9,000 years ago.
AI overview
Domestication is the process by which humans selectively breed wild animals and plants over many generations, changing them to be more useful and manageable for human purposes. This practice began thousands of years ago—for example, dogs and sheep were domesticated at least 15,000 and 11,000 years ago respectively, and rice was domesticated in China around 9,000 years ago—making it one of humanity's most important developments for creating stable food sources and working relationships with other species.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
24 sectionsContents
- Definitions
- Cause and timing
- Animals
- Desirable traits
- Mammals
- Birds
- Invertebrates
- Plants
- Differences from wild plants
- Changes to plant genome
- Impact on plant microbiome
- Fungi
- Effects
- On domestic animals and pathogens
- On society
- On diversity
- Domestication by insects
- Ambrosia beetles
- Leafcutter ants
- Fungus-growing termites
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
thumb|upright=1.5|Dogs and [[sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated, at least 15,000 and 11,000 years ago respectively.]] thumb|upright=1.5|Rice was domesticated in China, some 9,000 years ago.
Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of resources, such as meat, milk, or labor. The process is gradual and geographically diffuse, based on trial and error. Domestication affects genes for behavior in animals, making them less aggressive. In plants, domestication affects genes for morphology, such as increasing seed size and stopping the shattering of cereal seedheads. Such changes both make domesticated organisms easier to handle and reduce their ability to survive in the wild.