Domesticated animals are animals that have been selectively bred and genetically adapted over generations to live alongside humans. They are genetically distinct from their wild ancestors or cousins.
Most of the domestic animals familiar to us today were domesticated not long after people began farming and living in permanent settlements, between 8000 and 2500 BC. Wolves were the first animal to be domesticated, sometime between 33,000 and 11,000 years ago. After domesticated dogs came the domestication of livestock animals, such as sheep, cows, and pigs are thought to have been some of the first animals to become domesticated by humans. This was around the same time that humanity shifted from a hunter-gathering lifestyle to an agricultural society.
In most cases wild animals have to adapt to human-made conditions, artificial environments and captivity during domestication. This results in long-term genetic changes and finally in the evolution of the domestic phenotype.
Domestication has resulted in the appearance of agriculture as a special form of animal and plant production. Domesticated animals such as livestock play a critical role in diversified farming systems, both because they or their products become food and because they cycle nutrients through the farm. Wild animals can help to manage pest populations and contribute to biodiversity.
Domestication of animals
