I promise I'll feed it and walk it! Please, Mom?

You have likely had a pet at some point. You have also likely noticed that as a human, you instinctively get attached to animals. If you never cried at Where the Red Fern Grows, Bambi, or Old Yeller, you clearly have no soul.


I still remember all the pets I've had, even ones we only kept temporarily: Sandy the Labrador, Sadie the poodle, Herman & Henrietta, Franklin & Betty, and Bonnie & Clyde, all hermit crabs, Huckleberry Fin, the betta fish, and Tutti-Frutti the turtle.


This post was inspired by the slit-your-wrists-depressing ASPCA commercials. I promise this post will be more upbeat.



The dog is called "man's best friend" for a reason. We've genetically engineered it to be just that. First domesticated in Eurasia sometime between 30.000 and 15.000 BC, our modern pooches are descendants of the grey wolf. In breeds like the German Shepherd or Malamute the relation is obvious. Other breeds look like more distant cousins, though for all their differences there is only one species of dogs. Dogs were originally domesticated for meat.



Sheep are my favorite farm animal. I've heard they're extremely stupid, but they're ridiculously cute. The sheep was domesticated between 11.000 and 9000 BC in Southwest Asia. Its wild ancestor is the mouflon, shown above left. Sheep were originally bred for their wool.



Pigs are also amazingly cute. At least the tiny ones are. They were domesticated around 9000 BC in China or the Near East. Their ancestor is the wild boar and were domesticated for meat. They have also been used for leather, research, show, racing, fighting, hunting truffles, and pets.



Goats are cranky, in my experience, but they've been domesticated since about 8000 BC. Ancient Iranians first used the animal for milk, meat, fiber, working, skin, hair (cashmere and angora!), show, racing, religion, fighting, cleaning, and as pets.



Cows are descended from a now extinct creature called the aurochs. They were domesticated in Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The aurochs was slightly larger, but otherwise looked quite similar. It went extinct in 1627, when the last known specimen, a female died in Poland. Cows were domesticated and used for meat, milk, leather, working, vellum, plowing, draft, blood, transport, fertilizer, fighting & sport, show, companionship, and religion. The aurochs can be seen featured prominently in prehistoric cave art, most famously the caves at Lascaux, France.



Zebus are sometimes called Brahmin cattle because of their revered status in the Hindu religion. They are closely related to "regular" cattle and share a common ancestor, the aurochs. It was domesticated around 8000 BC in India, but developed independent of domestic cattle in other parts of the world. 



Cats were domesticated in the Near East around 7500 BC. Their wild ancestor is the wildcat. Shocking. Originally they were used to catch vermin.



Chickens were domesticated in around 6000 BC, in India and SE Asia. They are descended from the red jungle fowl and were originally bred for their eggs and meat.



Guinea pigs were domesticated in Peru around 5000 BC, and were originally used for meat. Their wild ancestor is the Montane guinea pig. These poor little buggers have been used as scientific test subjects since the 17th century, hence the practice of referring to someone in an untested situation as a "guinea pig."



Donkeys were first domesticated in around 5000 BC in Egypt. They are descended from the African wild ass and were bred primarily for transportation.


Can't you just see a little cave child begging his cave parents for a dog? "Please, Ma? I'll keep him away from the small children and feed him and water him and play with him, I promise! And if I don't, we can eat him, okay Ma? PLEASE?! Pretty please with bison on top?!"


Until next time,
Callie R.