Domestication - Natalea Odell

Domestication

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035915/

The domestication of plants and animals is the primary reason our current life is the way it is. In regards to animals, domestication means to tame an animal as a pet or part of a farm. In relation to plants, it is to cultivate that seed, food, or flower. Domestication has been a topic of interest for a long, long time. It is how we obtain the cute friends we come home to and the huge, juicy strawberries we eat in the summertime. The National Library of Medicine writes, “Within the last two decades, the advent of new archaeological and genetic techniques has revolutionized our understanding of the pattern and process of domestication and agricultural origins that led to our modern way of life.” There are dozens of fields and subfields that continue to expand or study domestication. This article aims to find challenges we may face, as a society, in the future relating to domestication. 

When humans, or our ancestors, learned the skillful art of domestication, we were able to create more complex, stationary societies. This was accompanied by other innovations of course, such as fire. It is said, “The beginnings of plant and animal domestication related to food production began globally 12,000–11,000 y ago at the end of the most recent ice age and during the transition to the Present Interglacial Period.” However, it is important to note that we didn’t suddenly learn or have the idea to domesticate. This process took a very long time and was “driven by a mix of ecological, biological, and human cultural factors.” Domestication is not all thanks to humans, though. Other aspects such as natural selection, evolution, and niches play a role. Today, we can see “domestication syndrome”. It looks different for plants and animals. Plants usually have issues dispersing seeds, reduced chemical defenses, etc. Animals mostly have altered physical characteristics, such as floppy ears and smaller bodies. 

Research shows that we have dramatically and possibly permanently altered the world and the species around us. Is that good? Or bad? What will our future look like?  


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