Pet animals

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Pets are animal species that have emerged from wildlife species by domestication. They are bred by humans for their usefulness (such as as farm animals or for scientific purposes) or for pleasure (as pets).

Domestication

Animals were kept separate from their wild counterparts in order to obtain animal raw materials and food products more easily and sustainably than is possible through hunting. Later, the animals were also domesticated because of their pulling and carrying capacity. Breeding for pleasure has its beginnings in the 1st century. In the 20th century, the use as an experimental animal was added as another reason for breeding (see animal experiment).

In animal breeding, the physical characteristics of the animals are greatly altered. Some typical abilities of the wild animal have been bred or lost, while other abilities have been enhanced or reshaped by breeding. Pets are often so different from the parent species that they are placed in their own species or subspecies. Many pets have lost the ability to survive in the wild. Others, such as the domestic cat, can easily adapt to a way of life independent of humans.

Wild animals caught and kept by humans for use, such as working elephants, ornamental fish and pickling birds, are not domestic animals in this sense because they have not been bred.

The longest history as a pet has the dog, whose domestication dates back at least to the time after the Pleistocene about 13,000 BC; However, there is evidence that has been interpreted as suggesting that it succeeded as early as 100,000 years ago. However, this time span is questioned in recent studies, as it is based on pure projections of the molecular clock. (For more on this). Cats have been known as domesticated for at least 9,500 years. Bones of cats were found together with human bones from this period in Mesopotamia, Southeast Anatolia and Jordan, domestication can be shown for this period in Cyprus. The pet use of pig, cattle and sheep began about 8000 years BC in Near East Asia. From the 4th millennium BC, the pigeons were bred in Vorasien and the mulberry silk spinner in China. The breeding of the horse began around the 4th millennium BC in Eurasia. In China, from the 9th century goldfish are bred for decoration. Since the 19th century, the budgerigar has been bred. The breeding of rodents and flies for experimental purposes began in the 20th century.

Borderline cases
Animals must have certain physical and behavioural characteristics in order to be kept as domestic animals.
Since the beginning of pet husbandry, there have been repeated attempts to domesticate other species without a complete pet becoming.

Examples of this are various deer species (moose, deer, red deer). Total