1.3.2 Domestication of other species (2024)

The symbiotic relationship, such as between human and the ancestors of the dog, most likely is quite unique for dogs. Other types of animals may have been domesticated more forcefully. They were captured and put in an enclosure or tied up, at least during the night, and were only allowed out to graze or scavenge under supervision of a herdsman. Only those animals that were not aggressive, but also not too shy, managed to adapt to these new circumstances. So (mainly natural) selective breeding also in these cases was on temperament. In the table you will find a list of domestic animals with their ancestors and the approximate time and location of domestication. This is approximate, because especially for ancient times it is difficult to make an accurate estimate.

List of domesticated animals in early times

Species	Ancestor	Area	Time (years ago)
dog	grey wolf	Eurasia	~30000*
cattle, taurine	aurochs	West Asia E. Africa	10000-8000 7500-6500
pig	wild boar	West Asia East Asia	10000-9000 8500-6000
sheep	Asian mouflon	West Asia	10000-8000
goat	bezoar	West Asia	10000-8000
cattle, zebu	aurochs	South Asia	8000-6250
llama	guanaco	Andes	6000-4000
horse	forest horse	Central Asia	5500-4000
donkey	Numibian wild ass	North-East Africa	5500-3500
alpaca	vicuña	Andes	5000-3000
domestic silkmoth	wild silkmoth	East Asia	5000
guinea pig	Montane guinea pig	Andes	5000-4000
western honey bee	western honey bee	Mediterranean basin, East Asia	4500 2000
water buffalo (river type)	wild water buffalo	South Asia	4500
yak	wild yak	Central Asia	4500
domestic bactrian camel	wild bactrian camel	Central Asia	4500
chicken	red junglefowl	South Asia (Southeast Asia)	4000**
cat	African wildcat	West Asia	4000
domestic pigeon	rock pigeon	Mediterranean basin	3000
domestic dromedary camel	Wild dromedary camel	Arabia	3000
duck	mallard duck	East Asia Europe	2500 1000
domestic goose	greylag goose swan goose	Europe East Asia	2500 2500
domestic turkey	wild turkey	North America	2000
domestic guinea fowl	helmeted guinea fowl	Africa	1500
reindeer	reindeer	North Eurasia	1500-500
domestic rabbit	European rabbit	Europe	750
Domestication of dogs before 16 000 years ago is contested * Domestication ~8000 years ago has been suggested. Source: Miika Tapio and Saber Qanbari, 2017. Genomic diversity in the domestication process. Chapter 3 in Genomic management of animal genetic diversity. Wageningen Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. ISBN: 978-90-8686-297-9.

This figure shows that the areas of domestication are not equally spread over the globe. After domestication the animals followed mankind in its travels and it settling around the world.