Our Animal Friends

The human race’s progress on the Earth has been due in part to the animals that people have been able to utilize throughout history. Such domesticated animals carry people and their burdens. They pull machinery and help cultivate fields. They provide food and clothing. As pets they may amuse or console their owners. Domesticated animals are those that have been bred in captivity for many generations. While a single animal may be tamed, only a species of animal can be considered domesticated. In the course of time, by selective breeding, certain animals have changed greatly in appearance and behaviour from their wild ancestors. There is a vast difference between the scrawny red jungle fowl of southern Asia and its descendant, the meaty, egg-laying farm chicken. Not all domestic animals are tame at all times. An angry bull, a mother goose, or a mother sow with young piglets can be vicious. Some creatures confined in zoos breed in captivity. The lion is an example. These animals are not domesticated, however, for they remain wild and dangerous.