Artificial Selection In Domestic Animals

Artificial selection and domestic animal production

Animals have been assisting humans for centuries. From uses as duty animals to the propose of consumption, our reliance on these organisms came to the point that we start selecting breeds that are more beneficial, or animals that fulfills our intentions. This process is call artificial selection. These animals include specific milking cows, duty dogs, and cross-bred domestic animal for entertainment. Most domesticates we have today are the survivors of artificial selection. In this essay the origin of breed selection and the production of domestic animal, the change throughout the history of artificial selection the benefits and the flaws will be discussed with examples. The close relationship

Ancient hunter-gatherers sought to find a stable source of food when they decided to live as a group in settlements, therefore they started to hold consumable organisms such as bulls and sheep in captivity for their source of food. In exchange they are sure to leave enough offspring of the farm animal in order to produce healthier decedents for the future (4). When farm animals are first introduced to settlements, they’re not only kept as food, but their dung can also manure the crops when human step into the age of agriculture. The first to known farm animals are sheep from 9000- 700 B.C in the Middle East (1). High proportion of discarded bones are found in a ancient settlement, and the breed they had were surprisingly similar compare to the ones we have today. Usually farmers and breeders only keep the ones that are healthy and strong in order to produce better offspring, therefore farm animals are not as much cross bred as domestic animals that are selected by their ability and

On one hand, we kept the bred of animal that suits our need and used scientific methods to repopulate near extinct animals, on the other hand we have been trying to breed new species for so long that a lot of known bred today are unsuitable for the natural environment at all. For example, Chiwawa, a breed of extremely miniature dogs that had been specifically designed to be really small, shares a common genetic disease for small dogs called Hypoglycemia. The size of the dog is so unnatural that it burns far more energy then it can intake, resulting in extreme low blood sugar (5). Another problem is that the female dog is so small that natural vaginal delivery can be fatal. A lot of dogs and cats kept their genetic diseases since once we get the breed we want, only that particular bloodline will be mass produced. These are all problems that have been caused by performing artificial selection over natural