Chapter Nine shows how crops and livestock came in prehistoric times to be domesticated from ancestral wild plants and animals, by societies who could have had no vision of the outcome.
Geographic differences in the local suites of wild plants and animals available for domestication go a long way toward explaining why only a few areas became independent centers of food production, and why it arose earlier in some of those areas than in others.
Jared Diamond discusses how successfully domesticated animal species, like the happy families of Anna Karenina, are all alike in that all requirements--not just some--must be satisfied.
Anna Karenina principle applies to animals in that one reason many could not be domesticated would disqualify
…show more content…
Efforts to domesticate the eland, elk, moose, musk ox, zebra, and bison have met with limited success.
Only fourteen large animals have been domesticated: sheep, goat, cow, pig, horse, Arabian camel, Bactrian camel, llama and alpaca, donkey, reindeer, water buffalo, yak, Bali cattle, and Mithan (gayal, domesticated Gaur).
You will find that this chapter is less concerned with small animals such as guinea pigs and birds, which do not provide transportation, military uses, or load carrying.
The requirements for domestication are:
(1) omnivore or herbivore (exception: dog),
(2) rapid growth (elephants too slow),
(3) breed well in captivity (cheetahs need more room, vicuña's long mating rituals are inhibited),
(4) suitable disposition (grizzly bear, hippo, onager, zebra, and African buffalo cannot be