Thursday, February 3, 2011

GUNS, GERMS, & STEAL day 3

Today in class we learned about how the Middle East domesticated animals. They first used the goat. The goats were used for their milk, their skins were used for clothes and warmth and their dung was used to fertilize the plants they grew. Goats and sheep were the first animals to be domesticated. There are 14 animals that have been domesticated by humans. Some of them are: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithuns,and Bali cattle. Some fish and birds have also been domesticated. A crucial requirement for domesticating animals are that  they need to get along  with humans. The best animals to use for farming are large plant eating animals. Before the industrial revolution horses, oxen, yak etc.. were the most powerful "machines" on the planet at this point in history. A horse or an ox could transform productivity of land. 
New Guinea never used plows cause they have animals to pull them. They just had pigs. Pigs don't give milk and cant be used for muscle power. In New Guinea the only muscle power they have are in humans. 









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