Ever since animals have been domesticated, they have been very instrumental in providing humans with a plethora of benefits in multiple areas such as agriculture, medicine, and industry (Transgenic Animals). Today, animals and their products are used for almost everything from food to clothing to products we use on an everyday basis. Some argue that animals should not be used as much as they are being utilized; however the use of domesticated animals propelled humans from a nomadic species to a more civilized people. The domestication of animals was a keynote of the beginning of agriculture as a whole, which lead to industrialization and progression as human beings. Domesticated animals play a foremost role in our society today as well as in the future.
Domesticated animals, such as livestock and poultry, are significant in the everyday lives of people across the world. In developing countries, they play a key role as laborers to farmers for whom buying an expensive tractor or sprayer is not financially viable (The Importance of Livestock). From a nutritional standpoint, “animal source foods can provide a variety of micronutrients that are difficult to obtain in adequate quantities from plant source foods alone” (Allen and Murphy 3932S). Thus, animals are a “link” in nutrient cycles because they are able to eat plants and give us not only some of the plant nutrients, which we would normally not be able to take advantage of on our own, but also they give us their own animal nutrients (The Importance of Livestock). Foods from an animal source also provide higher micronutrient levels with less consumption than foods from plants can (Allen and Murphy 3933S). Animals also return some nutrients back to the soil through defecation or d...
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Kato, Tasuku, Hisao Kuroda, and Hideo Nakasone. "Runoff Characteristics of Nutrients from an Agricultural Watershed with Intensive Livestock Production." Journal of Hydrology 368.1-4 (2009): 79-87. Web.
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"Transgenic Animals: Their Benefits To Human Welfare." Actionbioscience. N.p., 2003. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
CAFO’s are beneficial in that they can provide a low-cost source of meat, milk and eggs due to efficient feeding and hosing methods of the animals, as well as boost the local economy by providing jobs. Unfortunately the negatives of CAFO’s outweigh the benefits immensely.
Kellems, Richard O., and D. C. Church. Livestock Feeds and Feeding. 6th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Rail, Kevin. "Nutritional Values of Venison vs. Beef." Healthy Eating. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr.
In chapter 4 of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses the benefits of animal domestication and herding over a hunter-gatherer society. The 4 most, and best, domesticated animals are cows, sheep, goats, and pigs. Cows, sheeps, and goats all produce milk, and all 4 produce meat. Also, leather can be made from certain pelts. Manure from the animals can be used on plants to increase quality and quantity of food production. The increased availability in calories allows for lower hunger and the ability to support a larger population. Also, exposure to animal-based germs allows for a build up in the immune system, which later helps prevent
Henning, B. (2011). Standing in Livestock's ''Long Shadow'': The Ethics of Eating Meat on a
Over thousands of years, humans have domesticated animals for various reasons. Among these domesticated species companion animals hold multiple questions, from why do humans have companion animals to how certain desired behavioral traits developed. When observing closely related species or species with a common ancestor one can clearly see the difference along with similarities among a variety of traits. Behavior, just like any other trait, can also be observed and related to closely related species or species with common ancestors. The main focus of this research is to understand these similarities and differences among closely related species or species with a common ancestor at a genetic level. The connection between genetics and behavior
"The Nutrition of Red Meat." Healthy Eating. Internet Brands, Inc, 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Pimentel, David. “U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat, Cornell ecologist advises animal scientists” Cornell Chronicle. Cornell University. 7 Aug. 1997. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Domestication is the taming of an organism to convert it to domestic use. Domestication however differs from taming in a sense that with domestication, both the behaviour and the physical characteristics of an organism can change. Domesticated organisms live in close contact with humans, mainly because they are beneficial to them. This means that some organisms are better equipped to survive than others and those with the favourable traits survive to reproduce and a population of organisms with favourable traits is apparent.
Pimentel, David, and Marcia Pimentel. "Sustainability of Meat-based and Plant-based Diets and the Environment." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Sept. 2003. Web. 2 May 2016.
“Currently 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used directly or indirectly for animal production. In the US over half the total land mass is used for the production of meat and dairy products” (Clarke).
Animal welfare is a fairly recent, yet troubling argument in society. This subject is a strong argument on a variety of opinions. Animal welfare has become a major issue and has grown internationally. The human concern and the safety and rights of animals is the meaning of the concept of animal welfare. Through decades of animal welfare, people fight to prevent the action of animal cruelty and bring help towards animal rights.
The domestication of animals does relieve some of the pressure that was put on wild animals because that was the only food source available to get meat from
Human beings, ever since its creation has never been alone on the earth. As we all know we share this planet with lots of different species of living creatures, such as animals, and plants. But even though we name ourselves the superior species due to our ability to think, make decisions and choose how we want to live our lives, we start to grow. Our growth ranges among many different aspects, such as infrastructure and lifestyle. This led to us somehow neglecting the fact that we are not alone in this planet. We start pushing other species out of the way, and we sometimes don’t realize that the impact felt by those other species has terrible and sometimes deadly consequences, and also we sometimes fail to understand that it can also cause harm to us.
Animals can be perceived in many different ways. While some humans consider animals to be mindless machines programmed with instinct, others view them as spiritual creatures capable of coherent thought and emotions. I feel that animals are somewhere in the middle. Although they rely heavily on instinct, the ability to feel emotions shows that their mental capacity is not far from that of a human.