Beast

Humans have been living side-by-side with beastly companions for thousands of years, going back to perhaps the very origins of the human species itself. The monumental depictions of animals such as bison, horses, aurochsen (wild cattle), and deer in prehistoric caves like those of Lascaux in France or Altamira in Spain certainly demonstrate early humans’ awe of and perhaps reverence for animals, as well as a close observation of their behaviors. Some of these animals, especially those orphaned at an early age, may have been tamed for a few generations. However, only a few species, such as the dog, cat, goat, sheep, pig, cow, and horse, proved amenable enough to be domesticated on a large scale down through the millennia, beginning with the Neolithic period in around 8000 B.c.e. It is thought that what impelled this new relationship with animals probably had something to do with climate change, as the advent of a more inhospitable environment restricted the availability of wild game and forced humans to hoard their food supplies in the form of livestock. A sudden growth spurt in human population may also have necessitated a more steady and reliable source of sustenance. Yet domestication is a labor-intensive enterprise that was probably not the first choice of hunter/gatherer societies as a particularly easy or nutritious way to get their next meal. Moreover, once started down the path of domestication, man has ever since been caught up in an interdependent, cooperative cycle with his fellow creatures that perhaps will eventually change the very course of evolution itself, as even beasts that are now seen as living independently off in the wild will also come to be more intimately entwined with human beings if they are not to become extinct. This view sees domestication as more a case of certain animals “self-selecting” themselves to be tamed by man as an evolutionary survival tactic rather than as a purely human invention. ¹