Domestication

Domestication is a change that happens in wild animals or plants, when they are kept by humans for a long time. The Latin term literally means "to make it suitable for home".

If humans take wild animals and plants and keep and breed them, over time the animals and plants may change. The animals and plants become dependent on the humans who keep them, and they change in ways that are better for human use. This change (domestication) happens by humans choosing which animals will breed the next generation. Biologists call this method artificial selection.

The first domestication of plants happened during the first use of agriculture. Humans first domesticated dogs. In the Neolithic revolution, people domesticated sheep and goats, and later cattle and pigs.

Domesticated plants are crops or ornamental plants. People use domesticated animals as livestock, that is for food, clothing, and work. Otherwise, the domesticated animals may be kept as pets.