Domestication of animals requires certain traits in the animal that antelope do not typically display. Most species are difficult to contain in any density, due to the territoriality of the males, or in the case of oryxes (which have a relatively hierarchical social structure), an aggressive disposition; they can easily kill a human. Because many have extremely good jumping abilities, providing adequate fencing is a challenge. Also, antelope will consistently display a fear response to perceived predators, such as humans, making them very difficult to herd or handle. Although antelope have diets and rapid growth rates highly suitable for domestication, this tendency to panic and their nonhierarchical social structure explains why farm-raised antelope are uncommon.
Domestication
Antelope
Antelope | Domestication
Antelope do not typically display traits required for domestication. Domestication of animals requires certain traits in the animal that antelope do not typically display. They don't exhibit traits of domestic animals. However, Ancient Egyptians kept herds of gazelles and addax for meat, and occasionally pets. It is unknown whether they were truly domesticated, Yes. Humans have had success taming certain species, such as the elands
what is massospondylus?
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Genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur
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who discovered this species?
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Joseph Millard Orpen
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where was it found?
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Upper Elliot Formation at Harrismith, South Africa
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what other historic species have been discovered in the country mentioned above?
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Hominid species; Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, etc.
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what are the different wars that have happened in this country?
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Boer Wars
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when did the first of these wars happen?
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16 December 1880 - 23 March 1881
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which events caused the outbreak of it?
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Violation of the Sand River Convention of 1852, and the Bloemfontein Convention of 1854, by the British.
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what are some animals found in the country mentioned previously?
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Lions, African leopards, South African cheetahs, etc.
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in which region is the second animal found?
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Most of sub-Saharan Africa
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what does it look like?
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They are pale yellow to deep gold, and is patterned with black rosettes while the head, lower limbs and belly are spotted with solid black.
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what animal does it feed on?
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Rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, etc.
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how long does the fourth animal live?
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It is difficult to determine how long antelope live in the wild.
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can this animal be domesticated?
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Some antelopes have been domesticated including the oryxes, addax, elands and the extinct bubal hartebeest. In Ancient Egypt oryxes, addaxes and bubal hartebeests are depicted in carved walls. The earliest evidence of cattle domestication is from 8000 BC, suggesting that the process began in Cyprus and the Euphrates basin.
Bovidae | Domesticated animals
Ancient Egyptians kept herds of gazelles and addax for meat, and occasionally pets. It is unknown whether they were truly domesticated, but it seems unlikely, as no domesticated gazelles exist today. However, humans have had success taming certain species, such as the elands. These antelope sometimes jump over each other's backs when alarmed, but this incongruous talent seems to be exploited only by wild members of the species; tame elands do not take advantage of it and can be enclosed within a very low fence. Their meat, milk, and hides are all of excellent quality, and experimental eland husbandry has been going on for some years in both Ukraine and Zimbabwe.
Antelope | Domestication
Domestication of animals requires certain traits in the animal that antelope do not typically display. Most species are difficult to contain in any density, due to the territoriality of the males, or in the case of oryxes (which have a relatively hierarchical social structure), an aggressive disposition; they can easily kill a human. Because many have extremely good jumping abilities, providing adequate fencing is a challenge. Also, antelope will consistently display a fear response to perceived predators, such as humans, making them very difficult to herd or handle. Although antelope have diets and rapid growth rates highly suitable for domestication, this tendency to panic and their nonhierarchical social structure explains why farm-raised antelope are uncommon.
Antelope | Domestication
In both locations, the animal has proved wholly amenable to domestication. Similarly, European visitors to Arabia reported "tame gazelles are very common in the Asiatic countries of which the species is a native; and the poetry of these countries abounds in allusions both to the beauty and the gentleness of the gazelle." Other antelope that have been tamed successfully include the gemsbok, the kudu, and the springbok. Nor are the characteristics described above necessarily barriers to domestication; for further information, see animal domestication.
Antelope | Domestication
It is difficult to determine how long antelope live in the wild. With the preference of predators towards old and infirm individuals, which can no longer sustain peak speeds, few wild prey-animals live as long as their biological potential. In captivity, wildebeest have lived beyond 20 years old, and impalas have reached their late teens.
Antelope | Lifespan
Breeding behaviour of the four-horned antelope has not been well studied. The age at which sexual maturity is gained is doubted; two captive females had their first parturition at less than two years. The breeding season in Panna National Park probably lasts from May to July, and from June to August in Mudumalai National Park. The male approaches the female in a relaxed gait, giving out low coughs. The two may kneel and push against each other with the necks intertwined. The male makes a few short mounting attempts; the female may be foraging all the while without any reaction.
Four-horned antelope | Reproduction
This implies that not all animals can be domesticated, e.g. a wild member of the horse family, the Zebra. Jared Diamond in his book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" enquired as to why, among the world's 148 large wild terrestrial herbivorous mammals, only 14 were domesticated, and proposed that their wild ancestors must have possessed six characteristics before they could be considered for domestication:
Domestication of animals | Behavioral preadaption
The same process may also apply to other domesticated animals.
Domestication | Mammals
Gestation lasts about eight months, followed by the birth of one or two calves. The newborn has a head-and-body length of , and weighs . Juveniles are kept concealed for the first few weeks of birth. Births in Mudumalai National Park peak from February to April. Juveniles remain with their mothers for about a year.
Four-horned antelope | Reproduction
The Neolithic transition led to agricultural societies emerging in locations across Eurasia, North Africa, and South and Central America. In the Fertile Crescent 10,000-11,000 years ago, zooarchaeology indicates that goats, pigs, sheep, and taurine cattle were the first livestock to be domesticated. Two thousand years later, humped zebu cattle were domesticated in what is today Baluchistan in Pakistan. In East Asia 8,000 years ago, pigs were domesticated from wild boar that were genetically different from those found in the Fertile Crescent. The horse was domesticated on the Central Asian steppe 5,500 years ago. Both the chicken in Southeast Asia and the cat in Egypt were domesticated 4,000 years ago.
Domestication of animals | Cause and timing
The two eland species are now semi-domesticated as their docile dispositions, large quantities of meat, and resilience in Africa's harsh environments has made them ideal alternatives to cattle in some parts in Africa. In a 2014 comparison between the quality of meat from common elands and cattle, it was found that the meat from male elands was low-fat and more beneficial for human nutritional health but it lacks the sensory texture and flavor that makes cattle meat so appealing to consumers. In addition to being on farm as exotic livestock, elands as well as the other species of spiral-horned antelope have also been brought to private game reserves across the planet (in particular parts in North America and Africa) for recreational hunting.
Tragelaphini | Domestication
Prey pathway animals include sheep, goats, cattle, water buffalo, yak, pig, reindeer, llama and alpaca. The right conditions for the domestication for some of them appear to have been in place in the central and eastern Fertile Crescent at the end of the Younger Dryas climatic downturn and the beginning of the Early Holocene about 11,700 YBP, and by 10,000 YBP people were preferentially killing young males of a variety of species and allowed the females to live in order to produce more offspring. By measuring the size, sex ratios, and mortality profiles of zooarchaeological specimens, archeologists have been able to document changes in the management strategies of hunted sheep, goats, pigs, and cows in the Fertile Crescent starting 11,700 YBP.
Domestication of animals | Prey pathway
Mating occurs throughout the year, but peaks in the wet season. Females reach sexual maturity at about two years, and males at four to five years. A female can remain in estrus for three days, and the estrous cycle is 21–26 days long. As in all antelopes, mating occurs at a time of food abundance. In some areas distinct breeding seasons exist. In southern Africa, females have been seen giving birth from August to October, and are joined by the males from late October to January. In Zambia calves are born in July and August. Fights occur for dominance, in which the bulls lock horns and try to twist the necks of their opponents.
Giant eland | Reproduction
Gestation lasts about eight months, following which one or two calves are born. They are kept concealed for the first few weeks of their birth. The young remain with the mother for about a year. Four-horned antelopes tend to inhabit areas with significant grass cover or heavy undergrowth, and avoid human settlements. Earlier common throughout deciduous forests in India, the antelope now occurs in widely disjunct, small populations. Most of the populations are in India, and lower numbers can be found in adjoining Nepal. The four-horned antelope is threatened by the loss of its natural habitat due to agricultural expansion.
Four-horned antelope | Introduction
A number of factors determine how quickly any changes may occur in a species, but there is not always a desire to improve a species from its wild form. Domestication is a gradual process, so there is no precise moment in the history of a given species when it can be considered to have become fully domesticated. Archaeozoology has identified three classes of animal domesticates: To sort the tables chronologically by date of domestication, refresh your browser window, as clicking the Date column heading will mix CE and BCE dates.
List of domesticated animals | Introduction
A black stripe marks the outer surface of each leg. Females have four teats far back on the abdomen. The hair feels coarse, more like that of a deer than the glossy hair typical of antelopes. The fetlocks are marked with white patches. One pair of horns is located between the ears, and the other on the forehead. The posterior horns are always longer than the anterior horns, which might be mere fur-covered studs. While the posterior horns each measures , the anterior ones measure . Horns emerge at 10 to 14 months. According to Groves, anterior horns show the poorest development in the subspecies "T.
Four-horned antelope | Description
Domestication was still a multi-generational adaptation to human selection pressures, including tameness, but without a suitable evolutionary response then domestication was not achieved. For example, despite the fact that hunters of the Near Eastern gazelle in the Epipaleolithic avoided culling reproductive females to promote population balance, neither gazelles nor zebras possessed the necessary prerequisites and were never domesticated. There is no clear evidence for the domestication of any herded prey animal originating in Africa.
Domestication of animals | Directed pathway
Some researchers do not consider an animal to be "domesticated" until it exhibits physical changes consistent with selective breeding, or at least having been born and raised entirely in captivity. Until that point, they classify captive animals as merely "tamed". Those who hold to this theory of domestication point to a change in skeletal measurements detected among horse bones recovered from middens dated about 2500 BCE in eastern Hungary in Bell-Beaker sites, and in later Bronze Age sites in the Russian steppes, Spain, and Eastern Europe. Horse bones from these contexts exhibited an increase in variability, thought to reflect the survival under human care of both larger and smaller individuals than appeared in the wild; and a decrease in average size, thought to reflect penning and restriction in diet.
Domestication of the horse | Skeletal indicators of domestication
The Neolithic transition led to agricultural societies emerging in locations across Eurasia, North Africa, and South and Central America. In the Fertile Crescent 10,000-11,000 years ago, zooarchaeology indicates that goats, pigs, sheep, and taurine cattle were the first livestock to be domesticated. Two thousand years later, humped zebu cattle were domesticated in what is today Baluchistan in Pakistan. In East Asia 8,000 years ago, pigs were domesticated from wild boar that were genetically different from those found in the Fertile Crescent. The horse was domesticated on the Central Asian steppe 5,500 years ago. Both the chicken in Southeast Asia and the cat in Egypt were domesticated 4,000 years ago.
Domestication | Cause and timing
Like other forest ungulates, bongos are seldom seen in large groups. Males, called bulls, tend to be solitary, while females with young live in groups of six to eight. Bongos have seldom been seen in herds of more than 20. Gestation is about 285 days (9.5 months), with one young per birth, and weaning occurs at six months. Sexual maturity is reached at 24–27 months. The preferred habitat of this species is so dense and difficult to operate in, that few Europeans or Americans observed this species until the 1960s. As young males mature and leave their maternal groups, they most often remain solitary, although rarely they join an older male.
Bongo (antelope) | Social organization and behavior
The biomass of wild vertebrates is now increasingly small compared to the biomass of domestic animals, with the calculated biomass of domestic cattle alone being greater than that of all wild mammals. Because the evolution of domestic animals is ongoing, the process of domestication has a beginning but not an end. Various criteria have been established to provide a definition of domestic animals, but all decisions about exactly when an animal can be labelled "domesticated" in the zoological sense are arbitrary, although potentially useful. Domestication is a fluid and nonlinear process that may start, stop, reverse, or go down unexpected paths with no clear or universal threshold that separates the wild from the domestic.
Domestication of animals | Universal features
The archaeological and genetic data suggests that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – including canids, donkeys, horses, New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. Bidirectional gene flow between domestic and wild reindeer continues today. The consequence of this introgression is that modern domestic populations can often appear to have much greater genomic affinity to wild populations that were never involved in the original domestication process. Therefore, it is proposed that the term "domestication" should be reserved solely for the initial process of domestication of a discrete population in time and space.
Domestication of animals | Post-domestication gene flow
This page gives a list of domestic animals, also including a list of animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simple predation. This includes species which are semi-domesticated, undomesticated but captive-bred on a commercial scale, or commonly wild-caught, at least occasionally captive-bred, and tameable. In order to be considered fully domesticated, most species have undergone significant genetic, behavioural and morphological changes from their wild ancestors, while others have changed very little from their wild ancestors despite hundreds or thousands of years of potential selective breeding.
List of domesticated animals | Introduction
In 1607, it was first used for living, cervine animals.
Antelope | Etymology
The rutting season lasts from November to December. Males form harems of up to 12 females, although one to four is more common, and drive off other males primarily by making displays or chasing them with head down, rather than sparring directly with their horns. Courtship and mating are both brief, without most of the behaviour typically seen in other antelope species, although males do commonly skim the thighs of females with a kick of their fore legs. Mothers give birth to a single calf in June or July, after a gestation period of about six months. The calves are precocial, being able to stand within 15 minutes of birth.
Tibetan antelope | Reproduction
Artiodactyls have been hunted by primitive humans for various reasons: for meat or fur, as well as to use their bones and teeth as weapons or tools. Their domestication began around 8000 BCE. To date, humans have domesticated goats, sheep, cattle, camels, llamas, alpacas, and pigs. Initially, livestock was used primarily for food, but they began being used for work activities around 3000 BCE. Clear evidence exists of antelope being used for food 2 million years ago in the Olduvai Gorge, part of the Great Rift Valley. Cro-Magnons relied heavily on reindeer for food, skins, tools, and weapons; with dropping temperatures and increased reindeer numbers at the end of the Pleistocene, they became the prey of choice.
Even-toed ungulate | Domestication
q. subquadricornutus". These horns measure nearly in "T. q. quadricornis", and nearly in "T. q. iodes". The posterior horn lengths for the subspecies recorded by him were: for "T. q. quadricornis", in "T. q. iodes" and in "T. q. subquadricornutus".
Four-horned antelope | Description
The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – including donkeys, horses, New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. Given its importance to humans and its value as a model of evolutionary and demographic change, domestication has attracted scientists from archaeology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, zoology, genetics, and the environmental sciences. Among birds, the major domestic species today is the chicken, important for meat and eggs, though economically valuable poultry include the turkey, guineafowl and numerous other species. Birds are also widely kept as cagebirds, from songbirds to parrots.
Domestication | Introduction
This not only helps to identify what the animal is, but also whether the animal was domesticated or not.
Zooarchaeology | Identification and Taxonomy
Due to the somewhat unclear outlines of what precisely constitutes domestication, there are some species that may or may not be fully domesticated. There are also species that are extensively used or kept as pets by humans, but are not significantly altered from wild-type animals. Most animals on this second table are at least somewhat altered from wild animals by their extensive interactions with humans, albeit not to the point that they are regarded as distinct forms (therefore no separate wild ancestors are noted). Many could not be released into the wild, or are in some way dependent on humans.
List of domesticated animals | Tame and partially domesticated animals
In the early 1900s, "antelope" was a very broad, ambiguous name given to most hollow-horned ruminants besides oxen, sheep, and goats. Of these antelopes found in Africa, Asia, and Europe, Africa has the most diverse populations of antelopes, with horn lengths ranging from six feet long, to a quarter of an inch. "A. b. caama", from the family Bovidae, used to be categorized as the subfamily of Bubalinae, but are now classified under the subfamily Alcelaphini. This youngest of all African bovid subfamilies dates back 5 million years ago, and has exhibited great diversification. The oldest fossil of "Alcelaphus" has been dated to 740,000 years ago.
Red hartebeest | Evolutionary history
The posterior horns are always longer than the anterior horns, which might be mere fur-covered studs. While the posterior horns measure , the anterior ones are long. The four-horned antelope is diurnal (active mainly during the day). Though solitary by nature, four-horned antelopes may form loose groups of three to five –with one or more adults, sometimes accompanied by juveniles. This elusive antelope feeds on grasses, herbs, shrubs, foliage, flowers and fruits. It needs to drink water frequently; as such it stays in places near water sources. The breeding behaviour of the four-horned antelope has not been well studied. The age at which they reach sexual maturity and the season when mating occurs have not been understood well.
Four-horned antelope | Introduction
The life span of a giant sable antelope is around 17 years.
Sable antelope | Reproduction
Antelope jackrabbits breed from December to September and the gestation period is roughly six weeks long. Females have up to four litters per year ranging from one to five individuals. A baby hare, called a leveret, is born precocial; its eyes are open, it is active, and covered with fur. Young are born in shallow dirt nests that are formed by scraping the surface of the ground.
Antelope jackrabbit | Reproduction
With some species possessing spectacular leaping and evasive skills, individuals may escape. Texas in particular has many game ranches, as well as habitats and climates, that are very hospitable to African and Asian plains antelope species. Accordingly, wild populations of blackbuck antelope, gemsbok, and nilgai may be found in Texas. Antelope live in a wide range of habitats. Numerically, most live in the African savannahs. However, many species are more secluded, such as the forest antelope, as well as the extreme cold-living saiga, the desert-adapted Arabian oryx, the rocky koppie-living klipspringer, and semiaquatic sitatunga.
Antelope | Distribution and habitat
The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – including donkeys, horses, New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. One study has concluded that human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted the homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars into pigs and created domestication islands in the genome. The same process may also apply to other domesticated animals.
Domestication of animals | Introduction
Meat, mainly from farmed animals, is a major source of dietary protein around the world, averaging about 8% of man's energy intake. The actual types eaten depend on local preferences, availability, cost and other factors, with cattle, sheep, pigs and goats being the main species involved. Cattle generally produce a single offspring annually which takes more than a year to mature; sheep and goats often have twins and these are ready for slaughter in less than a year; pigs are more prolific, producing more than one litter of up to about 11 piglets each year. Horses, donkeys, deer, buffalo, llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicunas are farmed for meat in various regions.
Animal husbandry | Meat
Goas have lived for up to five years and seven months in captivity.
Goa (antelope) | Reproduction
The domestication of livestock was driven by the need to have food on hand when hunting was unproductive. The desirable characteristics of a domestic animal are that it should be useful to the domesticator, should be able to thrive in his or her company, should breed freely, and be easy to tend. Domestication was not a single event, but a process repeated at various periods in different places. Sheep and goats were the animals that accompanied the nomads in the Middle East, while cattle and pigs were associated with more settled communities. The first wild animal to be domesticated was the dog.
Animal husbandry | Birth of husbandry
Feral mammals such as dogs, cats, goats, donkeys, pigs, and ferrets that have lived apart from humans for generations show no sign of regaining the brain mass of their wild progenitors. Dingos have lived apart from humans for thousands of years but still have the same brain size as that of a domestic dog. Feral dogs that actively avoid human contact are still dependent on human waste for survival and have not reverted to the self-sustaining behaviors of their wolf ancestors.
Domestication of animals | Limited reversion
However, there is disagreement over the definition of the term "domestication". One interpretation of "domestication" is that it must include physiological changes associated with being selectively bred in captivity, and not merely "tamed." It has been noted that traditional peoples worldwide (both hunter-gatherers and horticulturists) routinely tame individuals from wild species, typically by hand-rearing infants whose parents have been killed, and these animals are not necessarily "domesticated."
Domestication of the horse | Methods of domestication
Since 2012, a multi-stage model of animal domestication has been accepted by two groups. The first group proposed that animal domestication proceeded along a continuum of stages from anthropophily, commensalism, control in the wild, control of captive animals, extensive breeding, intensive breeding, and finally to pets in a slow, gradually intensifying relationship between humans and animals. The second group proposed that there were three major pathways that most animal domesticates followed into domestication: (1) commensals, adapted to a human niche (e.g., dogs, cats, fowl, possibly pigs); (2) prey animals sought for food (e.g., sheep, goats, cattle, water buffalo, yak, pig, reindeer, llama and alpaca); and (3) targeted animals for draft and nonfood resources (e.g., horse, donkey, camel).
Domestication of animals | Pathways
Thus, an animal bred in captivity is not necessarily domesticated; tigers, gorillas, and polar bears breed readily in captivity but are not domesticated. Asian elephants are wild animals that with taming manifest outward signs of domestication, yet their breeding is not human controlled and thus they are not true domesticates.
Tame animal | Taming versus domestication
Antelopes also can be polycerate, for example, the blue wildebeest ("Connochaetes taurinus"). Both sexes normally possess one pair of large curved horns.
Polycerate | Wildlife
Adult males of similar size/age tend to avoid one another. Occasionally, they meet and spar with their horns in a ritualised manner and it is rare for serious fights to take place. However, such fights are usually discouraged by visual displays, in which the males bulge their necks, roll their eyes, and hold their horns in a vertical position while slowly pacing back and forth in front of the other male. They seek out females only during mating time. When they are with a herd of females, males do not coerce them or try to restrict their movements as do some other antelopes.
Bongo (antelope) | Social organization and behavior
However, in southern populations, females have a brown to black coat. Calves less than two months old are a light tan and show faint markings. The underparts, cheek, and chin are all white, creating a great contrast with the dark back and flanks. Long, white hairs are present below the eyes, and a wide, black stripe runs over the nose. Both sexes have ringed horns which arch backwards. In females, these can reach , while in males they are long. The average lifespan of the sable antelope is 19 years in the wild and 22 years in captivity.
Sable antelope | Physical description
Whilst captive breeding programmes can be viewed as having been successful in ensuring survival of this species in Europe and North America, the situation in the wild has been less promising. Evidence exists of bongo surviving in Kenya. However, these populations are believed to be small, fragmented, and vulnerable to extinction. Animal populations with impoverished genetic diversity are inherently less able to adapt to changes in their environments (such as climate change, disease outbreaks, habitat change, etc.). The isolation of the four remaining small bongo populations, which themselves would appear to be in decline, means a substantial amount of genetic material is lost each generation.
Bongo (antelope) | Conservation
Most wild bovids live for 10 to 15 years. Larger species tend to live longer; for instance, American bison can live up to 25 years and gaur up to 30 years. The mean lifespan of domesticated individuals is nearly ten years. For example, domesticated goats have an average lifespan of 12 years. Usually males, mainly in polygynous species, have shorter lifespans than females. This can be attributed to several reasons: early dispersal of young males, aggressive male-male fights, vulnerability to predation (particularly when males are less agile, as in kudu), and malnutrition (being large in size, the male body has high nutritional requirements which may not be satisfied).
Bovidae | Lifespan
They are fully grown within 15 months, and reach sexual maturity during their second or third year. Although females may remain with their mothers until they themselves give birth, males leave within 12 months, by which time their horns are beginning to grow. Males determine status by their relative horn length, with the maximum length being achieved at around three and a half years of age. Although the lifespan of Tibetan antelopes is not known with certainty, since so few have been kept in captivity, it is probably around 10 years.
Tibetan antelope | Reproduction
Moreover, the unusual four-horned skull and the horns have been a popular target for trophy hunters. The four-horned antelope is classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Four-horned antelope | Introduction
Studies of DNA evidence suggests 10,000 years BP as the domestication date.
Goat | History
However, an animal merely bred in captivity is not necessarily domesticated. Tigers, gorillas, and polar bears breed readily in captivity but are not domesticated. Asian elephants are wild animals that with taming manifest outward signs of domestication, yet their breeding is not human controlled and thus they are not true domesticates.
Domestication of animals | Difference from taming
Densities of above 0.7 individuals per km have been considered as being healthy. Presently the four-horned antelope is confined to the Indian subcontinent, occurring widely in disjunct and small populations. The range in India covers a vast expanse, from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Most of the existing populations are in India, and lower numbers in adjoining Nepal.
Four-horned antelope | Habitat and distribution
Several antelopes and cattle carry signs of human appropriation, especially collars. But it is above all about thirty representations of rams which belong rather to the world of shepherds than of hunters, stretching "through a long period going all the way forward to an advanced stage of domestication" (p. 97). Eight among them are rams with spheroids, of which five are associated with human figures (Aïn Naga, Daïet es Stel, Oued el Hesbaïa, Saouiet). It is in this group that some of the most famous masterpieces of the region are found, such as the Ram of Aïn Naga, about twice natural size, found by Father F.
Rock art of the Djelfa region | Early stages of domestication
The domestication of animals and plants was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum around 21,000 years ago and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food difficult. The first domesticate was the wolf ("Canis lupus") at least 15,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas that occurred 12,900 years ago was a period of intense cold and aridity that put pressure on humans to intensify their foraging strategies. By the beginning of the Holocene from 11,700 years ago, favorable climatic conditions and increasing human populations led to small-scale animal and plant domestication, which allowed humans to augment the food that they were obtaining through hunter-gathering.
Domestication of animals | Cause and timing
It occurs in Omei Mts., Szechuan, and Yunnan. It has a nose like an elephant, eyes like a rhinoceros, tail like a cow, and feet like a tiger. The teeth and bones are so hard that the blades of axes are broken by them. Firing does not effect the bones. It is said that antelope horn can break a diamond, so can the bones of a tapir. (tr. Read 1931, no. 353, translating "Malayan tapir") Li Shizhen lists three associated animals: "Nietie" (齧鐵), "A southern species. The size of water buffalo, black and shiny. The feces are as hard as iron.
Mo (Chinese zoology) | "Bencao gangmu"
Domestication of the horse dates to around 4000 BC. Cattle have been domesticated since approximately 10,500 years ago. Chickens and other poultry may have been domesticated around 7000 BC.
Livestock | History
The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon (miscellaneous group) within the family Bovidae, encompassing all Old World ruminants that are not bovines, sheep, or goats. Antelopes are considered the sister group to deer within the infraorder Pecora. A group of antelope is called a herd. Unlike deer antlers, which are shed and grown annually, antelope horns grow continuously.
Antelope | Introduction
Sable antelope live in savanna woodlands and grasslands during the dry season, where they eat mid-length grasses and leaves. They visit salt licks and have been known to chew bones to collect minerals. They are diurnal, but are less active during the heat of the day. They form herds of 10 to 30 females and calves led by a single male, called a bull. Males fight among themselves; they drop to their knees and use their horns. In each herd, the juvenile males are exiled from the herd around 3 years old. All of the female calves remain, however. When the herd gets too large, it divides into smaller groups of cows and their young.
Sable antelope | Ecology and behavior
Domesticated chickpea is considered vernalization insensitive (it can flower at all times of the year), whereas wild "C. reticulatum" shows a considerable flowering advance (of up to 30 days) in response to vernalization—which means that the plant would have to grow in areas where it is exposed to a prolonged period of cold before it can properly grow. Although there is promise for some kind of domestication process to allow for and create new sources of food through "C. reticulatum", there are several issues that make domestication of this wild species quite difficult. The first of these problems is that "C.
Cicer | Cultivable species
Both sexes have horns, which can reach 1.5 meters in length. Males and females are very similar in appearance until they reach three years of age, when the males become darker and develop majestic horns. The males weigh an average of with a height of . Females weigh 220 kg and are slightly shorter than males. The horns are massive and more curved in males, reaching lengths of , while females' horns are only in length. Coloration in bulls is black, while cows and calves are chestnut, except in southern populations where females turn brownish-black. Most sable antelopes have white "eyebrows", their rostra are sectioned into cheek stripes, and their bellies and rump patches are white.
Giant sable antelope | Description
The addax ("Addax nasomaculatus"), also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope, is an antelope of the genus "Addax", that lives in the Sahara Desert. It was first described scientifically by Henri de Blainville in 1816. As suggested by its alternative name, this pale antelope has long, twisted horns - typically in females and in males. Males stand from at the shoulder, with females at . They are sexually dimorphic, as the females are smaller than the males. The colour of the coat depends on the season - in the winter, it is greyish-brown with white hindquarters and legs, and long, brown hair on the head, neck, and shoulders; in the summer, the coat turns almost completely white or sandy blonde.
Addax | Introduction
Domestication should not be confused with taming. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. Human selection included tameness, but without a suitable evolutionary response then domestication was not achieved. Domestic animals need not be tame in the behavioral sense, such as the Spanish fighting bull. Wild animals can be tame, such as a hand-raised cheetah. A domestic animal's breeding is controlled by humans and its tameness and tolerance of humans is genetically determined.
Domestication of animals | Difference from taming
Also the sheep undergo a tremendous amount of stress with the move and biologists liken moving an animal from one place to another with transplanting organs in humans. The bighorn are placed on public and private lands with the help of The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep. The foundation buys grazing permits from domestic sheep ranchers. In exchange for the grazing rights the ranchers agree to remove their domestic herds. In 2018 a mysterious respiratory ailment felled most of the island's sheep. The remaining sheep were shot in 2019 in order to prepare the island for repopulation. Other mammals found on the island include mule deer (estimated to number 250), pronghorn antelope (approximately 200 on the island), bighorn sheep (estimated 200), coyotes, bobcats, badgers, porcupines, cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits, and several species of ground squirrels and other rodents.
Antelope Island | Bighorn sheep
Calves are born with yellow coats and lack distinguishing marks, which appear later in life. Their pelage changes to adult coloration at 3–12 months old. Both male and female oryxes have horns, with the females' being more slender. The horns are long, thin, and symmetrical; curve backward (a distinctive feature of this species); and can reach in both sexes. The hollow walls of the horns are so thin that they can easily break. The female has four nipples. The large, spreading hooves are well adapted to allow these antelopes to walk on the sand of their dry habitats. A scimitar oryx can live as long as 20 years.
Scimitar oryx | Physical description
Females prefer to use traditional calving grounds restricted to certain areas, while newborn calves lie in hiding for a week or more, receiving short visits by the mother to suckle.
Bongo (antelope) | Social organization and behavior
At least one collaborative effort for reintroduction between North American wildlife facilities has already been carried out. In 2004, 18 eastern bongos born in North American zoos gathered at White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Florida for release in Kenya. White Oak staff members traveled with the bongos to a Mt. Kenya holding facility, where they stayed until being reintroduced.
Bongo (antelope) | Zoo programmes
The four-horned antelope is one of the smallest Asian bovids. The number of its horns distinguishes it from most of the other bovids, that have two horns (sparing a few such as the Jacob sheep). The four-horned antelope stands at the shoulder and weighs ; the head-and-body length is typically between . Sexual dimorphism is not very notable, though only males possess horns. Slender with thin legs and a short tail, the four-horned antelope has a yellowish brown to reddish coat. The underparts and the insides of the legs are white. Facial features include black markings on the muzzle and behind the ears.
Four-horned antelope | Description
Such a separation appears to have taken place, but dates based on such methods can only produce an estimate of the latest possible date for domestication without excluding the possibility of an unknown period of earlier gene-flow between wild and domestic populations (which will occur naturally as long as the domesticated population is kept within the habitat of the wild population). Further, all modern horse populations retain the ability to revert to a feral state, and all feral horses are of domestic types; that is, they descend from ancestors that escaped from captivity. Whether one adopts the narrower zoological definition of domestication or the broader cultural definition that rests on an array of zoological and archaeological evidence affects the time frame chosen for domestication of the horse.
Domestication of the horse | Background
Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and Pakistan some 10,500 years ago. Pig production emerged in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia and Southwest Asia, where wild boar were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago.
Agriculture | Origins
With the exception of the mother and her calf there are no strong social bonds in the herd. These herds are sometimes very open and loosely defined as sometimes females come and go. Males born in the herd will remain in the herd until they developed their primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Once they have developed these traits males leave the herd and become nomads. It is only during the breeding season males congregate around a female in estrus for a few hours. All spiral-horned antelope species are polyandrous. Aggression is very low among individuals of both sexes though intraspecific competition does occur.
Tragelaphini | Behavior and reproduction
The 91 antelope species, most of which are native to Africa, occur in about 30 genera. The classification of tribes or subfamilies within Bovidae is still a matter of debate, with several alternative systems proposed. Antelope are not a cladistic or taxonomically defined group. The term is used to describe all members of the family Bovidae that do not fall under the category of sheep, cattle, or goats. Usually, all species of the Alcelaphinae, Antilopinae, Hippotraginae, Reduncinae, Cephalophinae, many Bovinae, the grey rhebok, and the impala are called antelopes.
Antelope | Species
Males use their horns during rutting season to wrestle and butt heads with rivals, while females use their horns to protect their young from predators. The common eland is the slowest antelope, with a peak speed of per hour that tires them quickly. However, they can maintain a per hour trot indefinitely. Elands are capable of jumping up to from a standing start when startled (up to for young elands). The common eland's life expectancy is generally between 15 and 20 years; in captivity some live up to 25 years.
Common eland | Physical description
The domestication of animals and plants was triggered by the climatic and environmental changes that occurred after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum around 21,000 years ago and which continue to this present day. These changes made obtaining food difficult. The first domesticate was the wolf ("Canis lupus") at least 15,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas that occurred 12,900 years ago was a period of intense cold and aridity that put pressure on humans to intensify their foraging strategies. By the beginning of the Holocene from 11,700 years ago, favorable climatic conditions and increasing human populations led to small-scale animal and plant domestication, which allowed humans to augment the food that they were obtaining through hunter-gathering.
Domestication | Cause and timing
Selection of animals for visible "desirable" traits may have undesired consequences. Captive and domesticated animals often have smaller size, piebald color, shorter faces with smaller and fewer teeth, diminished horns, weak muscle ridges, and less genetic variability. Poor joint definition, late fusion of the limb bone epiphyses with the diaphyses, hair changes, greater fat accumulation, smaller brains, simplified behavior patterns, extended immaturity, and more pathology are among the defects of domestic animals. All of these changes have been documented by archaeological evidence, and confirmed by animal breeders in the 20th century. In 2014, a study proposed the theory that under selection, docility in mammals and birds results partly from a slowed pace of neural crest development, that would in turn cause a reduced fear–startle response due to mild neurocristopathy that causes domestication syndrome.
Domestication | On domestic animals
Antelope are herbivorous mammals. Antelope may also refer to:
Antelope (disambiguation) | Introduction
The Herero making a living out of rearing domestic animals.
Herero people | Domestic animals
The four-horned antelope ("Tetracerus quadricornis"), or chousingha, is a small antelope found in India and Nepal. This antelope has four horns, which distinguish it from most other bovids, which have two horns (sparing a few such as the Jacob sheep). The sole member of the genus "Tetracerus", the species was first described by French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816. Three subspecies are recognised. The four-horned antelope stands nearly at the shoulder and weighs nearly . Slender with thin legs and a short tail, the four-horned antelope has a yellowish brown to reddish coat. One pair of horns is located between the ears, and the other on the forehead.
Four-horned antelope | Introduction
These deficits could cause changes we see to many domestic mammals, such as lopped ears (seen in rabbit, dog, fox, pig, sheep, goat, cattle, and donkeys) as well as curly tails (pigs, foxes, and dogs). Although they do not affect the development of the adrenal cortex directly, the neural crest cells may be involved in relevant upstream embryological interactions. Furthermore, artificial selection targeting tameness may affect genes that control the concentration or movement of NCCs in the embryo, leading to a variety of phenotypes. The single genetic regulatory network hypothesis proposes that domestication syndrome results from mutations in genes that regulate the expression pattern of more downstream genes.
Domestication of animals | Pleiotropy
Domestication and taming are related but distinct concepts. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. Human selection included tameness, but domestication is not achieved without a suitable evolutionary response. Domestic animals need not be tame in the behavioral sense, such as the Spanish fighting bull. Wild animals can be tame, such as a hand-raised cheetah. A domestic animal's breeding is controlled by humans and its tameness and tolerance of humans is genetically determined.
Tame animal | Taming versus domestication
However, there are universal features held in common by all domesticated animals.
Domestication of animals | Universal features
The giant elands are spiral-horned antelopes. Despite its common name, this species broadly overlaps in size with the common eland ("Taurotragus oryx"). However, the giant eland is somewhat larger on average than the common eland and is thus the largest species of antelope in the world. They are typically between in head-and-body length and stand approximately at the shoulder. Giant elands exhibit sexual dimorphism, as males are larger than females. The males weigh and females weigh . The tail is long, having a dark tuft of hair, and averages in length. The life expectancy of giant elands is up to 25 years in the wild, and about 20 years in captivity.
Giant eland | Description
Like other neotragines, the royal antelope is monogamous, though polygamy has been occasionally observed. Individuals of both sexes have been known to reach sexual maturity by six months of age. Births have been reported in November and December. Typically a single, delicate offspring is born after an unknown gestational period, weighing – nearly a third of an adult's weight. Young appear similar to adults in colouration. The maximum lifespan of a captive royal antelope was estimated at six years and eight months by a 1993 study.
Royal antelope | Reproduction
Philip Sclater and Oldfield Thomas listed Hardwicke as the genus authority by virtue of his being the author of the publication. However, Leach is now identified as the appropriate authority based on Article 50.1.1 of the Zoological Code. A 1992 phylogenetic study showed a strong possibility of a clade consisting of Boselaphini, Bovini and Tragelaphini. Bovini consists of the genera "Bubalus", "Bos", "Pseudoryx" (saola), "Syncerus" (African buffalo), "Bison" and the extinct "Pelorovis". Tragelaphini consists of two genera: "Taurotragus" (eland) and "Tragelaphus". Boselaphini and Tragelaphini were predicted to be close; this was seconded by a similar study in 1999. The following cladogram is based on the 1992 study:
Four-horned antelope | Taxonomy and phylogeny
More species of antelope are native to Africa than to any other continent, almost exclusively in savannahs, with 20-35 species co-occurring over much of East Africa. Because savannah habitat in Africa has expanded and contracted five times over the last three million years, and the fossil record indicates this is when most extant species evolved, it is believed that isolation in refugia during contractions was a major driver of this diversification. Other species occur in Asia: the Arabian Peninsula is home to the Arabian oryx and Dorcas gazelle. India is home to the nilgai, chinkara, blackbuck, Tibetan antelope, and four-horned antelope, while Russia and Central Asia have the Tibetan antelope, and saiga.
Antelope | Distribution and habitat
Unlike eland however, most of the other species are not as docile or tolerant of humans as they avoid any contact as possible.
Tragelaphini | Domestication
Although the directed pathway proceeded from capture to taming, the other two pathways are not as goal-oriented, and archaeological records suggest that they took place over much longer time frames. Unlike other domestic species which were primarily selected for production-related traits, dogs were initially selected for their behaviors. The archaeological and genetic data suggest that long-term bidirectional gene flow between wild and domestic stocks – including donkeys, horses, New and Old World camelids, goats, sheep, and pigs – was common. One study has concluded that human selection for domestic traits likely counteracted the homogenizing effect of gene flow from wild boars into pigs and created domestication islands in the genome.
Domestication | Mammals
During this one- to two-month period the elephant cannot be trained, allowed outside or permitted to see other elephants, and it must be fed, watered and cleaned by remote methods; it will attack any approaching keeper. Some Indian mahouts decry this method as crueler than simply starving and dehydrating the animal for a week, after which it recovers and can be safely reunited with the herd.
Musth | In domesticated elephants
It is widely accepted that the only large mammals to be domesticated in the Americas were the llama and the alpaca and that no species of goats, deer, or sheep were fully domesticated before the arrival of the Europeans to the continent. Some Mormon apologists believe that the term "cattle," as used in the Book of Mormon is more general and does not exclusively mean members of the genus "Bos". Thus, they claim the term "cattle" may refer to mountain goats; llamas; or the ancestor of the American bison, "Bison antiquus" (of the sub family Bovinae).
Archaeology and the Book of Mormon | Cattle and cows
Cattle occupy a unique role in human history, having been domesticated since at least the early neolithic age. Archeozoological and genetic data indicate that cattle were first domesticated from wild aurochs ("Bos primigenius") approximately 10,500 years ago. There were two major areas of domestication: one in the Near East (specifically central Anatolia, the Levant and Western Iran), giving rise to the taurine line, and a second in the area that is now Pakistan, resulting in the indicine line. Modern mitochondrial DNA variation indicates the taurine line may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia near the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in what is now southeastern Turkey and Dja'de el-Mughara in what is now northern Iraq.
Cattle | Domestication and husbandry
An international studbook is maintained to help manage animals held in captivity. Because of its bright colour, it is very popular in zoos and private collections. In North America, over 400 individuals are thought to be held, a population that probably exceeds that of the mountain bongo in the wild. In 2000, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) upgraded the bongo to a Species Survival Plan participant, which works to improve the genetic diversity of managed animal populations. The target population for participating zoos and private collections in North America is 250 animals. Through the efforts of zoos in North America, a reintroduction to the population in Kenya is being developed.
Bongo (antelope) | Zoo programmes
A wide variety of antelope hybrids have been recorded in zoos, game parks, and wildlife ranches, due to either a lack of more appropriate mates in enclosures shared with other species or a misidentification of species. The ease of hybridization shows how closely related some antelope species are. With few exceptions, most hybrid antelope occur only in captivity. Most hybrids occur between species within the same genus. All reported examples occur within the same subfamily. As with most mammal hybrids, the less closely related the parents, the more likely the offspring will be sterile.
Antelope | Hybrid antelope
About 25 species are rated by the IUCN as endangered, such as the dama gazelle and mountain nyala. A number of subspecies are also endangered, including the giant sable antelope and the mhorr gazelle. The main causes for concern for these species are habitat loss, competition with cattle for grazing, and trophy hunting. The chiru or Tibetan antelope is hunted for its pelt, which is used in making "shahtoosh" wool, used in shawls. Since the fur can only be removed from dead animals, and each animal yields very little of the downy fur, several antelope must be killed to make a single shawl.
Antelope | Status
All bongos in captivity are from the isolated Aberdare Mountains of central Kenya.
Bongo (antelope) | Appearance
Grass and browse were consumed in nearly equal proportions. A study in the Panna National Park (Madhya Pradesh, India) showed preference for "Zizyphus mauritiana", "Acacia nilotica", "A. leucophloea" and "A. catechu". Babool flowers were frequently eaten. The antelope often associates with langurs under fruiting trees, just as chital frequently do. Interaction with chital, a sympatric species, was infrequent. The antelope is wary when feeding, often raising its head and looking about its vicinity. The four-horned antelope needs to drink water frequently; as such it stays in places near water sources.
Four-horned antelope | Diet
Domestication traits are generally fixed within all domesticates, and were selected during the initial episode of domestication of that animal or plant, whereas improvement traits are present only in a proportion of domesticates, though they may be fixed in individual breeds or regional populations. Domestication should not be confused with taming. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. Certain animal species, and certain individuals within those species, make better candidates for domestication than others because they exhibit certain behavioral characteristics: (1) the size and organization of their social structure; (2) the availability and the degree of selectivity in their choice of mates; (3) the ease and speed with which the parents bond with their young, and the maturity and mobility of the young at birth; (4) the degree of flexibility in diet and habitat tolerance; and (5) responses to humans and new environments, including flight responses and reactivity to external stimuli.
Domestication of animals | Introduction
The four-horned antelope is diurnal (active mainly during the day), though it mainly rests or ruminates in dense undergrowth at noon. Though solitary by nature, the four-horned antelope may form loose groups of three to five. Groups consist of one or more adults, sometimes accompanied by juveniles. Males and females hardly interact, except in the mating season. The antelope is shy and elusive. When alarmed, it stands motionless and may nervously leap away from the danger or even sprint. It often conceals itself in tall grasses to escape predators. The use of alarm calls to alert others is not common because the antelope tries to avoid the attention of predators.
Four-horned antelope | Ecology and behaviour
The four-horned antelope is the sole member of the genus "Tetracerus", and is placed under the family Bovidae. The species was first described by French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816. The four-horned antelope has only one other relative in the tribe Boselaphini, the nilgai ("Boselaphus tragocamelus"). The Boselaphini have horns with a keel on the front and lack rings as found in other antelope groups. The authority for "Tetracerus" is variously indicated according to interpretations of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The name was first published in an 1825 publication by English naturalist Thomas Hardwicke but cited the English zoologist William Elford Leach – probably by an editor – as the authority in a footnote at the end of the publication.
Four-horned antelope | Taxonomy and phylogeny
Although most goat-antelopes are gregarious and have fairly stocky builds, they diverge in many other ways – the muskox ("Ovibos moschatus") is adapted to the extreme cold of the tundra; the mountain goat ("Oreamnos americanus") of North America is specialised for very rugged terrain; the urial ("Ovis orientalis") occupies a largely infertile area from Kashmir to Iran, including much desert country. The European mouflon ("Ovis orientalis musimon") is thought to be the ancestor of the modern domestic sheep ("Ovis aries"). Many species have become extinct since the last ice age, probably largely because of human interaction. Of the survivors: Members of the group vary considerably in size, from just over long for a full-grown grey goral ("Nemorhaedus goral"), to almost long for a musk ox, and from under to more than .
Caprinae | Characteristics
A dik-dik is the name for any of four species of small antelope in the genus "Madoqua" that live in the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks stand about at the shoulder, are long, weigh and can live for up to 10 years. Dik-diks are named for the alarm calls of the females. In addition to the females' alarm call, both the male and female make a shrill, whistling sound. These calls may alert other animals to predators.
Dik-dik | Introduction