Domestication

• A domesticated animal is defined as an animal selectively bred in captivity and thereby modified from its wild ancestors, for use by humans who control the animal's breeding and food supply.
• Commensal domestication pathway: wild animals were attracted to human camps either directly by food waste or by the other animals the food waste attracted.
• Prey domestication pathway: originally hunted as prey animals humans began to deploy early game management strategies to maintain and increase animal numbers. 
• Direct domestication pathway: humans captured wild animals to obtain some resources by controlling their movements, their nutrition, and reproduction.
• Domestication is multi-generational as it happens over a long period of time. Artificial selection takes place, where selective breeding is done for desired characteristics. These animals are genetically and permanently modified which results in substantial behavioural (phenotypic) change. 
• Animals can modify their behaviour through learning e.g. conditioning and habituation. The ability to easily habituate is essential for successful domestication.
• Habituation is the process whereby an individual learns to not respond to nonthreatening stimuli.
• Conditioning is the process whereby an animals learn to associate events e.g. dogs learn to associate the sound of the car pulling into the drive with your return home. They may also associate their actions with outcomes e.g. cats learn that meowing will get them attention.