Domesticate

Domesticate or Domestication (from the Latin domesticus: "of the home") is the cultivating or taming of a population of organisms in order to accentuate traits that are desirable to the cultivator or tamer. The desired traits may include a particular physical appearance, behavioral characteristic, individual size, litter size, hair/fur quality or color, growth rate, fecundity, lifespan, ability to use marginal resources, production of certain by-products, and many others. Domesticated organisms may become dependent on people or their activities, since they sometimes lose their ability to survive in the wild.

Domestication differs from taming in that it may refer not simply to a change in organisms' behaviors or environmental socialization, but also potentially even in their phenotypical expressions and genotypes. The word domestication also is more commonly used to mean a change within whole populations, while taming is more commonly used to mean a change within individuals. Furthermore, taming typically applies only to animals and their becoming habituated to the presence of people, while domestication is a broader term and can include plants, fungi, and other types of organisms.

Plants domesticated primarily for aesthetic enjoyment in and around the home are usually called house plants or ornamentals, while those domesticated for large-scale food production are generally called crops. A distinction can be made between those domesticated plants that have been deliberately altered or selected for special desirable characteristics and those plants that are used for the benefit of people, but are essentially no different from the wild populations of the species. Animals domesticated for home companionship are usually called pets, while those domesticated for food or work are called livestock or farm animals. Domestication is the process of changing plants or animals to make them more useful to people. Domestication of plants led to the development of agriculture. Domestication led to many things such as the use of fibers to make clothes, making food, and the need to stay in one place.

This is a process that has recurred throughout the vast majority of sentient species and throughout known history.

