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Lecture Notes

Let's also take a moment to discuss what we mean by domestication. Domestication occurs when the breeding, care, and containment of animals is under the control of humans. Domestication is not a sudden process. It occurs over many generations. And it involves changes in morphology and behavior. Domestication is not the same thing as taming an animal. Taming is making a wild animal more accustomed to humans. But taming involves an individual animal, not a population. It does not result in the long-term development of a new population of genetically distinct animals, as is the case with domestication.