So, having gone down the clothing rabbithole, let’s talk about domestication.

I know I initially said animals, but plants matter too.

Let’s start by defining domestication. When we domesticate a species, we create a mutualistic relationship in which one species takes over control of another to obtain a steady supply of resources. In return, the domesticated animal gets something. That’s what we mean by mutualistic.

Our first attempts at domestication occurred in the Mesolithic Period in the Old World, and we are pretty sure the first animal we domesticated was the dog. Dogs were easy mode because wolves have a very similar social structure to humans.

In plants, we think the first crops to be domesticated were flax, bitter vetch (a kind of pea), chickpea, pea, lentil, barley, einkorn wheat, and emmer wheat. However, we may be pushing back the domestication of maize (corn) too.

Domestication creates, ultimately, a genetically modified organism (technological GMO is just a way to speed up the process and reduce trial and error).

So, let’s talk about a few domestications, of both plants and animals.