(host) Sixty-eight percent of American But when did humans start domesticating animals as pets and not livestock?

We all know puppies and kitties have a special place in our hearts as man's best friends.

But when did we make the transition from keeping these cuddly creatures as animals used for hunting or farm labor to making them lapdogs and companions?

And what are the distinctions between our precious pets and farm animals?

And how many puppies can I cram into one video?

I guess you'll have to watch all the way until the end to find out.

To kick off this episode, we first have to ask ourselves: What is the early history of domesticating animals and how does this differ throughout history and around the world?

So, according to an article from the American Museum of Natural History, my favorite place in the world from age six or seven until-- well, who am I kidding?

It's still my favorite place-- animal domestication started thousands of years ago and varies based on which type of animal we're talking about and the geographic location.

Humans started hanging with these little guys as early as 30,000 years ago.

And around 15,000 years ago, Canis familiaris, or dogs, started to be domesticated in Asia, and dogs are the descendants of wolves that would make the antagonist in "Little Red Riding Hood" shake.

And a hypothesis published in an article by Laurent Frantz and Greger Larson of Oxford University speculates that man's best friends could have evolved from two different types of wolves that were first domesticated in Europe and Asia respectively, although they say this theory may need some further exploration.

And our friend Joe Hanson over at "It's Okay To Be Smart" notes in his video "How Dogs Became Our Best Friends" that current-day dogs trace their origins back to ancient wolves.

So, although scientists are still puzzling over when wild wolves turned into tame wolves and eventually evolved to be dogs, Joe notes that puppies' early and slightly tame wolf ancestors may have aligned themselves with humans because they could survive on our scraps and food waste.

I wonder if I could make this puppy learn the lyrics to "Hungry Like the Wolf"?

Other animals that were domesticated include sheep in the Middle East 10,000 years ago, cattle in the Middle East about 8,000 years ago and later in Pakistan about 6,000 years ago, and horses in Central Asia approximately 6,000 years ago, and the llama in Peru about 4,500 years ago.

But these animals had a lot of functions, and most of them centered around early agriculture and as a resource for those newfound farmers, think horses for transportation, pigs and cows for food supplies, and sheep for their fuzzy coats.

So, that leads us to our next question and our next puppy: when did we start differentiating between pets and other kinds of animals, and why?

Now this topic is a little complex since the when is relatively easy to trace, but the why in some ways remains a bit of a psychological puzzle.

For example, I've often heard folks touting the catchphrase that pigs are as smart as dogs.

So, why do folks in the West typically eat pigs, but we keep dogs as pets?

But according to Mark Bekoff, professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, measuring animal intelligence isn't always the most clear-cut thing.

For starters, intelligence or the perceptions of animal intelligence by humans doesn't mean that animals deemed less intelligent on the scale still don't experience emotions, thoughts, and pain.

So, your lab rat may not be as cutesy cuddly as your newborn cat, but they still feel what's happening to them.

Also, Bekoff notes that comparing intelligence between animals of the same species may tell us something important, but comparing between species may prove more difficult and less useful from a research perspective.

So, our decisions to keep some animals as companions and others as workers isn't necessarily driven by how smart your parrot is versus, say, a mule.

This is why some early animals kept as pets may have straddled the line between utility and puppy pals.

According to an article by Raul Tito, et al., in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, ancient human fecal matter, AKA fancy fossilized poop, from 9,000 years ago, discovered in the Hinds Caves in southwest Texas, shows evidence of dog bones.

This means that people in the region may have kept the dogs as pets or workers and also eaten them.

So, having animals that had mixed uses as domestic workers, companions, and food supplies in a pinch, wasn't unheard of, but you're safe with me, little buddy.

An article from National Geographic suggests that plant domestication and animal domestication in ancient Mesopotamia started around the same time and rose up alongside each other about 10,000 years ago.

But while some of this was our own doing, some of it was a result of that animal intelligence we spoke about earlier.

For example, while we were busy trying to turn early wolf dogs into companions, cats may have worked to domesticate themselves, because although dogs have been around our homes for longer, and maybe because cats weren't making up their minds about whether they really liked humans or not.

An article in Nature Ecology & Evolution by Claudio Ottoni of the University of Leuven, et al., notes that cats have existed alongside humans dating back 9,000 years.

They analyzed cat corpses from ancient Egypt, Romanian cats alongside African wild cats, noting that the domestic cat is present on all continents except Antarctica and in the most remote regions of the world, and its evolutionary success is unquestioned.

Modern cats probably arrived from Asia to Europe about 4,400 years ago, and cats are natural survivors.

They've been used for Tom and Jerry style pest control to help curb the spread of rats and diseases.

And that may have been what roped them into early civilizations.

All of those new crops meant new rats.

New rats meant new cats.

So, we weren't so much domesticating cats as much as cats were figuring out how to live alongside us.

Over time, humans began to keep them not only for pest control, but also because they were sociable with humans and with other cats, and just kind of chill.

As a result, domestic cats and wild cats today share a lot of traits.

So, it seems that in the great cat-and-dog debate, it may have been that animals were choosing us rather than the other way around.

And that brings us to our last question: When did pets become an industry?

Over time, some cats and dogs have been kept for specific purposes, such as types of dogs that humans bred for hunting or protection, or just because they were fashionable.

Think little puppies in purses or prize-winning pets at dog shows.

I want this guy right here to become my fashion puppy.

Strike a pose.

And part of these fluctuations in pet patterns were driven by the rise of the pet selling industry, which kickstarted in the 1840s and largely centered on birds at first.

As middle class urban families started sprouting up after the Industrial Revolution, it became more common to see families have pets in the home.

In 1860, an electrician from Ohio named James Spratt started selling Spratt's Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes, the first commercially available dog food with a horrible name.

And in the middle of the 20th century, we see the first national franchise pet stores in the U.S.

So, while the early history of domesticating these animals grew alongside plants and at various points matched human needs, today it's more related to how our pets make us feel.

According to neuroscience PhD candidate Shannon Odell over at "Your Brain on Blank," some of this can be chalked up to our natural reactions to puppies, kittens, and wee little babies.

Odell notes that the round faces, bug eyes, and squishiness of these little guys may be contributing to our responses to them because they remind us of human babies, known as baby schema.

So, I want you to look deep into this puppy's eyes and tell me you don't feel a desire to hold him close to your heart.

Well, too bad because this guy's with me.

And this response triggers a feeling of reward and attachment, all thanks to our nucleus accumbens, and makes us want to protect and love on babies and furry friends so that we can protect them.

We may also get flooded with oxytocin, AKA, the love hormones.

I love you, puppy.

See?

Science.

So, check out the videos "Your Brain on Puppies" and "Your Brain on Kittens" to find out more.

So, how do all of these puppies add up?

Well, early domestication of animals was practical, and sometimes they crossed the line between food, resource, friendship, and livestock.

And puppies were the first ones on the domestication scene because your cat really is as standoffish as you think and was deciding whether being your friend was going to help their own social standing.

And now millions of folks worldwide keep pets just for kicks and kisses, although it still remains pricey to hold onto your little guys.

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