CHAPTER XL 



THE RELATIONS OF MAMMALS TO MAN 



Domesticated Mammals. - - The relations of mammals to 

 man are varied and complex. In the first place, domesticated 

 mammals are of almost inestimable value to man. Cattle 

 raising is the most important animal industry in this country. 

 Next in importance to cattle are horses. Sheep are utilized 

 extensively for meat and wool. In some countries goats are 

 used as draft animals and to furnish milk and meat. In the 

 tropical countries of the Old World, especially in desert regions, 

 the camel is the most important draft animal ; its hair is valuable 

 in the manufacture of fabrics and brushes. In parts of South 

 America the llama and guanaco furnish the chief means of trans- 

 portation. The elephant is in Asia used as a draft animal, for 

 hunting, and for various other purposes; in Africa it is hunted 

 for the ivory in its tusks. 



The most common domesticated mammals are the dog, horse, 

 ass, ox, sheep, goat, pig, and cat. The dog was probably the first 

 mammal to be domesticated. Dogs have been the companions 

 of man for many centuries ; they have become changed while 

 under domestication, until there are now more than two hundred 

 breeds. In many cases local wild species of the genus Canis 

 have been tamed; for example, the original Arctic sledge dogs 

 were half-tamed gray wolves, and the dogs kept by our north- 

 western Indians were tamed coyotes. 



The immediate ancestors of the horse are not known, and there 

 are at the present time no wild horses from which it could have 



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