Guns, Germs, and Steel Part 3

Today in class we watched another part of the movie Guns, Germs, and Steel. This part of the video was mostly about the domestication of animals. First, James Diamond talked about the fact that about 9000 years ago, the interactions people had with animals began to change. People began to “control” animals by breeding them and controlling where they roamed and where they stayed. Animals were very helpful because of their skin useful for warm clothes; their waste is a good fertilizer for crops, their wool, and their meat. Because of their domestication, people no longer had to hunt or gather animals; they were simply raising the animals.  Here is a list of all the animals over 100 pounds that have been domesticated out of 148: pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, camels (two types), water buffalo, donkeys, llamas, reindeer, yaks, methane, and cattle. Unfortunately, New Guinea was not fortunate enough to be blessed with good crops, and they were also not blessed with good animal power, either. Could this be why they are not as developed as the world surrounding them?