The animal world, of course, is very huge and diverse. He beckons with his unchartedness and beauty. Pets and wild animals for children are very interesting. Children, of course, need to talk about the life of animals, their habits and characteristics, about how they live in the wild. An important and very relevant issue is the correct keeping of animals at home, as well as their role in our life.
World around: domestic and wild animals
The world is huge and rich in various animals. Among them there are both cute domestic pussies that we have known since childhood, and angry wild predators. The life of pets is certainly interesting, but much more informative is the information about the wild representatives of the fauna that we know so little about.
Most of the animals live in the forests. It was they who got the name - wild animals. Many of them are very dangerous predators. And others are quite cute and harmless little animals that live in all corners of the globe. We can say that they are all united by one single goal - survival.
Pets
As you understand, pets are those animals that live next to a person. People support them, take care of them, giving them food and a home. Some varieties of pets bring their owners a very specific benefit. For example, they give food (milk, cottage cheese, meat, eggs), materials (skin, wool) or do work (they guard, transport goods, and help in agriculture). On the other hand, domestic animals are friends who have long lived side by side with a person and share their home, helping to spend leisure time together.
For residents of megacities, pets are, rather, family members who are cared for, played with, go to rest. So the life of domestic animals in urban conditions is completely unrelated to bringing any benefit to humans. Rather, on the contrary, people care about the comfortable living of animals, which are not faced with the difficult task of obtaining food.
The role of pets in human life
I must say that wild and domestic animals are quite different. Nevertheless, they all play an important role in human life. Let's start, for example, with domestic animals.
Their role in our life depends on what tasks we set ourselves, having a pet for ourselves or a child. Dogs guard us and are our friends. Cats and other pussies are our favorites. We take them to the house for our own pleasure. Another thing is farm animals that benefit. Such species include cows, camels, ponies, sheep, horses, pigs, oxen, goats and many others.
However, it would be unfair if we did not remember that absolutely all domestic animals descended from the wild. But in the process of his purposeful activity, a man selected among them the best specimens with the necessary characteristics, until he achieved the breeding of certain agricultural breeds. Such pets are usually kept in special buildings (cowsheds, chicken coops, pigsties, stables, sheds, aviaries). As a rule, their productivity depends on how well they are looked after and fed.
Wild and domestic animals are very different. Unlike the domestic ones, the wild one has to take care of his “lunch” each time. Agricultural species are on the full human content. However, even such breeds people breed not only for good, but also for pleasure. For example, horses are purchased for equestrian sports and horseback riding, rabbits are used for decorative purposes.
Historical excursion
Domestic animals began to be tamed ten to fifteen thousand years ago, at a time when people began to switch to a sedentary lifestyle and agriculture. After the hunt, the wounded, weak individuals that lagged behind the herd were often beaten. Such animals remained close to the people who looked after them, providing protection and food. And those, in turn, gave food. It also happened that the wolf cubs, who grew up near human villages, got so used to it that they stayed with people forever and even went hunting with them. So gradually the man got his pets, which later began to bring him benefits.
Taming animals was not easy. After all, once at home, a person contained antelopes, cheetahs, cranes, tours, wild boars, mouflons and argali. People looked after them and looked after them. Animals gradually changed. Of course, the process was very long.
Wild animals
Wild animals live in the wild. Unlike domestic species, no one cares about them. They themselves get their own food, protect themselves, raise offspring and raise it. Of course, such a life is much more complicated and more dangerous. It is necessary to fight daily for survival. Comparison of wild and domestic animals in this sense is hardly possible, their living conditions are so different.
Wild animals are very diverse, they are inhabited by a large number around the world. Here are just a few of them: bears, foxes, lynxes, moose, hares, seals, horses, lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes. All simply can not be counted.
Wildlife in winter
Wild animals are especially affected in winter. During this period, they have a rather difficult time. This is due, first of all, to the fact that it becomes much less food, and it is more difficult to get it when the earth is covered with a thick layer of ice and snow. Of course, all animals are adapted to such natural conditions. Nevertheless, it is still very difficult for them to survive at times. In winter, some animals change their coat color (foxes and hares), others hibernate like badgers and bears, while others make reserves for the cold period like squirrels. Everyone is preparing for the arrival of cold weather in his own way.
Wild animals in winter live very differently. Some save food supplies and warm houses (squirrels), others sleep while spending summer fat reserves (bears), and still others get food even in cold weather.
The importance of wild animals in people's lives
Wild and domestic animals definitely benefit people. We have already discussed the role of home species. Let's talk about wild animals now.
I must say that they are also useful for us, because they give us:
- The food. In many regions of the world, the meat of wild animals is used as food. The fact is that wild representatives of the animal world are more adapted to life, and therefore, more productive. For example, hunting species include wild boars, roe deer, hares, beavers, muskrats, foxes, wolves, and many others. Do not forget about fish and birds. Fisheries are generally widely used by people. In addition to fish farming in specialized farms, they catch in the seas, rivers and oceans.
- Leather and fur. Wild animals are a source of beautiful natural fur. They cannot be replaced with artificial products either in warmth or in beauty. There are also special farms where wild species such as fox, muskrat, rabbit, arctic fox are raised for fur. All of them are valued for their beautiful and warm fur. And the number of animals in the wild is not able to provide us with the necessary skins. Therefore, people began to breed some species in artificial conditions.
- Medicinal and perfumery substances that are used in pharmaceuticals and perfumes.
In addition, wild animals in any case remain, so to speak, the gene pool of animal husbandry. Crossing them with domestic species, you can get new breeds with the best performance.
People use animals to combat environmental pollution. Beasts act as peculiar indicators. It is no secret that animals react very sensitively to the slightest changes in the environment, which means that their behavior can be used to judge environmental pollution.
In addition, animals help people in the search for certain types of minerals, weather forecasting and earthquakes. There are many examples. Absolutely all animals know in advance about the upcoming earthquake. Fish and jellyfish, for example, can feel the approach of a storm.
And do not forget that animals are carriers of plant seeds in nature. And this is very important in the cycle of biological processes.
Wild pets
The increasing pace of urbanization has led to the fact that people more and more have a desire to communicate with wildlife. If a hundred years ago it was customary to keep only cats and dogs at home, now hamsters, hares, jerboas, chinchillas, otters, monkeys, hedgehogs and many other wildlife are in fashion. The project "Wild Pets" has been sufficiently implemented. In fact, many wild animals began to live in our homes as pets. And this does not seem something unusual and exotic. Of course, these are not exactly the species that exist in the wild. After all, some of them were susceptible to crossing to breed the best breeds. However, these are not those pets that lived next to a person before.
