IP Blog

As I read Guns, Germs, and Steel, I discovered that the most important contributory element that guarantees the rise and spread of domesticates enabling food production are animals. Animals provide fertilizer, food, and protection for animals, plants and humans alike. Fertilizer helps plants grow and flourish so they are able to eat by animals and humans. Food is provided by animals, such as meat and milk. Hides from animals provide people with warmth. Both hunter-gatherers and farmer-herders seem to be somewhat successful, but farmer-herder came out on top. Although “in a one-on-one fight, a naked farmer would have no advantage over a naked hunter-gatherer” (195). In the chapter Lethal Gift of Livestock, it suggests only the strong survive (195).  What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

People do need germs to live. Although some may hurt or even kill you, germs are needed to live. http://http://www.kidspoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=849&column_type=homework.” title="good and bad">Germs. They provide immunity, antibodies, antigens, and resistance. Even though we want to kill all germs out in the world, we have to research them and comprehend what they are all about before killing them (198). Germs are also good for animals for all the same reasons as they are for humans. The animal’s natural fertilizer is a wonderful source for plants to grow. By having plants thrive off of it, it makes life a little easier for farmers. Fertilizer. “Domesticated animals differ in various ways from their wild ancestors. These differences result from two processes: human selection of those individual animals more useful to humans than other individuals of the same species, and automatic evolutionary responses of animals to the altered forces of natural selection…” (159).

Animals provide people with food such as milk and meat.  From those products people are allowed to make different sorts of food.  Therefore giving the food industry tons of business, because people need to food to survive.  If you would like to raise a 1,000 pound cow, you would need to feed it 10,000 pounds of corn (169).  A farmer would need to grow more corn than he/she might think. animal health.  Over times the meat we eat has been changing over the years, “breeds of dogs were developed and raised for food in Aztec Mexico, Polynesia, and ancient China” (169).  Animals also provide protection.  They provide protection for humans.  Animal’s fur and skin provide humans with protection from the weather by making clothing and shoes out of it.  Domesticated animals enable food production.  domesticated animals