Human uses of animals include both practical uses, such as the production of food and clothing, and symbolic uses, such as in art, literature, mythology, and religion. All of these are elements of
culture, broadly understood.
Animals used in these ways include
fish,
crustaceans,
insects,
molluscs,
mammals and
birds.
Economically, animals provide
meat, whether farmed or hunted, and until the arrival of mechanised transport, terrestrial mammals provided a large part of the power used for work and transport. Animals serve as
models in
biological research, such as in
genetics, and in
drug testing.
Non-human mammals form a large part of the
livestock raised for meat across the world. They include (2011) around 1.4 billion
cattle, 1.2 billion
sheep, 1 billion
domestic pigs,[7][11] and (1985) over 700 million rabbits.[12]
For clothing and textiles
Textiles from the most utilitarian to the most luxurious are often made from non-human animal fibres such as
wool,
camel hair,
angora,
cashmere, and
mohair.
Hunter-gatherers have used non-human animal
sinews as lashings and bindings.
Leather from cattle, pigs and other species is widely used to make shoes, handbags, belts and many other items. Other animals have been hunted and farmed for their fur, to make items such as coats and hats, again ranging from simply warm and practical to the most elegant and expensive.[13][14] Snakes and other reptiles are traded in the tens of thousands each year to meet the demand for exotic leather; some of this trade is legal and sustainable, some of it is illegal and unsustainable, but for many species insufficient data is available to make a determination either way.[15]
Working domestic animals including cattle, horses, yaks, camels, and elephants have been used for work and transport from the origins of agriculture, their numbers declining with the arrival of mechanized transport and agricultural machinery. In 2004 they still provided some 80% of the power for the mainly small farms in the third world, and some 20% of the world's transport, again mainly in rural areas. In mountainous regions unsuitable for wheeled vehicles,
pack animals continue to transport goods.[25]
Police, military and immigration/customs personnel exploit dogs and horses to perform a variety of tasks, which cannot be done by humans. In some cases, smart rats have been used.[26]
Vaccines have been made using other animals since their discovery by
Edward Jenner in the 18th century. He noted that inoculation with live
cowpox afforded protection against the more dangerous
smallpox. In the 19th century,
Louis Pasteur developed an attenuated (weakened) vaccine for
rabies. In the 20th century, vaccines for the viral diseases
mumps and
polio were developed using animal cells grown
in vitro.[34]
Different non-human animals unwillingly help humans with creating medicine that can treat certain human diseases. For example, the anticoagulant properties of snake venom are key to potential medical use. These toxins can be used to treat heart disease, pulmonary embolism, and many other diseases, all of which may originate from blood clots.
[1]
In hunting
Non-human animals, and products made from them, are used to assist in hunting. Humans have used
hunting dogs to help chase down animals such as deer, wolves, and foxes;[36]birds of prey from eagles to small
falcons are used in
falconry, hunting birds or mammals;[37] and tethered
cormorants have been
used to catch fish.[38]
A wide variety of animals are used as
pets, from invertebrates such as tarantulas and octopuses, insects including
praying mantises,[41]reptiles such as
snakes and
chameleons,[42] and
birds including
canaries,
parakeets and
parrots.[43] However, non-human mammals are the most popular pets in the Western world, with the most utilized species being
dogs,
cats, and
rabbits. For example, in America in 2012 there were some 78 million
dogs, 86 million
cats, and 3.5 million
rabbits.[44][45][46]Anthropomorphism, the attribution of
human traits to non-human
animals, is an important aspect of the way that humans relate to other animals such as pets.[47][48][49] There is a tension between the role of other animals as companions to humans, and their existence as
individuals with rights of their own; ignoring those rights is a form of
speciesism.[50]
A wide variety of both terrestrial and aquatic non-human animals are hunted for sport.[51]
The aquatic animals most often hunted for sport are fish, including many species from large marine predators such as
sharks and
tuna, to freshwater fish such as
trout and
carp.[52][53]
Animals feature in many different roles in
video games, ranging from background
NPCs and basic enemies to the
protagonist of a game, as in the 2022 game Stray. Animals are considered crucial[by whom?] to
creating a believable video game setting.[66]Virtual pet video games, such as the Nintendogs series and the mobile game Neko Atsume, are a popular type of game where you care for a fictional pet, usually a dog or cat.[67] In 2019, a
Twitter account named
Can You Pet the Dog? was created to document whether the dog and cat NPCs in a game can be petted.[68]
Animals including many
insects[69] and non-human mammals[70] feature in mythology and religion.
Among the insects, in both Japan and Europe, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, a
butterfly was seen as the personification of a human's soul, both while they were alive and after their death.[69][71][72] The
scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt,[73] while the
praying mantis was considered a god in southern African
Khoi and
San tradition for their praying posture.[74]
^"The Purpose of Humanimalia". De Pauw University.
Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018. animal/human interfaces have been a neglected area of research, given the ubiquity of animals in human culture and history, and the dramatic change in our material relationships since the rise of agribusiness farming and pharmacological research, genetic experimentation, and the erosion of animal habitats.
^Churchman, David (1987). The Educational Role of Zoos: A Synthesis of the Literature (1928-1987) with Annotated Bibliography. California State University. p. 8. addressing the broad question of the relationship between animals and human culture. The committee argues that zoos should foster awareness of the involvement of animals in literature, music, history, art, medicine, religion, folklore, language, commerce, food, and adornment of the world's culture's, present and past
^Helfman, Gene S. (2007). Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources. Island Press. p. 11.
ISBN978-1-59726-760-1.
^"Cochineal and Carmine". Major colourants and dyestuffs, mainly produced in horticultural systems. FAO.
Archived from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
^Pearnchob, N.; Siepmann, J.; Bodmeier, R. (2003). "Pharmaceutical applications of shellac: moisture-protective and taste-masking coatings and extended-release matrix tablets". Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy. 29 (8): 925–938.
doi:
10.1081/ddc-120024188.
PMID14570313.
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^Barber, E. J. W. (1991). Prehistoric Textiles. Princeton University Press. pp. 230–231.
ISBN978-0-691-00224-8.
^Munro, John H. (2007). Netherton, Robin; Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (eds.). The Anti-Red Shift – To the Dark Side: Colour Changes in Flemish Luxury Woollens, 1300–1500. Vol. 3. Boydell Press. pp. 56–57.
ISBN978-1-84383-291-1. {{
cite book}}: |work= ignored (
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^Munro, John H. (2003). Jenkins, David (ed.). Medieval Woollens: Textiles, Technology, and Organisation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 214–215.
ISBN978-0-521-34107-3.
^Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "anthropomorphism, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885.
^Hutson, Matthew (2012). The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane. Hudson Street Press. pp. 165–181.
ISBN978-1-101-55832-4.
^
abTsutsui, William M. (April 2007). "Looking Straight at "Them!" Understanding the Big Bug Movies of the 1950s". Environmental History. 12 (2): 237–253.
doi:
10.1093/envhis/12.2.237.
JSTOR25473065.
^"Butterfly". Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alembert. January 2011.
Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
^Hutchins, M., Arthur V. Evans, Rosser W. Garrison and Neil Schlager (Eds) (2003) Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 3, Insects. Gale, 2003.
^Ben-Tor, Daphna (1989). Scarabs, A Reflection of Ancient Egypt. Jerusalem. p. 8.
ISBN978-965-278-083-6.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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^McCone, Kim R. (1987). Meid, W. (ed.). Hund, Wolf, und Krieger bei den Indogermanen. Innsbruck. pp. 101–154. {{
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^Lau, Theodora, The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes, pp. 2–8, 30–5, 60–4, 88–94, 118–24, 148–53, 178–84, 208–13, 238–44, 270–78, 306–12, 338–44, Souvenir Press, New York, 2005
^"The Zodiac". Western Washington University.
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