Rethinking the origins of animal domestication in China

Abstract Initial animal domestication in early Neolithic China may have resembled the behavior of raising animals as pets for entertainment. During the domestication process, the ecological characteristics and living habits of each animal and the subjective demands of ancient people jointly led to the formation of animal raising behaviors for utilitarian purposes. These commensal interactions involved both the actions of ancient people and the cooperative reactions of the animals themselves. Domestication processes were gradual and involved multiple repeated and progressive co-evolutionary developments.