PASSAGE 3: The Animal Connection

Travel anywhere and you see something so common it may not even catch your attention. Wherever there are people, animals are being walked, herded and fed. Many, such as dogs, cats and sheep, are domesticated, but you will also find people living alongside wild creatures like monkeys and wolves. Close contact with animals is not confined to one particular culture, region or ethnic group but is a universal human trait.

On the face of it this makes little sense. No other mammal adopts individuals from another species, with good reason. Since the ultimate prize in evolution is perpetuating your genes, providing food for another species is counterproductive to success. Even if pets offer friendship, that cannot explain why our bond with other species arose in the first place. Who would bring a ferocious wolf into their home in the hope that thousands of years later it would become a loving pet?

As an anthropologist I have tried to understand this puzzle by looking to the past for the origins of our link with animals. What I found was a long and unbroken evolutionary trail of evidence I call the 'animal connection'. This trail links to three important developments in human evolution: tool making, language and domestication. If I am correct, and I believe that further research will conclusively show that I am, the animal connection is a hugely significant force instrumental in our global success.