Chapter 26 Twenty-four fish, silkworms, bees

Costumes and Food ★Fish priority Since the so-called fish ponds in the past often only refer to the depressions on the ground, and fish bones are usually very fragile, it is almost impossible to leave much information for paleontologists. Therefore, our understanding of early fisheries can be said to be far more than we imagined. Therefore, it is not easy to try to distinguish whether the fish that have appeared on handicrafts were caught from the wild or raised in ponds.Nonetheless, fish has always played an important role in the human diet.The complex technology of fishing with bait, and the crank mechanism of fishing with reel line on ocean-going fishing vessels, are only modern. Fishing in sun-drying puddles ends up killing fish from rivers and streams that were still bubbling weeks ago.

Whether straddling logs and paddling through waist-deep pools, humans have long learned how to drive fish into weirs and traps, and then scoop them up and put them in baskets at their leisure.Since then, humans have apparently become familiar with the art of controlling the flow of water to specific areas for fishing, and ditches, ponds, and other methods of collecting water have been developed; these methods were originally used to contain fish schools, and later used to raise some food fish kind.As a result, a series of related processes developed naturally. We know that the Sumerians had fishponds and cisterns some 4,500 years ago; people in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians, and the Assyrians also used man-made ponds.Fishing may have been passed on to the Romans by the Sicilians and then by the Romans.The Egyptians apparently still kept a highly esteemed food fish, the cichlid; it is still caught in aquariums to this day.

The Chinese were probably the first people to actually breed fish, and the work goes back at least 3,000 years.The first kind of fish they cultivated was probably carp.The Cyprinidae are the largest of all fish families, and these rough, hardy fish are found in many parts of Europe, and also penetrated into Asia.Carp are more tolerant of cloudy conditions than other fish species, and can still produce large quantities of good-quality fish even when feeding on trash.European carp may have been bred into domestic carp by humans in monasteries by themselves, rather than being introduced from China as is generally said.

The domestic carp is very different from its wild ancestors, and some varieties are almost nothing at all.Wild carp are usually gray and fairly dull in color, while domestic carp come in red, white, patterned, and variegated.In addition, the scales of the two are often very different, and some carps have even been bred without scales. The Japanese learned from the Chinese the technique of cultivating carp, which developed into a science and flourished in their art, pottery, tapestry, painting, and sculpture.The Japanese further improved and bred a carp-like fish called koi and developed it into an art form.Koi are not kept for food, but as pets, as a hobby, and as an elaborate decoration to adorn pools and ponds in Japanese gardens or parks.Koi is an element of people's pursuit of inner peace and tranquility.They are to fish what potted plants are to gardening; however, the biggest difference between koi and potted plants is that koi can recognize people.Koi can recognize the person who comes to the pond to feed them, and will float to the surface near that person's location. In contrast, no matter how carefully people take care of them, they will not respond to the interaction between trees, flowers and plants.Koi come in a variety of colors including red, white, silver, black, yellow and gold.A prize-winning koi with a beautiful pattern can be worth more than $10,000, but even at such a high price, people still flock to it.

The Romans took eels (also known as moray eels) very seriously; these fish were quite fierce and biting, but they were still kept in large numbers, as food fish, and even as pets (there is a story about Roman nobles feeding their pet eels with slaves story, should not be true).The Romans kept variegated Roman eels from pools or cisterns called piscinae or vivaria in Roman terms (salae or maritimae specifically for seawater pools, and dulces for freshwater pools) and then caught them, so they are thought to have lived in It was raised by people at that time.However, unless the ancestors of eels have been kept in captivity for thousands of years, it is difficult to determine how they became the fish bred by humans in captivity.

There is no doubt that the progenitor of the goldfish (genus crucian carp) was the mundane carp.Goldfish were often bred for goldfish in China during the Song Dynasty around 1000 AD.By the 1500s, the hobby had also established its roots in Japan, where the same species of fish that were being farmed today continued to become the pet fish of the upper class and were widely loved.By 1611 AD, goldfish were already being regularly shipped to Europe. As for the United States, it was not until 1876 that goldfish were sold. Among all animals, goldfish are the most domesticated by humans.Just like humans have bred dogs, goldfish have been bred over a long period of time to vary greatly in appearance and come in many types.Apparently, goldfish genes are easily engineered.At present, the goldfish raised in Japan are extremely diverse, especially in counties and cities such as Nara (Nara), Aichi (Aichi) and Tokyo.Goldfish breeding used to be a hobby of the samurai class in Nara Prefecture, but now goldfish breeding has become a popular hobby and business.

Most human-bred goldfish cannot survive in the wild.There are many strains and varieties of these bred in the United States, Japan, and China, some of which are indeed very beautiful, but some are almost monsters; some have eye sockets protruding from the skull, and some have very long tails, like lace, However, it causes difficulty in swimming; some goldfish are bred to be blind because they have no eyes at all, for unknown reasons.The so-called aesthetic standards are often not easy to understand.Amazing color mutations, including basic red/gold, as well as blue, black, white, silver, brown, chocolate, purple, pearl, speckled, variegated or patterned.There are many varieties of goldfish. There are more than 30 types of protruding eyes from China alone, and more than 20 types without dorsal fins.

The Chinese have bred the paradise fish, known scientifically as the yellow betta, for centuries, but whether these often red, rice-field-dwelling, economically worthless fish have been modified from the wild or have simply been Fish that were previously wild are not yet known.The Chinese are so fond of this fish that they only need the free water in the rice-growing tanks to survive and provide a small added pleasure. Many freshwater and marine fish are now raised by fish farmers.We do not know the correct number of species, and still less do we know the number of varieties that have been bred so far.Importing is no longer economical as many species are now bred in large numbers in pens.Fish collectors often go to reefs or remote lakes to find unseen fish and ship them to wholesalers; If it is easy to breed, the original introduced population of this species will disappear; it may be several years before this fish is available again.

In some areas, as collectors have severely depleted wild fish stocks or destroyed fish habitats, it is unlikely that these rare species will reappear in the market in the foreseeable future; We should assess the actual damage caused by the author.It is a good thing for wild fish stocks to breed fish for domestication, because by so-called domestication, it means captive breeding has been going on for a long time.In this case, the economic reality is that livestock (breeding in captivity) reduces human pressure on wild populations and their habitats. Like domestic cage birds, fish species also vary in degree due to different species.It's hard not to think of guppies or discus fish as domesticated fish, although science didn't discover discus fish until after 1840 AD, and they weren't considered aquarium fish until after 1933 fish, but in the sense that they have been bred for many colors and spots, etc., they are indeed animals that have been domesticated by humans.

Browse the entire list of species of fish raised by players from reefs or ponds, a wide variety of bettas, cichlids, mollies, various catfish, small eels, charps (aka lanternfish), reef fish, and hundreds more fish.So we come to a conclusion: if these breeds are artificially bred and produce varieties that meet the color and shape required by humans for domesticated animals, and thus enter the list of domesticated animals, then the fish species raised by humans will be better than those raised by humans. more mammals and birds combined. ★Unexpected livestock The word unexpected is used deliberately, because most people don't think of invertebrates as domestic animals, or even animals.However, invertebrates are animals, of course, and some of them have been genetically manipulated enough to qualify as domestic animals.

Silk is a substance secreted from the mouth of silkworm moth larvae, which hardens upon contact with air and then forms a fiber that wraps around the larvae's body to form a cocoon.The silk thread contained in a cocoon can be up to two kilometers long. More than 5,000 years ago, the Chinese already knew how to untie the long silk thread on each cocoon, and then spun these silk threads into fibers, and then weaved them into the beloved fabric.According to many legends about silk and its origin, silk probably originated around 3000 BC, which corresponds to the period of Fuxi. For thousands of years, the Chinese have carefully guarded the secrets about the origin and manufacture of silk.Before silk became a popular commodity outside of China, there was very little communication between East and West.The silk secret eventually got out, perhaps thanks to early espionage and China's opening to trade.The Silk Road from China to Europe was originally about 5,000 kilometers long. It started from Xi’an in Shaanxi Province in the east, crossed the desolate Central Asia in the west, passed Antioch (Note 1) and Tyre (Tyre, 【Note 2】) and other Mediterranean cities, and then arrived in Rome.At that time, silk was transported by caravan to small boats on the Mediterranean coast waiting to be connected, and then the small boats traveled upstream, and then transported by land to the heart of Europe.The market for silk soon entered Spain, and from there it traveled across the Atlantic to Latin America and finally north into North America.The French Huguenots (French Huguenot, [Note 3]) later inherited the silk fiber manufacturing technology and sericulture, and until now they are still in charge of the birthplace of silk (China).Other silk manufacturing centers also developed along this trade route. 【Note 1】Turkey place name. [Note 2] Place names in Lebanon. 【Note 3】The Protestant political parties first appeared in France in 1560. One of them was established during the French Wars of Religion in the 16th century. It was quite representative, but it gradually lost its importance after the 17th century. Human husbandry intervened in the world of silk manufacturing out of necessity.It lays the foundation for the entire silk industry and produces most of the first-class silk larvae, whose natural food is mulberry leaves; if silk traders do not develop synthetic food for silkworms to eat and produce year-round, then the manufacture of fiber must be coordinated with mulberry leaves. It's leaf growing season.As for these silk fiber manufacturers who rely on artificial synthetic food for food, they are test-tube caterpillars. ★Silkworm Silkworms (the larvae of silkworm moths) are very cooperative little creatures, and as long as the food satisfies their brief gluttonous appetites, they are less likely to crawl around.Also, they can be kept with simple trays and shelves.In the thousands of years of silk history, artisans have bred an animal that does not wander around even after it has developed to the adult stage; silk moths bred by humans have long lost the ability to fly.Because commercial production of silk requires billions of silkworms, humans must be able to control the vast amount of labor they provide.Making silk wouldn't be such an attractive industry if it had to rely on policemen of silkworms and moths to keep these workers from escaping. The silkworm moth first adopted by the Chinese should be the silkworm moth.A similar black-spotted silk moth in the Himalayas also produces commercially valuable silk in its larval stage.Humans have carried out experimental cross-breeding of silkworm moth and black-spotted silkworm moth.Certain other domesticated silkworm moths of the genus Bombyx may have descended from the black-spotted silk moth.There are about a dozen species of silkworm moths that can make usable silk fibers, and they belong to the families Bombyxidae, Cephaliidae, and Sagittaridae.There is a species of moth in the family Desperidae, which is the only species from outside the Indochina Peninsula. Before AD, the Mediterranean silkworm moth (or coa vestris) produced silk called coa vestris, an invention that may have been unaffected by Chinese achievements.Also, the silkworm moths used in places like India, Korea, and Japan are different; the larvae of these silkworm moths all feed on oak leaves, not mulberry leaves. Some might argue that silk is not the pivot of modern culture, and thus the husbandry of silkworm moths is also unimportant.In fact, this view is seriously contrary to the facts.Leaving aside the role played by silk production and trade in the societies and economies of China, Japan, Persia, Greece, France, and England, silk actually involves a wider range of aspects. The Silk Road was an extremely important trade route. It not only promoted the spread of beautiful silk used by nobles, but also special dog breeds and other wild animals or domestic animals, recipes, spices, oils, condiments, healing potions, incense, and silk. Cloths, furs, gunpowder, firecrackers, rubber, works of art, harnesses, military equipment, crafts made of precious and base metals, human genes, etc., also travel around with ships and caravans transporting silk, and continue to transfer wealth Shipping back to China. However, the most important commodity exchanged through the Silk Road does not actually have a physical body; the most abundant commodity carried by caravans traveling to and from various countries is actually human thought.The economies of the East and the West were bound together by strands of silk, and at the same time, the cultures of the East and West were brought into contact.For a long time, silk fibers were the only evidence that the East had been to the West, and if so, it was indeed a very far-reaching event.Compared with economic exchanges, as far as the role of silk in culture is concerned, whether it is the silk itself, the messages it brings or the ideas it arouses, as it spreads around the world, silk has also played an important role in the history of human development. important role.Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that silkworms and silkworm breeding have become the focus of attention in the relationship between humans and the animals they control. ★Bee Bees have been extremely important animals to humans since at least the Paleolithic era.The earliest relationship between humans and bees also followed the hunting/gathering model, except that the objects of human hunting and gathering were not bees, but things made by bees.We know from the cave art of early humans that humans have been searching for hives at great risk since long ago.In addition to climbing trees, cliffs or cave walls, the whole process also involves the risk of bee stings. Once you are actually stung by a bee, not only is it extremely painful, but if you suffer a large number of stings, it may even be fatal.To be attacked by hundreds of raging bees on a cliff is like facing imminent death. To successfully scavenge a hive, you must have three tools.Gathering honey and beeswax requires things like a rope to climb high or secure yourself to a tree trunk, a container for the honey, and fire controls.Early humans used the same method to scare bees as modern humans do: smoke.By smoldering grass and leaves in containers, Stone Age honey gatherers had as much defense as a modern commercial honey producer. The next step was to hollow out the tree trunks to create hive sites that would attract the bees, something that was done long before dynastic times in Egypt.In many parts of the world, honey is the only natural sweetener fully available to man; although sugar cane, sugar beets, and various fruits also supply sugar, these are later additions.People usually build beehives close to the ground to reduce the risk of long-distance climbing and being attacked by bees at heights.However, this way of collecting honey is still a kind of hunting behavior.Human beings think that it doesn't matter even if the hive is destroyed in the process of collecting honey. Anyway, there are more bees, so they often ignore the welfare of the bees attracted by the hive.Before the invention of pesticides and the destruction of many habitats, these united and highly organized insects were indeed not in danger of scarcity. The importance of the queen bee was finally understood because the bees' activities had to be closely tracked.Human beings discovered that queen bees can be taken out of the hive when the defense of the bee colony is at a minimum, and these queen bees can be used to build another new hive; since then, human beings have moved on to another way of husbandry.Making bees easy to keep is one of the goals of bee keeping, followed by the rate at which hives are made.There was a time when man placed beehives near flowers of his choice in order to impart flavor to honey.Harvested honey is indeed an important result of human hard work, but the hive itself has many uses, not only for food, as medicine, but also for making candles or making writing boards. Propolis (bee glue) is a resinous substance that bees collect from trees and used as joints and sealants to strengthen the tightness of the internal structure of the hive.Propolis is a very important building material. Humans collected propolis when collecting beehives; in the early human-bee relationship, propolis may be used to stick sharp stones to arrows and spears. In many cultures, after all, humans have moved beyond just plundering hives to breeding bees, which are carefully driven away with smoke without harming them.Since the use of honey is so common and beekeeping is an inevitable process, it seems unlikely that the practice of keeping bees has a single origin.Beekeeping traditions existed in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, much of the Middle East, Crete, Greece, and Rome long before AD.But exactly when and how beekeeping developed in remote parts of Africa and Asia is unknown. Honeybees are not native to the New World; they were introduced to Brazil from temperate Europe around the 1950s, but they were not able to fight wild tropical honeybees on their own at the time.Thus, the Brazilian geneticist Warwick.The story of the so-called killer bee begins when Warwick Kerr introduces queen bees of some aggressive African strains.Kyle's plan was to cross the mild-tempered European bees with the aggressive African strains to provide Brazilian beekeepers with another wild, strong, productive but manageable bee, but things didn't go as planned wish.Africanized bees bred in Brazil are strongly territorial; if the hive is invaded, the stinging insects will swarm out. As a result, swarms of Africanized bees were later lost and became feral.By 1956, colonies of Africanized bees were fanning out from the Amazon Basin, heading south or north.By 1975, they had appeared in French Guiana; by 1976, in Venezuela; by 1980, they had arrived in Colombia; in 1983, they had reached Panama and Costa Rica.In 1990 and 1992, they came to South Texas and Louisiana in the United States respectively.Using this extrapolation, they are expected to arrive in North Carolina in 1997.How far north these bees can go depends on how well they adapt to the harsher climate. Contrary to the misunderstood ferocity of Africanized bees, their stings are actually no more severe than those of other bee species.Unless you have allergies, being stung once or twice is not a serious problem.What is really dangerous is the number of times humans are stung by killer bees.In the jungle of Panama, I was once attacked by killer bees and was stung twenty-seven times in about ten seconds. Fortunately, I ran away from the hive in time to avoid further stings.Fortunately, I didn't have a systemic reaction.If a person or animal lay down and rolled or slapped the bee so violently during an attack, they could get so many more stings that they would faint from the foreign protein in the venom and the body's reaction to it.The knowledge that a bee stings and dies brings us little comfort.If necessary, beekeepers will eventually modify the temperaments of Africanized bees, bringing them back to the milder temperaments of the European strains they have used for centuries. Beekeeping is an art, and although humans have other sources of sugars that are easier to obtain after industrialization, honey is still the most beloved natural food in the world.The study of these highly evolved social insects is always fascinating.Busy as a bee is nowhere near enough to describe the hustle and bustle inside and outside the hive.The use of bees for pollination may be far more economically valuable than the derivatives of hives. ★Except for bees There are other insects that humans have used.The cochineal insect of the family Cochinaceae is a pest that attacks the prickly pear cactus.As this cactus spreads around the world, the cochineal, which is native to Mexico, has also spread to the world.The cochineal insect, while it may be a pest, is also the source of a red dye that humans often use.However, cochineal insects are not considered insects raised by humans, but only insects used by humans. Humans have also collected and used various shellac scale insects.Mealworms are actually dark-colored snails, a pest found in stored grains around the world, and billions of them are bred to feed various laboratory animals or pets.Other insects are also collected, raised and used in agriculture by humans.Humans catch tens of thousands of ladybugs and ship them for sale to horticulturists, where they prey on aphids, a major pest for rose growers.Humans also collect praying mantis oocysts and sell them to gardeners as a natural pest control tool; parasitoid wasps are also used to control a variety of pests.The list of insects used to control pests is long.There is a burgeoning hobby in the US, Japan and Europe for raising these beautiful insects by butterfly gardens and suppliers before selling them to connoisseurs. However, none of the aforementioned insects can be considered domesticated by humans.At present, humans have developed more and more biological pest control technologies, and it is inevitable to carry out bioengineering transformation on the organisms to be controlled.Humans are now using radiation to deprive certain pests of their male reproductive capacity before releasing them back into wild populations to interfere with reproductive success.The time has clearly come when actions such as bioengineering and biocontrol of harmful organisms will soon be applied to many species of insects.However, whether these modified insects have been raised by humans is still inconclusive. The relationship between such transformations and past husbandry shows that we are facing a dilemma.Humans seem to know exactly what they are doing, and whether these technologies are used to breed fatter or leaner pigs, plump chickens, or insects to control pests, humans want to learn from this growing complexity. In the end, human beings will only use the point of view of whether it is beneficial to human beings as the standard of real livestock breeding.Unfortunately, it is impossible for humans to be omniscient, past, present, or future.Some of the benefits that humans derive from the animal kingdom in the process of raising livestock may have unforeseen consequences and harm to humans and their environment.The element of accident has always played a large role in the husbandry process and there is absolutely no reason to think that the same thing will not happen again in the future.So going forward we should be very cautious, really careful.