Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture crop and livestock species in the early neolithic time period changed our human evolution and lifestyles. This ability to control food production led to major demographic, technological, political and military changes. Consecutively, thousands of years of natural and human selection, genetic drift, inbreeding, and crossbreeding have contributed to the diversification of animal genetic resources and increased the variety of environments and production systems that livestock keeping takes place. Relatively few species have been domesticated; out of the world's 148 non-carnivorous species weighing more than 45 kg, only 15 have been successfully domesticated. The proportion of domesticated birds used for food
Human uses of birds Human uses of birds Human uses of birds have included both economic uses such as food and symbolic uses such as art, music and religion, for thousands of years. In terms of economic uses, birds have been hunted for food since Palaeolithic times. They have been captured and bred as poultry to provide meat and eggs since at least the time of ancient Egypt. Some species have been used, too, to help locate or to catch food, as with cormorant fishing and the use of honeyguides. Feathers have long been used for bedding, as well as for quill pens and