Human uses of living things used; and as symbols or concepts through totemism and animism. More recently, anthropologists have also seen living things as participants in human social interactions. This article describes the roles played by living things in human culture, so defined. The human population exploits and depends on a large number of animal and plant species for food, mainly through agriculture, an essential component of human culture, but also by exploiting wild populations, notably of marine fish. Livestock animals are raised for meat across the world; they include (2011) around 1.4 billion cattle, 1.2 billion sheep and 1 billion domestic pigs. Plants provide
Monkey goby as amphipods and shrimp. In the Danube lakes Yalpug and Kugurluy, the diet of the monkey goby consists of amphipods, molluscs, and Oligochaeta. In the Khadzhibey Estuary a dozen species of prey make up the diet of monkey goby. Polychaetes, larvae of insects, and shrimp are present in the diet year round. Seasonal dietary additions include crabs such as "Rhithropanopeus harrisii", sea weed such as "Zostera marina", and amphipods such as "Marinogammarus olivii". Certain planktonic crustaceans are also present in the diet of adult gobies. In the northwestern Black Sea, twelve parasite species are known to infect the monkey goby.