Final answer:
Cows and other animals adapted to domestication through a process of selective breeding, leading to changes in temperament, physiology, and their roles in human society. As humans adopted agricultural lifestyles, the domestication of animals became a cornerstone for survival and development, fostering symbiotic relationships between humans and livestock.
Step-by-step explanation:
How cows adapted to domestication? Cows, like many other animals, have been subjected to selective breeding to emphasize traits desirable to human society. This process has allowed for calm temperaments, docility, and an increased capability for production of resources such as milk, meat, and hides. As humans evolved towards agricultural lifestyles, they selectively bred animals that could thrive under domestic conditions and were easier to manage. Livestock like cows became essential for providing a reliable food source and secondary products and thus underwent both behavioral and physiological changes to better suit their role in human society.
Animal domestication came with treating animals such as cows, sheep, goats, and pigs more as resources than simply food sources. The development of pastoral societies revolved around the tending and breeding of these domesticated animals, and these interactions further solidified the symbiosis between people and their livestock. The importance of these animals went beyond nourishment to include clothing, transportation, and trading, and their roles were often reinforced by cultural norms and religious beliefs.
As with plants, human intervention through selective breeding led to the development of livestock well-suited for farming environments. The rise of agriculture played a significant role in the development of human civilization, profoundly changing the way humans obtained food and organized society. Animals became not just a source of meat but a sustainable resource, contributing to the surplus that allowed for the development of specialized occupations and the expansion of trade networks.