The pet industry is vast, but it is difficult to determine which sector is the largest based on the provided search result. Pets are animals that humans keep for companionship and pleasure, forming a mutually beneficial relationship. Pet keeping satisfies a deep, universal human need and has been practiced from prehistoric times to the present across nearly every culture and society.
What animals are considered pets?
Animals kept as pets can be classified according to their habitat. Here are some examples:
- Household pets Dogs, cats, and birds such as canaries and parakeets
- Aviary pets Birds such as jays, magpies, and members of the crow family
- Vivarium pets Reptiles and amphibians that require special conditions of heat and moisture, such as snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, and toads
- Aquarium pets Fish
- Hutch, or cage, pets Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, and chinchillas
- Paddock pets Horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules that must be stabled outdoors
- Insect pets Walking-stick insects and ants
What purposes do pets serve?
Since the earliest period of domestication, pets have fulfilled practical and economic ends, such as catching other animals, guarding livestock, homes, or owners, providing a source of food, eliminating animal pests, and breeding.
What is the history of pet domestication?
The history of pets is intertwined with animal domestication. The dog was likely the first domesticated species and the first pet. Horses and cats were domesticated later in human history. By 2000 BCE, horses used in chariot battles were an established phenomenon throughout the Middle East. Cats were not domesticated as pets until the New Kingdom period (about the 16th century BCE) in Egypt.
What are the concerns about exotic pets?
There is increasing concern about the sale of exotic pets, such as jaguars, alligators, ocelots, monkeys, apes, and kinkajous. Owners of such pets are rarely able to provide the basic nutritional or habitat needs of these animals, and most of them soon die or are sent to a zoo. Furthermore, obtaining the young, which are considered most desirable as pets, often involves killing many adults of the wild species, seriously depleting populations already endangered. Several countries have passed laws to prohibit the importation of endangered species as pets, but an active black market flourishes.
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