Ecology of mammals. Part Seven

By that time, there were 110 heads of them, along with calves. There is reason to believe that musk oxen will eventually be resettled in other Arctic regions of Russia. From 1925 to 1970, hundreds of thousands of animals, 35 species, were transported and released in new locations, mostly with positive results.


Fur farming

The cellular content of valuable fur-bearing animals makes it possible to produce the required amount of furs. Fur farming began to develop in our country from the first years of Soviet rule. Minks, foxes, arctic foxes, sables and other fur-bearing animals are bred in cages. Previously, fire foxes of natural red color were bred, black-brown melanistic foxes were highly valued (melanin is a black pigment that determines the color of an animal). Black-browed foxes are sometimes found in nature. Geneticists have bred foxes and other colors from white to black. The furs of platinum foxes and some others are especially beautiful. The colored minks bred by geneticists are even more diverse. For a long time it was not allowed to breed sables in captivity. However, the research of Professor P. A. Manteuffel has established that sables do not mate in spring, as was thought, but in autumn, and there is a hidden gestation period for females. Now sables are successfully bred in captivity. Fur farms are located near fish canneries and slaughterhouses in order to use production waste into animal feed. There is a system of semi-voluntary animal husbandry. So, blue arctic foxes live on the island of Medny. They are fed during the hungry season and a part of the population is caught annually. To obtain antlers, which are highly valued in medicine, farms for breeding maral deer, and most often spotted deer, are now organized. Herds of deer are grazed, trained to return to the pen at a signal, and fed in winter. The growing horns of the males, covered with velvety skin, are cut down annually and preserved to produce pantocrine from them. Fur farming and the organization of farms of tamed animals is a step towards their complete domestication.


Pets

The domestication of animals began in ancient times. Apparently, the dogs were the first. Thanks to artificial selection conducted by humans, many breeds of domestic animals of different species have been obtained. Cattle descended from three species of wild ungulates, but the ancestor of most breeds was the tur (Bos primigenius), now extinct. He lived almost all over Europe and is mentioned more than once in Russian chronicles and epics. Sheep farming develops in different ways. In Russia, wool sheep, sheepskin-fur, smooth, meat-and-tallow sheep are bred. In the post-war period, a new breed of argali, merino, was obtained by hybridization with the wild argali sheep. These sheep are very large, rather fine-fleeced, and most importantly, they can use mountain pastures inaccessible to lowland sheep breeds. Of the horse breeds, Orel trotters, bred in the Voronezh province, are world famous. In Soviet times, a record holder was created — the Vladimir heavy truck. One of the ancestors of modern horses, the Przhevalsky horse, was preserved, apparently, only in captivity. Dog breeds are the most diverse. Currently, great success has been achieved in the domestication of moose. They are used as riding animals when off-road. The main quality of moose is that they can be kept on forage all year round. Domestic animals are usually referred to as species bred by humans to meet their economic and other needs, but this definition is approximate, since it is very difficult to establish the boundary between an animal that is domesticated, or only tamed, or only bred, protected. Modern hunting is based on the principle of obtaining only what is reproduced. Ungulates, hares, and other animals are fed, protected from predators, and hunted down to a strictly defined number of individuals. There are even two herds of gray whales in the Sea of Okhotsk, which are continuously "grazed" by replacement "shepherds" boats. Domestication is only one of the stages of the use of mammals in the interests of human agriculture, however, the stage is the highest and one can find all the transitions from one animal to a domestic one among the ways in which animals are used by humans. Pets often become wild again. You can receive bonuses and gifts at 1xBet Casino by activating promotional codes. Enter the 1xbet promo code during registration to get a 150% welcome bonus up to ₹66,000. Bonus code for 1XBET in the registration form and claim exclusive bonuses for casino and sports betting. We break down the CS2 betting coverage at 1xBet and reveal how to use our exclusive 1xBet bonus code. 1xbet promo code unlocks a welcome bonus for news players. The promo section provides details on the minimum deposit amounts for the sportsbook and casino.