Wildlife and biodiversity: Natural resource concepts versus livestock-based experiences

Abstract

An investigation was conducted to understand the meaning of wildlife and biodiversity in livestockbased agriculture and their  relationship to those in natural resource sector. Review was conducted on literatures related to wildlife, biodiversity and food animals.  Others include origin of livestock, livestock breeds and meat production statistics. Results show that 5 wild food animals; aurochs, bezoar,  wild boar, mouflon and red jungle fowl were the earliest to be domesticated and their domestic forms account for 93.4% of  global meat production. Populations of only one species from among several species of a particular food animal was tamed and  transformed into a domestic form. Domestic chicken and pig were the top contributors to global meat supply with 34.7% and 34.5% respectively. Goat has the highest proportion of extant breeds (97.1%) while pig has the least (82.2%). The precise meaning of wildlife and  biodiversity in the natural resource sector were changed in livestock-based agriculture due to the changes associated with animal  domestication. Findings would be beneficial in curriculum development and educational projects aimed at greater consciousness on the  environment.