Resource: Different Breeds of Cattle
Media Type:
QuickTime Video
Length: 0m 46s
Size: 2.2 MB
The various breeds of cattle reflect a combination of their origins and uses. By exaggerating desirable characteristics through careful selection, man has created 800 different breeds of various physical features. This video segment from Nature provides a quick look at six breeds of cattle.
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Transcript (Rich Text Format Document)
Loading reviews...Teachers' Domain, Different Breeds of Cattle, published November 18, 2008, retrieved on ,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/nat08.living.gen.geneng.breeds/
- Background Essay
- Questions for Discussion
- Standards
Print Background EssayCattle originally evolved over millions of years through a process of natural selection-also known as “survival of the fittest”-which made them adaptable to a wide variety of environments, including most of those inhabited by another highly adaptable species: humans. Once humans discovered how to domesticate cattle about 4,000 years ago, they began to selectively, or “artificially,” breed them for specific desired traits like meat and milk production. This resulted in animals fit less for survival in the wild than the satisfaction of human needs, but in purely genetic terms, the arrangement has proven highly successful for cattle. Cattle now thrive throughout the world in over 800 different breeds, each more or less successfully adapted to their environment and the needs of their human caretakers.
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K-12 Subject:
Genetic Engineering
Genetic Inheritance
Lesson Plans Using this Resource:
Source: Nature: "Holy Cow"
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Major corporate support for the Nature collection was provided by Canon U.S.A. and SC Johnson. Additional support was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the nation’s public television stations.