PETS, PARASITES, AND PEDIATRICS

[摘要] "When Neolithic man learnt to domesticate animals and till the land he extended an open invitation to tetanus."1 Long before, when the dog attached himself to Paleolithic man as a scavenger and hunting partner, he initiated an intimate association between man and animal; his pups began the virtual symbiosis which has developed between children and their pets.Zeuner,2 an authority on the domestication of animals, thinks it probable that the custom of making pets of a variety of animals—so universal in human groups that it must satisfy ancient basic traits (like the maternal instinct of women, the protective instinct of men, and the tactile gratification of children)—might have portended animal domestication.

[学科分类] 儿科学