Many millennia passed before man domesticated animals, as wild animals were used as a source of food and clothing. Domestication was not without its challenges either - animals suitable for domestication required that they be socially inclined and tractable, and possess the ability to breed in captivity. Gentle herbivores like goats and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated around 8000 BC in southwest Asia. However, the carnivorous wolf was also one of the first, despite the potential danger it might have caused its breeders. Horses would not follow until some 4000 years later, but by then, animals were being used for food, protection, and battle.
