Taurine and zebu cattle, Florida Cracker cattle from the Spanish landings, the Longhorn drives, and leather.
Taurine cattle, tamed in the Near East, spread through Europe and Africa; humped zebu cattle, tamed in the Indus Valley, handle heat and insects better. Many modern breeds, including the Brahman developed in Texas and Florida, mix the two.
Why Florida ranches favor heat-tolerant breeds.
Spanish explorers brought cattle to Florida in the early 1500s, and their small, hardy descendants ran wild in the scrub and palmetto for centuries. Florida's cow hunters worked them with dogs and cracking whips, which may be how "cracker" came to Florida. The breed nearly vanished in the 1900s and is now protected by a breeders' association and the state.
A living link between the Spanish landings on this coast and today's ranches.
Also descended from Spanish cattle, Texas Longhorns were driven north by the millions after the Civil War to railheads in Kansas. Barbed wire (patented 1874), railroads and new breeds such as the Hereford ended the open range.
The cattle trails are the reason cow towns and stockyards grew.
Cattle hides become leather by tanning, which turns skin into a material that does not rot. Bark tanning is thousands of years old; chrome tanning, from the 1850s, is faster and now makes most leather. Leather cord and lace appear in the store beside the yarns.
The fiber shop's second shelf.
Humped zebu cattle (Bos indicus) were domesticated separately from European cattle, from aurochs in South Asia; early evidence comes from Mehrgarh in today's Pakistan. Heat-tolerant and tick-resistant, zebu blood runs through the Brahman cattle of Florida's ranches.
Why would Florida ranchers want cattle from India?
Two kinds of domestic water buffalo, the river buffalo of India and the swamp buffalo of China and Southeast Asia, pull plows through flooded rice fields and give rich milk; Italian mozzarella di bufala comes from river buffalo. They are among the most important work animals on Earth.
Why did rice farming favor the buffalo over the horse?
Yaks were domesticated on the Tibetan Plateau, probably more than 7,000 years ago. Thick hair, big lungs and a taste for sparse high grass let them thrive above 4,000 meters. Herders use their milk, butter, meat, hair, hides and dung for fuel, and yak down is now sold as a luxury fiber.
How many uses can one animal provide in a place with no trees?