The simple answer is no one knows who the first person to milk a cow was, a plausible theory was that our ancestors saw offspring feeding and copied the behaviour.
Through analyzing degraded fats on unearthed potshards, scientists have discovered that Neolithic farmers in Britain and Northern Europe may have been among the first to begin milking cattle for human consumption. The dairying activities of these European farmers may have begun as early as 6,000 years ago.
While it is still speculation, the most likely hypothesis is that desperation and starvation drove early farmers to cow's milk; this is the most widely accepted theory in the historical farming community, although the exact person and reason may be debated.
People observed animals in the wild nursing their young just as they nursed their own young. By capturing goats and aurochs (ancestral cow breeds), the people were able to collect their milk in pottery vessels. These humans would have learned quickly that milk from other animals was a complete, nutritious food.
Now, scientists have found some of the oldest evidence yet for dairy drinking: People in modern Kenya and Sudan were ingesting milk products beginning at least 6000 years ago.
The first people to drink milk regularly were early farmers and pastoralists in western Europe – some of the first humans to live with domesticated animals, including cows. Today, drinking milk is common practice in northern Europe, North America, and a patchwork of other places.
Humans first learned to consume the milk of other mammals regularly following the domestication of animals during the Neolithic Revolution or the development of agriculture. This development occurred independently in several global locations from as early as 9000–7000 BC in Mesopotamia to 3500–3000 BC in the Americas.
There's no reason for adults to drink cow's milk unless they like it, according to Vasanti Malik of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The History of Milk
The first dairy animal to be domesticated was the sheep around 9,000 years ago. This was followed by goats and cattle in the next thousand years, then donkeys, water buffalo, and horses. In fact, donkeys provide milk that is closest to human mother's milk and was used for sick or orphaned infants.
Milk's Humble Beginnings
Dairy got its start in what is now Turkey in about 8,000 BCE, and for reasons of food safety in the days before refrigeration, the first milk from animals was turned into yogurt, cheese, and butter.
Dog milk is the breastmilk that has been extracted and harvested from a female dog. This milk is essential in the growth of a newborn puppy. It definitely should not be used for human baby consumption. One, that's disgusting, two it has inadequate nutrients for a human baby.
The practice of feeding human babies milk from animals, called dry nursing, began to flourish in the 19th century. Milk from a variety animals—goats, cows, mares, and donkeys—was used.
World milk production is almost entirely derived from cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep and camels. Other less common milk animals are yaks, horses, reindeers and donkeys.
Explanation: Black milk is the slimmest milk containing very little amount of fat (0.2%) is produced by Black rhinoceros.
Goats and sheep were probably first, followed by cows. All three have since been bred to improve temperament and output, but cows have responded the most profoundly. The ancestor of the European milch cow was the ox-like wild aurochs, which finally went extinct in the 17th century.
Do humans require milk of another species to live happy and healthy lives? People can live without milk in their diet, however it's important that they seek out the essential nutrients that milk and other dairy foods provide, from other dietary sources.
Milk is an important source of fats, protein, calcium, and vitamins A and D, and children of any age as well as adults can continue to drink it for the rest of their lives if they wish.
When light hits the tiny micelle particles it causes the light to refract and scatter. This causes milk to reflect all light wavelengths and absorb none, making it appear white.
Is the consumption of cow's milk essential for proper health? The bottom line is no, dairy products are not a nutritional requirement for humans. We can get all of the nutrients for optimal health from a high-quality diet that limits or contains no dairy.
Pig milk is generally considered unappealing for human consumption. Compared to more conventional animals such as dairy cattle or goats, a main issue is their omnivorous diet. Also, the flavor of pig milk has been described as "gamy", more so than goat's milk. The milk is also considered more watery than cow's milk.
Whale's milk, not used for human consumption, is one of the highest-fat milks. It contains, on average, 10.9% protein, 42.3% fat, and 2.0% lactose, and supplies 443 kcal of energy per 100 grams.
Because mare's milk contains more sugars than cow's or goat's milk, when fermented, kumis has a higher, though still mild, alcohol content compared to kefir. Even in the areas of the world where kumis is popular today, mare's milk remains a very limited commodity.
The historical evolution of infant feeding includes wet nursing, the feeding bottle, and formula use. Before the invention of bottles and formula, wet nursing was the safest and most common alternative to the natural mother's breastmilk.
Before 1900, women who weren't able to breastfeed, and could afford the expense, hired a wet nurse to breastfeed their infant. Simply put, a wet nurse is someone who breastfeeds another woman's child. There is evidence of this practice taking place as far back as 2000 BC!
Prehistoric babies were bottle-fed with animal milk more than 3,000 years ago, according to new evidence. Archaeologists found traces of animal fats inside ancient clay vessels, giving a rare insight into the diets of Bronze and Iron Age infants.