For thousands of years, in cultures around the world, people have cared for some animals simply because they like them. People like the looks of some creatures, or the sounds they make. They find that some animals are good company and show attachment to people.
Such animals usually are not expected to work for their keep, nor are they eaten. They are considered "pets," a word that appeared in the English language as early as the 1600s.
Keeping a pet involves a number of practices. These include providing an animal with special food, playing with it, allowing it to live in the house or to sit on a lap or a shoulder, and caring for it when it is sick. Most, but not all, pets have names.
In the past, people made pets of animals found in their local environments, but an animal from a faraway place was sometimes both a pet and a status symbol.
Today, the animals that Americans live with as companions, sources of interest and pleasure, and objects of beauty have originated from almost every continent.
