Animal product in the context of Honey

Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, etc.), for recreation/taxidermy (see trophy hunting), although it may also be done for resourceful reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals (e.g. wolf hunting), to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases (see varminting), for trade/tourism (see safari), or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species (commonly called a cull).

Recreationally hunted species are generally referred to as the game, and are usually mammals and birds. A person participating in a hunt is a hunter or (less commonly) huntsman; a natural area used for hunting is called a game reserve; and an experienced hunter who helps organise a hunt and/or manage the game reserve is also known as a gamekeeper.

Livestock are the domesticated animals that are raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified animal products for human consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals which are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. Livestock production are mainly a source for farm work and human consumption.

The breeding, maintenance, slaughter and general subjugation of livestock called animal husbandry, is a part of modern agriculture and has been practiced in many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and periods. It continues to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous communities.

Conversations regarding the ethics of eating meat are focused on whether or not it is moral to eat non-human animals. People who abstain from eating meat are generally known as "vegetarians" and people who avoid all animal by-products are known as “vegans”. They avoid meat for a variety of reasons, including taste preference, animal welfare, ethical reasons, religion, the environmental impact of meat production (environmental vegetarianism), health considerations, and antimicrobial resistance. Individuals who promote meat consumption do so for a number of reasons, such as health, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and scientific arguments that support the practice. The majority of the world’s health and dietetics associations state that a well-planned vegetarian or vegan diet can be nutritionally adequate for all stages of life.

A common argument used in the animal rights movement is the argument from marginal cases, asserting that non-human animals should have the moral status similar to that of marginal case human beings such as human infants, the senile, the comatose, and the cognitively disabled. Proponents argue that there are no morally relevant traits that these marginal humans possess that animals lack.

Game or quarry are wild animals which are hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially (recreational fishing) are also referred to as game fish.

Poultry (/ˈpoʊltri/) are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, and turkeys). The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae (ducks and geese) but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.

Recent genomic studies involving the four extant junglefowl species reveals that the domestication of chicken, the most populous poultry species, occurred around 8,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. This was previously believed to have occurred around 5,400 years ago, also in Southeast Asia. The process may have originally occurred as a result of people hatching and rearing young birds from eggs collected from the wild, but later involved keeping the birds permanently in captivity. Domesticated chickens may have been used for cockfighting at first and quail kept for their songs, but people soon realised the advantages of having a captive-bred source of food. Selective breeding for fast growth, egg-laying ability, conformation, plumage and docility took place over the centuries, and modern breeds often look very different from their wild ancestors. Although some birds are still kept in small flocks in extensive systems, most birds available in the market today are reared in intensive commercial enterprises.

In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other forages into meat, milk, wool and other animal products. Grazing is often done on lands that are unsuitable for arable farming, although there are occasions where arable lands and even prior farmlands are intentionally kept or converted to pastures to raise commercially valuable grazing animals.

Farmers may employ many different strategies of grazing for optimum production: grazing may be continuous, seasonal, or rotational within a grazing period. Longer rotations are found in ley farming, alternating arable and fodder crops; in rest rotation, deferred rotation, and mob grazing, giving grasses a longer time to recover or leaving land fallow. Patch-burn sets up a rotation of fresh grass after burning with two years of rest. Conservation grazing proposes to use grazing animals to improve the biodiversity of a site.

Pescetarianism (/ˌpɛskəˈtɛəri.ənɪzəm/ PESK-ə-TAIR-ee-ə-niz-əm; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is a dietary practice in which seafood is the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. The inclusion of other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to research conducted from 2017 to 2018, approximately 3% of adults worldwide are pescetarian.

Mariculture, sometimes called marine farming or marine aquaculture, is a branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in seawater. Subsets of it include (offshore mariculture), fish farms built on littoral waters (inshore mariculture), or in artificial tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater (onshore mariculture). An example of the latter is the farming of plankton and seaweed, shellfish like shrimp or oysters, and marine finfish, in saltwater ponds. Non-food products produced by mariculture include: fish meal, nutrient agar, jewellery (e.g. cultured pearls, and cosmetics.

Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vegan; the word is also used to describe foods and materials that are compatible with veganism.

Ethical veganism excludes all forms of animal use, whether in agriculture for labour or food (e.g., meat, fish and other animal seafood, eggs, honey, and dairy products such as milk or cheese), in clothing and industry (e.g., leather, wool, fur, and some cosmetics), in entertainment (e.g., zoos, exotic pets, and circuses), or in services (e.g., mounted police, working animals, and animal testing). People who follow a vegan diet for the benefits to the environment, their health or for religion are regularly also described as vegans.

Rendering is any process that converts waste animal tissue into stable, usable materials. Rendering can refer to any processing of animal products into more useful materials, or, more narrowly, to the rendering of whole animal fatty tissue into purified fats like lard or tallow. Rendering can be carried out on an industrial, farm, or kitchen scale. It can also be applied to non-animal products that are rendered down to pulp. The rendering process simultaneously dries the material and separates the fat from the bone and protein, yielding a fat commodity and a protein meal.

A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. It encompasses a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. Plant-based diets may also be vegan or vegetarian, but do not have to be, as they are defined in terms of high frequency of plants and low frequency of animal food consumption.

Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for trophies, taxidermy, meat, and commercially valuable animal by-products (such as horns, antlers, tusks, bones, fur, body fat, or special organs). The term is often associated with the hunting of Africa's "Big Five" game (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and African rhinoceros), and Indian rhinoceros and Bengal tigers on the Indian subcontinent.

Agroforestry (also known as agro-sylviculture or forest farming) is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system can produce timber and wood products, fruits, nuts, other edible plant products, edible mushrooms, medicinal plants, ornamental plants, animals and animal products, and other products from both domesticated and wild species.

Agroforestry can be practiced for economic, environmental, and social benefits, and can be part of sustainable agriculture. Apart from production, benefits from agroforestry include improved farm productivity, healthier environments, reduction of risk for farmers, beauty and aesthetics, increased farm profits, reduced soil erosion, creating wildlife habitat, less pollution, managing animal waste, increased biodiversity, improved soil structure, and carbon sequestration.

Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a strong odor obtained from a gland of the musk deer. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name originates from the Late Greek μόσχος 'moskhos', from Persian mushk and Sanskrit मुष्क muṣka (lit. 'testicle') derived from Proto-Indo-European noun múh₂s meaning "mouse". The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. The term is applied to various plants and animals of similar smell (e.g., muskox) and has come to encompass a wide variety of aromatic substances with similar odors, despite their often differing chemical structures and molecular shapes.

Natural musk was used extensively in perfumery until the late 19th century when economic and ethical motives led to the adoption of synthetic musk, which is now used almost exclusively. The organic compound primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of musk is muscone. There are several ways of preparing the commercial musk, and the best method is to dry the pod by sunning and airing immediately after it is taken from the animal. Natural musk is usually packed in hermetically-sealed vessels and wooden boxes lined with tin foil because of its powerful diffusion of odor.

Edible bird's nests, also known as swallow nests (Chinese: 燕窝; pinyin: yànwō), are bird nests created from solidified saliva by edible-nest swiftlets, Indian swiftlets and other swiftlets of the genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia, which are harvested for human consumption.

Swiftlet nests have been used as a delicacy for over 400 years, most often as soup. They are particularly prized in Chinese cuisine due to the rarity, high protein content and rich flavor, and are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with prices up to about $4,300 per pound ($9,500/kg) depending on grading. The type or grading of a swiftlet nest depends on the bird species, as well as the shape and colour of the bird's nest. It is usually white in colour, but there also exists a red version that is sometimes called 'blood nest' (Chinese: 血燕; pinyin: Xuě Yàn). According to traditional Chinese medicine, it promotes good health, especially for the skin.