12 man-made things you always thought were completely natural

Here are 12 man-made things that most people think are entirely natural...

1. Chickens

Yes, of course chickens are natural and not the result of some laboratory experiment! That said, chickens today don't have the same heads as the ones you would have found years' ago! Why? Because intense poultry farming is designed to produce chickens with more meat and thinner bones, meaning that over time their morphology mutated.

© Source photo : Giphy

2. The Amazon Rainforest

Man dabbled with the Amazon basin, as he did with most of the Earth's forests! Ancient Amerindian civilizations were capable of modifying their environments, leaving us with the amazing 'set of lungs' and rich ecosystem that we see today.

3. Corn

10,000 years ago, corn was a grass-like plant that looked a bit like wheat sheaves. Thousands of years of farming and cross-breeding meant corn heads grew in size, turned yellow and became the deliciously crunchy grains you'll find today.

4. Vegetables

Most of today's vegetables have been altered by man. Genetic and size/shape modifications improved vegetables' market appeal so that customers would be tempted to buy these 'prettier' and therefore more appetizing varieties.

© Source photo : Giphy

5. Yellowstone National Park lakes

There was a time when Yellowstone's 'natural' lakes were like all others - blue! Pollutants, however, gradually entered the ecosystem, changing the color of the landscape. The scenery's still awesome, but decades of 'littering' mean some parts are just as toxic to us as they are to our planet.

© Source photo : Giphy

6. Cabbages

Cabbages were, at first, a type of mustard - a form of cruciferous plant that invaded fields until genetic modifications allowed our ancestors to produce modern day varieties.

7. Some earthquakes

Construction works, particularly the boring of extremely deep wells and natural energy extraction (such as fracking), can harm the Earth's structure and nowadays there are panels of experts who undertake earthquake risk assessments around zones where industrial drilling has taken place. The construction of huge dams is also another suspect.

8. Pigs and sheep

Pigs evolved from wild boar that we still find today. As for sheep, early breeds were similar, but it was with domestication that they became bred for their wool and fattened up for their meat.

© Source photo : Giphy

9. Red radishes

Original radishes were black! You can still find black radishes, but the red and white varieties we find today are entirely due to genetic modification.

10. Domesticated animals and livestock

Certain breeds of dogs were created by man, whereas wild cats and wolves existed long before and naturally evolved. As for livestock, farming 'tamed' them and changed their morphology, the downside being that these more docile breeds are less able to defend themselves against predators.

© Source photo : Giphy

11. Fruits

Fruits have changed during the course of history due to genetic modification and farming techniques. 'Real' bananas, for example, were an unsavory mass of pips and very few are found today. The only fruit that you'll find in its 'original' form is wild strawberries. The big, juicy strawberries we eat today were derived from white Peruvian strawberries.

12. Climate change

The Earth's climate is unique and mankind has managed to modify it to suit its needs. However, most of us now accept that climate change is largely due to the way we have and continue to treat our precious planet. The jury may still be out, but there are stories of the Americans manipulating the weather during the Vietnam War (cloud seeding to produce more rain) or China's attempt to control the weather for the Beijing Olympics.

Sources: Cracked