Horse has its origins in North America by Zuzana Zelenakova

So elegant and smooth these animals are that usually we just stop and stare when we see them. People enjoy themselves while watching different animals, that is undeniable. Horse is no exception. In addition, this species is somewhat closer to the humans for we used their strength for centuries. But long ago all horses were wild animals running free in large herds across the vast grasslands. Today horses, zebras and asses all belong to the genus Equus, which is the only subcategory of larger group called the Equidae that lasted to the present day. The origins of the Equus genus can be found in North America and date 4 million years back. This early form of a horse migrated over the land bridges also to other parts of the world, Eurasia notably, and subsequently developed into the animal we know today. However, with the climate changes in North America came also the extinction of the early horses and the prairies fell silent for some time. The last of these prehistoric horses from North America died out between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene. It was not until the Spanish conquest that horses were brought back to their, we might say homeland by Conquistadors from Spain and Portugal. But these were already domesticated animals and wild horses as we know them today are the ancestors of those that managed to escape. They came to be called “mustangs”, probably from Spanish word “mesteno” meaning free-running animal. They are considered as non-native. But this view point is only relative. We should compare these North American so called non-native horses to the Mongolian wild horse, which disappeared from the plains of its habitat in Mongolia and northern China centuries ago and is now restricted to the zoos and reservations. Although we talk about captivity here, it could be compared to the domestification. in the 90s they were set free to repopulate their native land. So where is the difference between them? And is there any?


related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080726/sc_livescience/thesurprisinghistoryofamericaswildhorses;_ylt=AlLdxv1lFU8twzxzwaoEavsPLBIF

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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posted by Lucia Adamova