Horse

Horse, large land mammal notable for its speed, strength, and endurance. Horses are members of the Equidae family, which also includes zebras and asses. Like all equids, the horse is extremely well adapted to traveling long distances with great efficiency and to surviving on a diet of nutrient-poor, high-fiber grasses. The horse is an intensely social animal, forming strong associations with members of its herd and possessing a keen ability to recognize subtle social cues. These instinctive behaviors form the basis of the horse’s ability to bond with and obey a human trainer.

The wild ancestors of the modern horse evolved for millions of years in North America. They spread to other parts of the world by traveling southward to South America and by crossing land bridges that connected North America to Europe and Asia during the ice age. Horses vanished from both North and South America in a wave of extinctions that occurred near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, about 15,000 years ago. They were not seen in the Americas again until 1494, when Italian explorer Christopher Columbus transported them on ships from Spain on his second voyage to the New World.

Przewalski's horse, named after the Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky, is believed to be the only truly wild horse to survive to modern times. Przewalski’s horse probably became extinct in the wild in Mongolia in the 1960s, but a captive breeding program in Europe helped restore the population. About 1,100 horses survive today in captivity in zoos and wildlife parks. Przewalski’s horse was reintroduced to national parks in Mongolia beginning in 1992, and several hundred now live there.

by : Stephen Budiansky

source picture : museumvictoria.com.au