You are on page 1of 13

In a number of nutrition and health articles it has been emphasised that

the horse evolved primarily as a grazing herbivore,eating a diet based on


fibre, mainly grasses and when available or in seasonal shortage horses
will even browse trees, shrubs and other foliage to maintain their dietary
needs. In this article we will highlight some new findings about how dietary
change influenced the evolution of the horse and why horses are more
adapted to a grassland life. Although natural selection and adaptation
takes millions of years we should review the way we feed our horses
today and how we might influence the horses continuous evolution. Paleo
(prehistoric)-dental researchers at the New York College of Osteopathic
Medicine and the American Museum of Natural History, have completed
an important new study (1) that shows that the evolutionary path of horses
as we know them today was affected by the food available to their
prehistoric ancestors.
So the old proverb you are what you eat holds true if you give it
about a million years. The evolution of the horse, Equus ferus caballus, has
occurred for approximately 55-60 million years. The Equus became
extinct in the New World (America) 10,000 years ago, but persisted in
the Old World and was domesticated in central Asia about 6000 years
ago from stock probably similar to the present day Przewalskis wild
horses, Equus (ferus) przewalski (2). From studies of fossils, knowledge
about the phylogeny of the horse as an herbivore have been derived and
show that the first 35 million years (Eocene to early Miocene) of equine
phylogeny are characterized by browsing species with a relative small body
size (~10-50 kg). The remaining 20 million years (middle Miocene until
the present day) are characterized by either primarily browsing/grazing or
mixed feeders with a large diversification in body size (~50-500kg)
(3,4). The evolutionary transformations in equids (hoofed mammals of the
family Equidae, like horses, donkeys, zebras and extinct animals) may have
been triggered by dramatic climatic changes (3). The areas where equids
lived may have become drier, developing grasslands and savannas. These
environmental changes may have contributed to the diversification of
equids. The equids developed not only elongated limbs and rigid vertebral
columns, which allow the animals to move quickly and economically. They
also developed teeth with an increased capacity to grind grass, through
hypsodonty (high crowned), increased complexity of the grinding surface
and molarization of the premolars.
http://www.mbequineservices.com/
dietary-changes-and-the-evolution-of-
the-horse/
Horse have had to adapt and
change the way they eat and
what the way they eat by the
changes we have in the world.
The food their ancestors had
may not be available to them in
their time.
















The influence of changes in paleoclimate on equine diet and evolution as
described above has been suspected for many years but was not
previously confirmed because of limitations in traditional approaches to
the study of diet and tooth wear. Previous studies used chemical analyses
of teeth and microscopic wear to understand what the animals were
eating, but because these approaches require such laborious work, studies
were limited to a few specimens at a time. In the present study Matthew
Mihlbachler, Ph.D., and Nikos Solounias, Ph.D. used a new approach
called mesowear that relies on the shape of the tooth, specifically
sharpness of the cusps of molars (bumps on mammalian teeth) to see how
theyve been worn down by chewing. By using this mesowear analysis,
they were able to examine a much large sample size. They studied the
teeth of 6,500 fossil horses representing 222 different populations of
more than 70 extinct horse species, from 55 million years ago in North
America to the extinction at the end of the last ice age.The researchers
analysed the amount of tooth wear and later analysed their data
alongside records of North American climate changes that would have
shifted the diets from rainforest fruits and woody, leafy vegetation to the
more abrasive diets found in grasslands. Horses originally evolved in North
America, but became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The first horses in
North America emerged about 55-60 million years ago. They were small,
fox-size animals with four toes and low-crowned teeth (brachydont). They
lived in a warm, moist, forest environment, and the wear on their rounded
cusps matches those of fruit-eaters. Approximately 33 million years ago,
the shape of horse species teeth changed, from the rounded cusps of fruit
eaters, to the sharper points characteristically of leaf eaters. Around this
time the climate had cooled and the forests would have displayed more
open habitats. Markedly changes in the teeth of ancestral horses, which
are closely related to modern horses, took place around 18 million years
ago. The change in climate favouring the spread of open grasslands and
required the horse species to adapt to tougher plant diets, particularly
grasses. Because grasses contain silica, which is abrasive and causes
increased tooth wear, horse teeth compensated by growing longer
(developing high-crowned teeth).
About 33 million years ago the
shape of the horse species teeth
changed. It went from the rounded
cusps of fruit eaters to the
sharper points characterically of
leaf eaters.
In order for the horse to keep up
with their diet, they grew longer
teeth to take on the tougher plant
diets, particularly grasses.
A new research study called
mesowear relies on the shape of
the tooth, specifically sharpness of
the cusps of molars to see how
they've been worn down by
chewing.
































Around 10 million years ago, horse species that maintained a fruit and leaf
diet went extinct, and about 4-5 million years later also species that had
a intermediate diets (part leafy and part grassy) disappeared. Only the
grass-eating equids that eventually became the modern day horse (Equus
ferus caballus) survived. Although the researchers underline that there
were leaves and trees throughout all that time period, from 55 million
years ago to the extinction. They dont know why horses left those niches.

The researchers emphasize that the modern horse is in fact a classic
example of evolution through the processes of natural selection and
adaptation. However, the dietary changes resulting from the changing
climate took time to lead to adaptation in the horses ancestors. They
found that evolutionary changes in tooth anatomy lag behind the dietary
changes by a million years or more.

Conversely, some researchers have some reservation about the data and
how it was interpreted. The researchers of the present study say that
mesowear scores must equal grass eating, however it may also be that it
indicates the openness of the environment. The idea is that vast open
areas are windier and become contaminated with dust and sand, which
account for higher levels of abrasive materials in the available vegetation.

The new findings are of great value to biologists and zoologists to
understand more about the natural selection and adaptation processes in
animal species. Nevertheless it will take more data and research to get a
clearer picture of this very slow adaptation process and even then we
know the history of life is not simple and never be fully determined. The
study does emphasise that diet change will influence the horse evolution
and so the way we feed our horse nowadays will also affect this
adaptation process. We must be aware that we, humans, change diets of
horses much more rapid then climate changes ever did over those millions
of years. If adaptation takes more then million years then we can also
understand that we are creating problems in our horses when we feeding
diets that are low in fibre and high in concentrate which causes less wear
of the teeth. Its therefore important we keep feeding our horses according
their design, providing a basal diet high in fibre.
When us humans change the diets of our
horses diets we are actually changing our
horses design. Because the horses
adaptions changed over the years, means
it can still change and may be changing
as we think and we may not know it.













http://finstofeet.com/2011/11/05/634/
The horse brat also grew, reflecting
a a major increase in intelligence.
Horses developed a gap between their
nose and eyes to have a wider view
on their surroundings to watch out for
predators while grazing. It also
provides space for the bit to enter the
mouth.
Horses tendons and lower legs
changed to have a connection
between the bones to store elastic
energy and reapply it to each stride to
ae them more springy.
Just like I read above in the other
article, the horses teeth have changed.
Their crowns evolved making them
higher in order to handle tougher
foods such as grasses
Hooves and legs

As horses became more adapted for life on seas of rolling grass, they
underwent a number of crucial anatomical changes. : these are both
adaptations for a cursorial lifestyle. The arrangement of tendons in the
lower leg and the connections between the leg bones work to store
elastic energy and reapply it with each stride (the so-called springing
step). Horses have even evolved a way to expend less energy standing
up than sitting down.

Grasses are hardy plants and have evolved various means of protecting
themselves from plant predators. They inflict heavy wear and damage
upon the teeth of herbivores. And, as a consequence, herbivores like the
horse, have evolved high crowned teeth, covered in cementum with folds
of enamel (hypsodonty) to deal with the tough food. Many of premolars
changed to molars. There is also a long gap between the incisors and the
premolars that is absent in the very earliest horses, like Hyracotherium.
This adds distance between the nose and the eyes, allowing the horse to
keep an eye out for predators whilst grazing. Rather fortitiously, it also
provides space for the insertion of a bit, an important part of horse riding.

The Horse brain also increased in relative size over the course of the last
50 million years, although the precise reasons for this change are
uncertain. It may reflect a major increase in intelligence (a notoriously
difficult concept to define in animals to begin with) or may be related to
the increasing complexity of the sensory apparatus of the horse.




















All hoofed mammals fit into the cladistic group, Ungulata. Hooves are, essentially, the
modified tips of toes and differences in the structure of the foot can be used to
divvy up the ungulata into two broad categories: even toed ungulates and odd toed
ungulates. Animals in the first category sport two major weight-bearing toes the
third and fourth toes of each leg. This group includes camels, goats, cattle, deer, pigs
and a number of other hoofed animals. Odd toed ungulates, on the other hand,
support themselves, for the most part, on one toe per foot the third toe. This group
includes horses, tapirs and rhinos.

There is evidence to show that, among the ungulata, horses share a more recent
common ancestor with tapirs and rhinos. For one, the odd-toed ungulates all have an
extended caecum (an outpocketing of the large intestine that is found in greatly
reduced form in humans) that helps ferment and digest the cellulose in grass. They
also share striking similarities in the anatomy of the teeth and the ankle bones.

Equus is the only surviving genus of the family equidae, and it includes 3 species of
asses, 3 species of zebra and the horse.

Hyracotherium to Equus

Hyracotherium is the earliest known fossil horse. This unassuming animal was about
20 centimeters high at the shoulder and was probably a browser, seeking out its fill
amidst the leaf-shrubbery rather than out on a grassy plain, as modern horses do. It
lived around 50 million years ago, just 15 million years shy of the extinction of the
dinosaurs (the Eocene). It spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere and was, by
most counts, an evolutionary success story. But it differs from the modern horse in a
number of key respects:

1) The modern horse dwarfs the dog-sized Hyracotherium.

2) Hyracotherium has four toes, whereas the horse sports a single sturdy toe/hoof
on each foot.

3) the low crowned teeth of Hyracotherium imply a diet of soft leaves. shoots, nuts
and fruits. Modern horses, however, are adapted to high-fibre grasses

4) the brain (specifically the frontal cortex) of the modern horse is considerably
larger than that of Hyracotherium.
The horses hooves also change,
they go from having two weight
earring toes to three to four toes.
Horses have an etended caecum
they helps them ferment and digest
cellulose in foods that they eat su
has grass to happen digest better.
The earliest know fossil of a horse
is the Hyracotherium. It lived
around 50 million years ago. This
species spread throughout the
northern Hemisphere and differs
from the modern horse of today.

















When the large horse appeared,
the body size of Equids
changed. After remaining the
same for many years.
Horse have a stomaceh with
four chambers, just like the cow
and goats. This helps them push
a larger amount of material
trough their digestive system.
It's been shown that body size
has an effect on the animal.
Larger animals have an
advantage over smaller animals.
Larger animals are able to
conserve energy better and
have an increase I'm running
speed.
Why did horses get bigger?

Well, for starters, the fossil record does not tell us a story of uniform progression
towards larger body size. For example, some of the distant descendants of
Hyracotherium, like the Pliocene horse Nannipus, were even smaller than the earliest
horses. The body size of Equids remained roughly constant for several million years
before large horses appeared on the scene.

So what selective pressures might have led to an increase in body-size over time?
The typical explanation has to do with large body size being a line of defense against
predators on the open plains. It may also have to do with the shift in diet from high-
quality forage to nutrient-poor high-fibre grass (which was roughly concurrent with
the spread of open grasslands throughout the world).

In terms of energy derived per unit bulk, horses cannot process food as efficiently as
even-toed ungulates that chew their cud and have a modified stomach with four
chambers. The fermentation process that digests cellulose (with the aid of symbiotic
bacteria) in the caecum of the horse is almost exactly mirrored in the proverbial four
stomachs of cows and goats. While they cannot match even-toed ungulates for
energy efficiency per unit mass, they can push a greater amount of material through
their digestive system in a given amount of time. They are also specially adapted to
subsisting on low-quality grasses which their even-toed counterparts could not
survive on for long.

Larger animals are able to conserve energy better (on account of their greater ability
to retain heat compared to smaller animasl) and this might have been driving force
towards greater size. Body size may have also contributed to an increase in running
speed.























Appearance:
Although horses have been selectively bred for centuries by humans and
their size and weight varies greatly from breed to breed, their general
body pattern remains the same. The horse is a hoofed mammal with four
long limbs and a barrel-shaped body. It has a long neck that supports a
large, long head, and the eyes and ears are large. The tail is short but
covered with long, coarse hairs that extend its length. Long hair also
grows along the top ridge of the neck. These hairs can be many
different colours, as can the horse's coat: brown, black, grey, spotted, or
a combination of two different colours.

Specific Habitat:
A horse can adapt to live in many different environments and climates.
This is demonstrated by many breeds of horse living in the wild, which
have evolved with special traits. However, in general, a horse needs
shelter, food, and open space. Shelter could come in the form of a
manmade building, or from something natural like a grove of trees or a
cliff. Many horses live on large, flat plains, like the Russian steppes, or
the North American prairies. Here there is shelter and space, as well as
abundant food (grass)
Equus caballus. 2006 horses1

Adaptations to Environment:

The horses survival mechanism is to identify danger and flee from it,
rather than fight although a cornered horse will sometimes fight to
defend a foal. The horses long neck enables it to eat short grasses
without lying down and also to raise its head high to improve its range of
vision as it looks for danger. Its eyes are set in the sides of the head for
increased all-around vision. Horses have large nostrils to smell danger,
large ears to hear everything around it, and large eyes that detect
movement very well.
Horses have an amazing skill
that allows them to adapt to live
in many different environment
and climates. This allows them
to live in different parts of the
world and be socially adapted to
each place.
The horse body was put
together to aid them in their
ability to survive in the wild.
They have large nostrils to smell
danger, large eyes to detect
every movement, and have large
ears to hear everything around
them.
Although horses have gone
under a large amount of
changes, the general pattern of
the body has remained the
same.


I can connect to this because I
know what it's like first hand
looking for a specific horse and
what suits their interests.
People look for horse that have
a good bloodlines. When I was
looking for a horse, I was
specifically looking for a horse
that was skilled in jumping.
Unlike looking for a horse with
racing blood in them.
History of the Horse:

Since horses can live in many diverse environments, they have all evolved in many
different ways. The earliest ancestor of the modern horse (Hyracotherium), which lived
around 60 million years ago, was a small animal with paws, which browsed and ate
shrubs and leaves growing low to the ground. Hyracotherium had four toes on its
front paws, and three on its back. Due to climatic changes, the vegetation changed as
well, and so the soft foliage became much tougher, and plants began to grow taller.
So, their teeth changed to be molars more suited to the tougher pants. Thus emerged
Mesohippus, which was taller and had a longer neck, and also teeth more suitable for
both tougher plants, and grazing. Also, the number of toes on each foot had
decreased to three. Around 23 million years ago, Mesohippus became Parahippus,
which had much longer legs, and teeth adapted to grinding and chewing grass. Then,
17 million years ago, Merychippus, the first animal recognizable as a horse, evolved.
These early horses had become adapted to running, and also had their weight carried
only on their middle toes. Thus, the two other toes began to recede, and the middle
toe became what we see today as the hoof. Eventually, around 4 million years ago,
Equus evolved. Now there are hundreds of different breeds of Equus all over the
world, each one slightly different. Many of these have been through the process of
artificial selection by humans, and have been bred to perform specific tasks, such as
pull heavy loads, jump high obstacles, or gallop exceedingly fast. However, other
natural changes have occurred within the different breeds, such as growing a thicker
coat during cold seasons, or having tougher hooves than usual for rocky terrain.
However, for the general habitat of a flat grassy plain, the horse has evolved over
millions of years by elongating its legs, altering its molars, and developing hooves.
Equus caballus. 2006 horses1
Reproductive Characteristics:
The horse reproduces sexually. Because the horse avoids danger by running, every
aspect of its reproductive cycle happens quickly. Horses usually breed during late
spring, summer, and early fall to ensure that the foal is born during spring, when the
weather is warming and the grass is plentiful. Mares (mature female horses) carry their
foals for 11 months. The mating process happens very quickly, as does the birth. Mares
like to find a marshy, hidden area in which to give birth, presumably to hide from
predators. Foals are born fully developed, can stand within 15-25 minutes of birth and
can run with the herd when they are one day old. This ensures that the foal will not be
vulnerable to predators a horse that could not run would be at a great risk of being
killed. Also, the mare feeds her foal with milk from her own body.
In order for the horse to have
the ability to run and do it well,
it had to adapt and have their
weight carried only on their
middle toes.
Horses now a days go through
the process of artificial
selection by humans. They pick
out what skills the horse have
and what they are built form
from jumping to racing they all
have a purpose and a set area
in which they will succeed in.
Horses started out Asa. Small
animal with paws. It was much
smaller then the modern horse.
Due to climate changes their
vegetation also changed over
time. It went from soft foliage to
thought food such as grasses.


















Phylogenetic Tree Classification:

Equus. (Other members of this group are: Zebras, Asses, Donkeys, and Onagers.
Horses are also closely related to Tapirs and Rhinoceroses.) The horse is a mammal,
and a vertebrate. Under the phylogenetic tree, which classifies life according to its
evolutionary history, the horse is included in the Animals branch of the Eukarya
domain.
Equus caballus. 2006 horses1horses1
Importance to Ecosystem:
The horse is a herbivore. Thus, it serves as a consumer of plants, keeping plant
populations in check, and sometimes competing with other grazers such as deer and
domestic cattle. In the wild, horses are prey to whatever large carnivore inhabits their
region usually wolves or large cats. In cases where a horse cannot run from danger,
it will try to defend itself by kicking out with its hooves or biting.
Status:

Though the rise of machinery has meant less work for the horse now than in the past,
it is still kept worldwide - as a working or transportation animal in places where
horses are more practical to use than machines, or as a recreation animal for things
like sport and entertainment. The wild or feral horse is much less common all animals
living in the wild now are feral, semi-feral, or have been reintroduced to the area in
which they live. Breeds such as the Exmoor pony of Great Britain run free but are
carefully monitored and kept free from the influence of other breeds in an effort to
preserve the breeds characteristics. Much effort is being made to safeguard areas
where horses roam free, and to keep the horse from disappearing altogether in the
wild. Fortunately, horses are still widely ridden and raised for pleasure purposes, and
so the domestic horse, at least, is not in danger of becoming endangered any time
soon.

Learning Summary:

The domestic horse has been used by humans for food, recreation, and work for
thousands of years, and is still used today. It is one of the only species whose
evolution has been strongly influenced by humans for hundreds of years. Thus, it is
interesting, because modern horses still have instincts, characteristics, and behaviours
that have been passed down from their wild ancestors. Through this treehouse, we
hope we have been able to enlighten you about the more 'scientific' side of the glorious
animal which is the horse.
The horse is the only species thats
evolution has been changed and
strongly influenced by humans. It is
interesting and shocking that the
modern horses still have
characteristics of horse from their
anteaters because of how much it's
been changed.
Because of the changing of
each year and the more
machinery and technology, the
use of the horse has changed.
They are no longer used for
pulling wagons through town,
and very rarely used for
working (unless on the farm)

You might also like