Horse

Horses and Tapirs evolved first in North America. However, the horse’s evolution did not follow a straight path. Many varieties of equids often flourished at about the same time. Also different traits evolved at different times, and even reversed (Hunt, 2). “Paleontologist Michael Voorhies… characterizes the evolution of horses as more like a bush than a tree, with starts and stops and jumps in the development of genetic traits” (“Wild Horses: Equus Family Tree” 1).

he horse, Equus ferus caballus, is a subspecies from the family Equidae. Over the past 50 million years, through survival adaptations, the common horse has evolved from a relatively small, multi-toed animal into the large, single toed animal known today (Wilson,. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore). Domestication of the common horse is believed to have started around 4000 BC, becoming common during the early 3000 BC (Wilson,.

Even Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, was represented by the head of a black horse and her temples were known as “foals” which is the name for a young horse. The Greeks establishment with the horse dates back to about 2000 BC (Edwards). Also in Greek mythology, there is a creature known as a centaur which is a half-man and a half-horse being. The American Museum of Natural History poses and insightful explanation for the creation of centaurs when reasoning that, “If early sightings of strangers on horseback might have inspired the Greek myths about the legendary half-man, half-horse beings” (Horse American). In other cultures around the world, horses were known to symbolize the essence of power, wealth, status, prestige (Horses) and freedom (Horses American).

Domestication of the horse took place 5-6,000 years ago, near the end of the Neolithic period. It is almost certain that it first took place in Eurasia, through the nomadic Aryan tribes, around the Black and Caspian Seas. It is from this point in the history of the world that the existence of truly wild horses begins to decline; their place taken by domestic stock. Horses are located all over the world, depending on their location and the traits they poses; they have all since been given specific breeds. The closest living relative to the horses of today is the Asiatic Wild Horses.

evolution of the horse For many people, the horse family remains the classic example of evolution. As more and more horse fossils have been found, some ideas about horse evolution have changed, but the horse family remains a good example of evolution. In fact, we now have enough fossils of enough species in enough genera to examine details of evolutionary change. Evolution does not occur in a straight line toward a goal, like a ladder; rather, evolution is like a branching bush, with no predetermined goal. Horse species were constantly branching off the evolutionary tree and evolving along various unrelated routes.

(Dawn of Prehistoric…) Radiocarbon dating done on the paintings and drawings of the animals has lead prehistorians to believe these works are between 18,500 and 19,000 years old. Of the hundred animal images, horses are nearly one-third of the drawings. Many of the horses only show the heads, while some represent the entire body of the animal. Other animal paintings include ibexes, chamois and some bison. (The Cosquer Cave) A surprise to many of the explorers were the paintings of sea animals.

Why Horses Are called Horses Around stables and in the circles of horse lovers every where, names such as, "horse," "pony," "stallion," "mare," and "foal," are some of the words verbalized. These names are spoken absent mindly without a thought to their origin. The word horse in theory comes from an ancient term of a similar meaning,"swift," or "running." Hence the word horse is an appropriate name for an animal that has increased the mobility of humans since the domestication of the beast. A small horse that is not over fifty-eight inches, or in equine language, fourteen hands, high regardless of age or sex is referred to as a pony.

Today, using horses for transportation has declined, however leisure and rehabilitative activities have increased. To understand horseback riding, it is essential to look at the history of equines, the sport of horseback riding, and how to take care of a horse. Horseback riding can be traced back more than 15,000 years. The Romans used horses for chariot racing during Medieval Times. Jousting was another sport used during the Medieval Times.

The ancestral lines of Neanderthals and modern humans is split roughly about 800,000 years ago, making them our closest relatives in the hominid ancestry. Neanderthals inhabited Europe and parts of the Western Asia before going extinct around 30,000 years ago. Neanderthals made and used a range of tools, they were able to control fire, make and wore clothing, were very skilled hunters of large animals however also ate plant foods, they lived in shelters, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects, which no previous hominid species, had ever practiced this representative and complex conduct. Over this essay we will be covering some elemental information on Neanderthals, their differences and similarities anatomically with modern humans, along with their differences in behavior, and finally giving some possible implications for the timing of the development of culture. As the earliest extinct human relatives to become known to science, the Homo neanderthalensis have snatched a relatively iconic influence in human evolutionary investigations.

The discovery of these two fossils suggests that the closest living relative of these primitive whales could possibly be the modern day hippopotamus. This suggested relationship is based on similarities in the bone structure between the two animals. Hippopotami belong to a group of animals called artiodactyls. This group of animals, which includes deer, camels, sheep, pigs, and cows, are “named for the even number of fingers and toes... ... middle of paper ... ...ould estimate where they spent most of their time. By the length of the other skeletal bones, the size and shape of the animals could be determined, which also shared insight to its behavior.