The man tamed the horses. As a result of selection, many breeds occurred. The color of the fur varies from white to black. The wool of horses can be red, brown and yellow, and the body decorates a wide range of drawings. Horses are found pegia and covered with plain spots. The size of the animal depends on the breed, varies from 227 to 900 kg by weight, in length from 220 to 280 cm and from 0.9 to 1.7 meters in height.
- Horse description
- Types of horses
- Wild horse (Equus Ferus), she is a horse of Przhevalsky
- Domesticated horse (Equus Ferus Caballus)
- Equus Caballus)
- Kiang (Equus Kiang)
- Equus Hemionus)
- Farier Islands (Faroe Pony)
- Mustang
- Horse breeds
- What groups of horse breeders are horses
- Where the horses live
- How horses breed
- How long horses live
- How do herd animals behave
- What horses eat
- Who attacks horses and their tactics of survival in nature
- What role do horses play in the ecosystem
- How horses interact with a person
- Whether the horses are under threat of disappearance
Horse description
The horse has an ovalshaped hoof, a long tail, a short wool on the body, long slender legs, a muscular and strong body, an elongated strong neck and a big oblong head. A mane is a area of rough hairs, which extends along the dorsal side of the neck of both home and wild species. Horses graze on the grass. For chewing plants, they have complex and constantly growing molar in their mouths. Fat, winter wool develops in September-October, completely grows by December. Winter fur begins to melt in the spring, and in the summer the body covers smooth and thin wool.
Other physical features:
Types of horses
Wild horse (Equus Ferus), she is a horse of Przhevalsky
Przewalski’s horse
Less than most home horses. Thick, short neck and short limbs, compact physique. The rainbow shell of the eyes is usually brown, but some individuals are blue. Mane and tail, unlike domestic horses, fingers annually. Mane from dark brown to black and stands right without a bang. Home horses have long, falling manes. The tail is shorthaired, the hairs gradually lengthen on the sides. Home horses have long tail hairs around the tail. The muzzle is short and tall, bright, often white, the edges of the nostrils are dark, the lower edge of the jaw straight. Two colors: bright-yellow-red-brown and pale gray-yellow. Head and neck darker than body. The lower body is lighter than sides. 3-10 thin dark strips on the legs. The dark dorsal strip (“eel”) passes from the mane down to the tail.
Domesticated horse (Equus Ferus Caballus)
Domestic horse
Has a long neck and legs, hard hooves. Over the years of reproduction, people have many different colors of hair and wool, color patterns. Some of the most common colors are gray, dark red brown and light brown. Different breeds differ significantly in size.
Equus Caballus)
wild Horse
Morphologically similar to a home horse. In an average height of 1-1.6 m in the shoulder and weighing 350-450 kg. The general view varies, the color of the wool from black, brown and white to white with orange or brown spots. The wool is short and thin, the tail is relatively short, on the forehead (forelock) and along the neck (mane). The average life expectancy e. Caballus is 25 30 years.
Kiang (Equus Kiang)
Kiang
Kianga wool reddish in summer and brown in winter, the lower parts of the body are white, they do not change depending on the season. Kiang 140 cm shoulder and weighs from 250 to 440 kg.
Equus Hemionus)
Kulan
Compared to other types of horses, he has short legs. The color of the body varies depending on the season, reddish-brown in summer, yellowish-brown in the winter. They have a black strip bordered by white, which runs in the middle of the back. Direct mane of dark color. The stomach and chest are white, there are characteristic white marks on the back of the shoulder and front of the sacrum. On the face is a white area around the nostrils, gray lips.
Farier Islands (Faroe Pony)
Faroe horse
Found on the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. This is one of the oldest breeds of horses, very rare, almost extinct.
Mustang
This is the horses of the Spanish breed, which is called Iberian horses, technically moustangs-these are wild, not wild horses.
Horse breeds
Horses demonstrate a variety of colors and there are different breeds. There are more than 350 different breeds of horses and ponies. They are divided into such groups:
- Light horses with thin bones and legs and weighing less than 590 kg, for example, purebred, highpowered, Morgana horses and Arab horses.
- Heavy or dragging horses that weigh more than 600 kg. These are strong with large bones and strong legs of the breed, for example, Persheronsky, Brabanson, Russian heavyweight (Bityug).
Modern breeds of horses derive so that animals correspond to the form and functionality, that is, have certain physical characteristics necessary to perform a certain type of work. Light, sophisticated horses, such as Arabian or AkhalTeke, bred in dry climate for the sake of speed and with great endurance for long distances. A heavy scrap horse, such as Belgian, was made up to pull the plow and perform other work on the farm.
The ponies of all breeds are divorced by people in order to please children for working in places such as mines or where there is not enough feed to keep large animals.
Between these extremes, horses were bred so that they perform such tasks:
Horses demonstrate four speeds called gait. They are:
Horse gallop
Horses with different colors have different names. Here are some of the main colors:
Rave horse
What groups of horse breeders are horses
The name for the horse depends on whether the male is either a female, and how many years.
- A foal a horse less than a year;
- The oneyearold is a young instance aged one to two years;
- a stallion a male younger than four years old;
- Kobylitsa is a horse of a horse up to four years;
- The producer male is a male person older than four years old, which is not a gelding;
- gelding castrated male;
- mare female older than four years old.
Where the horses live
The ancestors of horses lived in North Africa, throughout mainland Europe and Asia. In the late ice age, they lived throughout North America, but about 8,000 10,000 years ago died out. Home horses currently live next to a man.
What habitat is needed by horses
Horses adapt to different places when domesticating. Preferred areas are: cool, moderate meadows, steppes and savannahs, but animals also live in semideserts, among swamps and forests.
How horses breed
Males graze next to females during the wedding period, protect mares from other males who are trying to hide with the females of the herd. Males fight through blows and hooves.
Pairing
Horses multiply in the warm summer months. Pregnancy lasts from 287 to 419 days, which means that childbirth passes either in the spring or in the fall of next year. Usually one foal is born, twins are rare.
Childbirth occurs at night and in a quiet place. Foals appear as developed physically. They rise already an hour after birth and get to their feet after four to five hours, follow the mother. During the first month, the cubs remains next to the mother. In the second month, he independently extracts food and begins the process of weaning from the chest, which takes up to 2 years in wild foals. From domesticated horses, foals are taken away from the mother aged 4 to 6 months.
Foals go on their own shortly after birth, but need help. Young animals are relied on mothers and a herd to protect against predators and in searching for food until it starts to get food on its own. Studies show that wild horses leave the herd in which they were born when they were two to three years old.
How long horses live
Life expectancy depends on several factors, including the breed and the environment. As a rule, home horses live from 25 to 30 years, the maximum record is 61 years old. The most longlived horse in nature was registered with zoologists in 1974, its age was 36 years old. Factors affecting life expectancy include:
How do herd animals behave
Horses are social mammals. In wild or semiwild populations, they form herds with a social hierarchy. The herd includes up to 26 mares, 5 stallions and different ages of young animals. Horse herds have a debugged social hierarchy, where alpha samems dominate. For most of the time they protect the group from predators and from competing males.
The horses are active at different times of the day, depending on the season. In hot weather they graze in the morning or in the evening, avoid high midday temperatures. Horses sleep segmented during the day, the dream lasts no more than 2 hours. Animals do not lie on the ground for more than an hour and sleep standing.
Horse herd
How they communicate with each other
In horses, nostrils and cheeks have antennae that are used to feel the environment through touch. Vision is the main means of obtaining information. The ears are long and straight, which contributes to auditory perception. Although the sense of smell is important, it does not basically play a lesser role than vision or sensitive receptors on nostrils or cheeks.
Horses communicate with each other through gestures and vocalizations. Herm members are laughing, biting, pushing each other and hit their feet to establish or strengthen the hierarchical structure, express dominance.
Horses have many gestures. Positive reactions include raising the lips, which exposes the upper teeth, which looks like a smile, tilt of the head or direction of the ears forward and up. Aggressive facial gestures include ears and dental exposure with closed nostrils.
What horses eat
Horses are herbivores that feed on herbs and other plants. Home diets for horses are complemented by grain crops such as oats, flax and barley. In addition to grass and leaves, horses also eat wood, bark, stems, seeds, grains and nuts.
Who attacks horses and their tactics of survival in nature
Predators who hunt wild horses: wolves, coyots and lions. Predators attack elderly, sick or young animals. When a herd is threatened by a predator, Alfa Mamets attacks him, bites and beats his hooves. Females protect children in the same way. People are predators, hunt horses, both historically and at present.
What role do horses play in the ecosystem
Horse taming:
As grazing animals, horses affect the variety and structure of ecosystems. In some places horses spread plant seeds.
How horses interact with a person
Horses are economically important for people now and historically. They were used as a source of food, transported people and goods, played a role in military campaigns, in sports and rest, and in the development of agriculture. Horses are favorite pets and are used in therapy and rehabilitation of sick people.
In agriculture, horses were harvested, fields and gardens plowed, manure is an important fertilizer. Horse hair is used in various products.
Whether the horses are under threat of disappearance
Domesticated horses are a lot in different parts of the world. Their closest relatives, the wild horses of Przhevalsky, were ranked as “under threat of disappearance” in the Red Book.