The study and analysis of "Domestic Animals" and horses examines the historical domestication, breeding, and management practices that have shaped the role of horses in human society. It also explores the anatomical, physiological, and behavioral characteristics that differentiate horses from other domestic species. Comparative studies often focus on aspects such as nutrition, health management, and the economic and cultural importance of horses relative to other domesticated animals. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the various dimensions of equine domestication, including genetic studies, welfare considerations, and the impact of domestication on horse behavior and physiology.
Azócar-Aedo L.Leptospirosis is an important zoonosis worldwide. This disease affects numerous animal species, some of them are classified as "maintenance hosts", and others are categorized as "incidental hosts". Humans are at risk of becoming infected by having contact with domestic and wild animals. In this paper, general aspects of the etiology and transmission of leptospirosis are addressed, data regarding the clinical presentation of the pathology in humans and animals are also presented, and the results of some epidemiological studies on leptospirosis carried out in Chile in different animal species an...
Nishita Y, Amaike Y, Spassov N, Hristova L, Kostov D, Vladova D, Peeva S, Raichev E, Vlaeva R, Masuda R.The domestication of the horse began possibly more than 5000 years ago in the western part of the Eurasian steppe, and according to the leading hypothesis, horses first spread from the Steppe toward the region of the Thracian culture, starting in the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE and flourished from the fifth to first centuries BCE, mainly located in present-day Bulgaria. We analyzed 17 horse bone remains excavated from Thracian archaeological sites (fourth to first centuries BCE) in Bulgaria and successfully identified 17 sequences representing 14 different haplotypes of the mitocho...
Qamar W, Alsayeqh AF.Third-world countries have a higher prevalence of food-related disorders than developed nations. Millions of people in underdeveloped countries are seriously at risk from the potential water supply contamination with protozoan diseases. is one of the important protozoans causing diseases in livestock and humans. Despite the standard tests for diagnosing this parasite and different treatment methods, the spread of these parasites is uncontrollable and rising every year due to other management disorders. In this review, we summarize etiopathogenesis and prevalence in Pakistan. We looked for pap...
Chisu V, Serra E, Foxi C, Chessa G, Masala G.Piroplasmoses are tick-borne diseases caused by hemoprotozoan parasites of veterinary and public health significance. This study focuses on the molecular identification and characterization of species belonging to the genera in 152 blood samples, collected from 80 horses and 72 cattle from several farms in Sardinia, by targeting the 18S rRNA gene. The PCR results highlighted that 72% of the samples were positive for spp., with a rate of infection of 68% and 75% for the horses and cattle, respectively. Sequencing and the BLASTn analysis showed that the 18S rRNA generated in this study has 99-...
Kieson E, Goma AA, Radi M.Studies show that horses express favoritism through shared proximity and time and demonstrate unique affiliative behaviors such as allogrooming (mutual scratching) with favorite conspecifics. Allogrooming also occurs more frequently during stress and has been observed to occur more frequently in domestic herds than feral. The role of partner preference, lateralization, and duration of allogrooming as measures of social bonding has remained unclear. The present study looked at two socially stable herds of mares (n = 85, n = 115) to determine the frequency, duration, visual field of view and par...
Ribeiro MG, Pereira TT, de Lima Paz PJ, de Almeida BO, Cerviño CSA, Rodrigues CA, Santos GTS, de Souza Freire LM, Portilho FVR, Filho MFÁ....Central nervous system (CNS) infections comprise life-threatening clinical conditions in domestic species, and are commonly related to severe sequelae, disability, or high fatality rates. A set of bacterial pathogens have been identified in central nervous infections in livestock and companion animals, although the most of descriptions are restricted to case reports and a lack of comprehensive studies involving CNS-related bacterial infections have been focused on a great number of domestic species. In this scenario, we retrospectively investigated selected epidemiological data, clinical findi...
de Araújo-Neto VT, Barbosa-Silva AN, Medeiros Honorato NR, Sales LML, de Cassia Pires R, do Nascimento Brito CR, da Matta Guedes PM....Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of American trypanosomiasis, is a vector-borne zoonotic parasite which has been little studied regarding its infection in domestic animals. In this study, we evaluated the occurrence of natural infection by T. cruzi in farm animals using molecular markers and phylogenetic analysis in blood clot samples of 60 sheep (Ovis aires), 22 goats (Capra hircus), and 14 horses (Equus caballus) in eight municipalities located in an infection risk area in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Northeast Region of Brazil. Trypanosoma spp. infection was identified by am...
Martínez Díaz HC, Gil-Mora J, Betancourt-Ruiz P, Silva-Ramos CR, Matiz-González JM, Villalba-Perez MA, Ospina-Pinto MC, Ramirez-Hernández A....Some hard ticks' species can act as vectors of a wide variety of pathogens of human and animal importance such as Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia spp. In Colombia, a total of forty-six tick species have been described, and some of them have been implicated as vectors of some infectious agents. The department of Cauca is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia. Most of its population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture as the main economic activity, favoring exposure to ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the tick species and tick-bor...
Kumar D, Antiya SP, Patel SS, Pandit R, Joshi M, Mishra AK, Joshi CG, Patel AC.Since December 2019, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading worldwide, triggering one of the most challenging pandemics in the human population. In light of the reporting of this virus in domestic and wild animals from several parts of the world, a systematic surveillance study was conceptualized to detect SARS-CoV-2 among species of veterinary importance. Nasal and/or rectal samples of 413 animals (dogs n= 195, cattle n = 64, horses n = 42, goats n = 41, buffaloes n = 39, sheep n = 19, cats n = 6, camels n = 6, and a monkey n = 1) were collected from d...
Smith R, Furtado T, Brigden C, Pinchbeck G, Perkins E.Human assessment of equine wellbeing is fundamental to ensuring the optimal care of domestic horses. However, terminology associated with wellbeing is still not fully defined and there are currently no validated quality of life (QoL) assessment tools. Furthermore, little is known about what equine wellbeing or QoL means to horse owners, or how their beliefs impact on the management decisions they make for their horse. This study sought to establish how UK leisure horse owners use wellbeing-related terminology by exploring their accounts within a focus group setting. Four online focus group dis...
Hu D, Wang C, Ente M, Zhang K, Zhang D, Li X, Li K, Chu H.Intestinal microbiota play an important role in the survival of the host. However, no study to date has elucidated the adjustment of intestinal microbiota of the host during rewilding. Thus, this study aims to describe the intestinal bacterial community of reintroduced Przewalski’s horse (RPH) after being released into their original habitat for approximately 20 years in comparison with that of captive Przewalski’s horse (CPH), sympatric domestic horse (DH) and Mongolian wild ass (MWA) by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. The results showed that the prevalent bacterial communities were differe...
Abdel-Shafy S, Abdullah HHAM, Elbayoumy MK, Elsawy BSM, Hassan MR, Mahmoud MS, Hegazi AG, Abdel-Rahman EH.Piroplasmosis and anaplasmosis are serious tick-borne diseases (TBDs) that are concerning for the public and animal health. This study aimed to detect the molecular prevalence and epidemiological risk factors of Piroplasma and Anaplasma species in animal hosts and their associated ticks in Egypt. A total of 234 blood samples and 95 adult ticks were collected from animal hosts (112 cattle, 38 sheep, 28 goats, 26 buffaloes, 22 donkeys, and 8 horses) from six provinces of Egypt (AL-Faiyum, AL-Giza, Beni-Suef, Al-Minufia, Al-Beheira, and Matruh). Blood and tick samples were investigated by polymer...
Aguilar-Montes de Oca S, Montes-de-Oca-Jiménez R, Carlos Vázquez-Chagoyán J, Barbabosa-Pliego A, Eliana Rivadeneira-Barreiro P....Peptides constitute an alternative and interesting option to develop treatments, vaccines, and diagnostic tools as they demonstrate their scope in several health aspects; as proof of this, commercial peptides for humans and animals are available on the market and used daily. This review aimed to know the role of peptides in the field of veterinary diagnosis, and include peptide-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (pELISA), lateral flow devices, and peptide latex agglutination tests that have been developed to detect several pathogens including viruses and bacteria of health and production ...
Gilger BC.This review, which is part of the "Currents in One Health" series, describes the importance of the study of immune-mediated ocular disease in the development of innovative therapeutics, such as cell and gene therapy for the eye. Recent examples of cell and gene therapy studies from the author's laboratory are reviewed to emphasize the importance of One Health initiatives in developing innovative therapies for ocular diseases. Spontaneous immune-mediated corneal disease is common in horses, cats, dogs, and humans. Autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) injected subconju...
Frontiers in geneticsOctober 5, 2022
Volume 13 944933 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.944933
Xu B, Yang G, Jiao B, Zhu H. The domestication of horses has played critical roles in human civilizations. The excavation of ancient horse DNA provides crucial data for studying horse domestication. Studies of horse domestication can shed light on the general mechanisms of animal domestication. We wish to explore the gene transcription regulation by long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that influence horse domestication. First, we assembled the ancient DNA sequences of multiple horses at different times and the genomes of horses, donkeys, and Przewalski horses. Second, we extracted sequences of lncRNA genes shared in ancient ...
Rutberg AT, Turner JW, Herman K.To be effective and publicly acceptable, management of free-roaming horses and burros in the United States and elsewhere needs a consistent ethical framing of the animals and the land they occupy. In the U.S., the two laws that largely govern wild horse and burro management, the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act and the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act ("FLPMA"), rest on conflicting foundations, the former based on an ethic of care and the latter on largely utilitarian principles. These conflicts specifically fuel debates over the selection of appropriate fertility control ...
Morley M, Loeb J.As Malcolm Morley becomes BVA president for 2022/23, Josh Loeb chats to him about his love for horses and why the veterinary profession is actually a human-centred business.
Makowiecki D, Chudziak W, Szczepanik P, Janeczek M, Pasicka E.Knowledge about horses from early medieval (10th-13th c.) Poland has been largely based on historical and archaeological data. Archaeozoological information has only been used to a limited extent. Therefore, this article aims to present the current state of knowledge on this subject, drawing on archaeozoological data from studies of horse bones. Apart from confirming earlier reflections regarding the sacred significance of the horse, additional information was obtained about specific individuals who were the subject of magical treatments. It turned out that sites with horse skeletons and skull...
Wiśniewska A, Janczarek I, Tkaczyk E, Wilk I, Janicka W, Próchniak T, Kaczmarek B, Pokora E, Łuszczyński J.This study aimed to perform a comparative analysis of the horses' heart rate parameters and locomotor activity in a herd or isolation, with or without the company of goats. Twenty horses were tested in a paddock, accompanied (or not) by three goats. The experiment comprised four tests (a control test of a herd of horses without goats, a horse isolation test without goats, a test of a herd of horses with goats and a test of an isolated horse with goats). The horse's locomotor behavior, and the HR, RR, rMSSD, LF, HF, and LF/HF were recorded. The data analysis included a 15-min rest, procedural a...
Ciaputa R, Gach J, Baranowski K, Dzimira S, Janus I, Kandefer-Gola M, Żebrowski K, Nowak M.An analysis of samples originating from domestic and exotic animals from Lower Silesia but also from other parts of Poland was carried out based on research conducted in 2014-2017. Unassigned: The materials used for the study were 11,338 tumour samples taken in vivo during surgery and as biopsies and posthumously during necropsies. They were sent to the Department of Pathology at Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences for histopathological diagnosis. Unassigned: The largest group were canine tumours, of which there were 9,745 (85.95%), followed by feline tumours, totalling 1,39...
Greening L, McBride S.Sleep is a significant biological requirement for all living mammals due to its restorative properties and its cognitive role in memory consolidation. Sleep is ubiquitous amongst all mammals but sleep profiles differ between species dependent upon a range of biological and environmental factors. Given the functional importance of sleep, it is important to understand these differences in order to ensure good physical and psychological wellbeing for domesticated animals. This review focuses specifically on the domestic horse and aims to consolidate current information on equine sleep, in relatio...
Silva CJD, Lima KPB, Monteiro JFDCLS, Silva AKSFD, Silva FJD, Pereira AMS, Hernandes VP, Silva EDD, Silva CSAGE, Brandão Filho SP, Brito MEF.American cutaneous leishmaniasis is a commonly neglected, vector-borne tropical parasitic disease that is a major public health concern in Brazil. Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is the main species associated with the disease. Accurate diagnosis is based on epidemiological surveillance, clinical assessment, and laboratory testing. Leishmania (V.) braziliensis has been detected in several wild and synanthropic mammals. Their epidemiological role has not been entirely elucidated. This study aimed to assess potential L. braziliensis infections in asymptomatic domestic animals, by molecular and...
Wiśniewska A, Janczarek I, Wilk I, Tkaczyk E, Mierzicka M, Stanley CR, Górecka-Bruzda A.The authors wish to make the following correction to this paper [...].
Schlindwein X, Werneburg I.We compared embryogenesis of five species of domesticated even-toed and one odd-toed ungulate and used a phylogenetic framework to contextualize such comparison. Organ systems that occur relatively earlier in embryogenesis generally have more time to develop and therefore are found to be more mature at birth when compared to structures that appear later in development. We hypothesized that the less mature the animals' organs are at birth, the more they are susceptible to artificial selection. The horse had the most mature organs at birth, followed by cattle, reindeer, sheep/goat, and pig. This...
Valenchon M, Deneubourg JL, Nesterova AP, Petit O.In collective movements, specific individuals may emerge as leaders. In this study on the domestic horse (Equus ferus caballus), we conducted experiments to establish if an individual is successfully followed due to its social status (including hierarchical rank and centrality). We first informed one horse about a hidden food location and recorded by how many it was followed when going back to this location. In this context, all horses lead their groupmates successfully. In a second step, we tested whether group members would trust some leaders more than others by removing the food before the ...
de Souto EPF, Kommers GD, Souza AP, Miranda Neto EG, Assis DM, Riet-Correa F, Galiza GJN, Dantas AFM.Pythiosis is an endemic disease in northeastern Brazil and we now report the epidemiological, clinical and pathological findings in a retrospective study of naturally occurring cases in domestic animals. From January 1985 to December 2020, the Laboratory of Animal Pathology of the Federal University of Campina Grande examined 13,542 tissue samples from necropsies and biopsies. Among these samples, 306 were diagnosed as pythiosis: 195 cases in horses, 75 in sheep, 19 in dogs, six in mules, four in cattle, three in cats, two in goats, one in a donkey and one in an ostrich. Affected equids had le...
Hu R, Yao R, Li L, Xu Y, Lei B, Tang G, Liang H, Lei Y, Li C, Li X, Liu K, Wang L, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Cui Y, Dai J, Ni W, Zhou P, Yu B, Hu S.With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology, the amount of metagenomic data (including both 16S and whole-genome sequencing data) in public repositories is increasing exponentially. However, owing to the large and decentralized nature of the data, it is still difficult for users to mine, compare, and analyze the data. The animal metagenome database (AnimalMetagenome DB) integrates metagenomic sequencing data with host information, making it easier for users to find data of interest. The AnimalMetagenome DB is designed to contain all public metagenomic data from animals,...
Giannetto C, Di Pietro S, Pennisi M, Acri G, Piccione G, Giudice E.In clinical practice, an important aspect of animal health status evaluation is the body temperature recording obtained using different methods. Within them, the non-contact and non-invasive infrared thermometer can provide an accurate estimation of body temperature improving the quality of care and medical decision. To evaluate the use of the monitoring of auricular temperature to improve the quality of care and medical decision. To evaluate the use of the monitoring of auricular temperature as indices of body temperature, as well as rectal temperature in eleven clinically healthy mixed bred ...
de Paula LGF, do Nascimento RM, Franco AO, Szabó MPJ, Labruna MB, Monteiro C, Krawczak FDS.Amblyomma sculptum is a hard tick that is associated with domestic animals and the transmission of Brazilian spotted fever. This association has motivated several field studies on this ixodid tick within its distribution area in South America. Thorough knowledge of the seasonal dynamics of A. sculptum in different ecological scenarios is required in order to better understand the biological characteristics of this tick and develop techniques for the control and prevention of diseases transmitted by this vector. In this article, we systematically review the seasonal dynamics of A. sculptum and ...
Leal GR, Monteiro CAS, Carvalheira LR, Souza-Fabjan JMG.Simulated Physiological Oocyte Maturation (SPOM) mimics in vitro the physiological events of oocyte maturation. The system uses cAMP modulators in two steps (pre IVM and IVM) and has presented promising results that are arousing the curiosity of IVF programs in different animal species, generating several papers, adaptations, and controversies worldwide. This study systematically analyses the data in the literature on the use of SPOM and compares the outcomes to the original paper (Albuz et al. Hum. Rep., 25: 2999-3011 2010), classifying them into success or failure. The PubMed, Scopus, and ...
Innes JF, Clegg P.Examples of naturally occurring musculoskeletal disorders are extremely common in veterinary species and provide a valuable comparative research resource, which can provide compelling comparative data on the aetiopathogenesis and treatment of many common human musculoskeletal diseases. In particular, orthopaedic diseases are a common morbidity in both dogs and horses. In this review, we give an overview of the common musculoskeletal diseases encountered in these species: for instance, tendon and ligament injuries, arthropathies and stress fractures, as well as an insight into the basic biology...
Felkel S, Vogl C, Rigler D, Jagannathan V, Leeb T, Fries R, Neuditschko M, Rieder S, Velie B, Lindgren G, Rubin CJ, Schlötterer C, Rattei T, Brem G....Humans have shaped the population history of the horse ever since domestication about 5500 years ago. Comparative analyses of the Y chromosome can illuminate the paternal origin of modern horse breeds. This may also reveal different breeding strategies that led to the formation of extant breeds. Recently, a horse Y-chromosomal phylogeny of modern horses based on 1.46 Mb of the male-specific Y (MSY) was generated. We extended this dataset with 52 samples from five European, two American and seven Asian breeds. As in the previous study, almost all modern European horses fall into a crown group...
Tecles F, Cerón JJ.Whole blood cholinesterase was measured using acetyl-, butyryl- and propionylthiocholine as substrates in 10 healthy adult dogs, cats, horses, pigs, goats, sheep and cows, in order to determine and characterise the cholinesterase activity in whole blood of the main domestic animals. An in vitro exposure test with two anticholinesterase compounds, the organophosphate insecticide coumaphos and the carbamate insecticide imidocarb, was also performed. In whole blood of ruminants and pigs, acetylthiocholine yielded the highest cholinesterase activity and other substrates were poorly hydrolysed; in ...
The Journal of heredityNovember 2, 2005
Volume 96, Issue 6 670-678 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esi123
Solis A, Jugo BM, Mériaux JC, Iriondo M, Mazón LI, Aguirre AI, Vicario A, Estomba A.In the present study, genetic analyses of diversity and differentiation were performed on four Basque-Navarrese semiferal native horse breeds. In total, 417 animals were genotyped for 12 microsatellite markers. Mean heterozygosity was higher than in other horse breeds, surely as a consequence of management. Although the population size of some of these breeds has declined appreciably in the past century, no genetic bottleneck was detected in any of the breeds, possibly because it was not narrow enough to be detectable. In the phylogenetic tree, the Jaca Navarra breed was very similar to the Po...
Aguilar CM, Rangel EF, Garcia L, Fernandez E, Momen H, Grimaldi Filho G, De Vargas Z.After outbreaks of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Solano State, Venezuela, 5% of the population had parasitized ulcers while after similar outbreaks in Mesquita, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, 9% had the disease. In these foci children, including some under six years of age, were affected. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of the disease according to sex or type of employment. In Solano, 3% of dogs and 28% of donkeys had parasitized lesions, while in Mesquita these indices were 19.8% and 30.8% respectively. The parasite from man, dogs and equines was identified as Leishmania (Vi...
Arlt D, Forslund P, Jeppsson T, Pärt T.To assess population persistence of species living in heterogeneous landscapes, the effects of habitat on reproduction and survival have to be investigated. Results: We used a matrix population model to estimate habitat-specific population growth rates for a population of northern wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe breeding in farmland consisting of a mosaic of distinct habitat (land use) types. Based on extensive long-term data on reproduction and survival, habitats characterised by tall field layers (spring- and autumn-sown crop fields, ungrazed grasslands) displayed negative stochastic population ...
Smith KC.Abortion or neonatal disease may follow infection with several alpha, beta and gamma-herpesviruses. The alpha-herpesvirus, equid herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), causes single or epizootic abortions or neonatal deaths in equids, and the closely related virus EHV-4 causes sporadic equine abortions. In cattle, the alpha-herpesviruses, bovine herpesvirus-1 (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus) and bovine herpesvirus-5 (bovine encephalitis virus), and a gamma-herpesvirus, bovine herpesvirus-4, have all been implicated as causes of abortion. In pigs, suid herpesvirus-1 (SHV-1: pseudorabies virus), an alp...
Wutke S, Sandoval-Castellanos E, Benecke N, Döhle HJ, Friederich S, Gonzalez J, Hofreiter M, Lõugas L, Magnell O, Malaspinas AS, Morales-Muñiz A....Present-day domestic horses are immensely diverse in their maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA, yet they show very little variation on their paternally inherited Y chromosome. Although it has recently been shown that Y chromosomal diversity in domestic horses was higher at least until the Iron Age, when and why this diversity disappeared remain controversial questions. We genotyped 16 recently discovered Y chromosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 96 ancient Eurasian stallions spanning the early domestication stages (Copper and Bronze Age) to the Middle Ages. Using this Y chromosomal t...
Kacskovics I.Many of the receptors for the Fc domain of immunoglobulins in cattle, sheep, pigs and horses have been cloned and characterized recently. This review summarises recent developments and relates them to the current understanding of the primary structure, cellular specificity and binding properties of Fc receptors (FcRs). Although there is an obvious overall similarity to their human and mouse counterparts, some Fc receptors in domestic animals are unusual, perhaps most notably the bovine Fcgamma2R, which although related to other mammalian FcgammaRs, belongs to a novel gene family and the porcin...
Sikutová S, Hornok S, Hubálek Z, Dolezálková I, Juricová Z, Rudolf I.Blood sera collected from 400 domestic animals (260 cattle, 100 Merino sheep, and 40 Hutzul horses) in northeastern Hungary in 2005 were examined for antibodies against two tick-borne viruses, tick-borne encephalitis flavivirus (TBEV) and Bhanja bunyavirus (BHAV). Using ELISA as screening test and plaque-reduction neutralization as confirmatory test, seropositivity to TBEV was found to be 26.5% in cattle, 7.0% in sheep, and 0.0% in horses. Among cattle, the animals up to 3 years old had significantly lower seroprevalence rate than those in older age groups. Natural foci of tick-borne encephali...
Krueger K, Heinze J.Animals that live in stable social groups need to gather information on their own relative position in the group's social hierarchy, by either directly threatening or by challenging others, or indirectly and in a less perilous manner , by observing interactions among others. Indirect inference of dominance relationships has previously been reported from primates, rats, birds, and fish. Here, we show that domestic horses, Equus caballus, are similarly capable of social cognition. Taking advantage of a specific "following behavior" that horses show towards humans in a riding arena, we investigat...
Okely M, Anan R, Gad-Allah S, Samy AM.Ticks are important vectors of emerging health problems in humans and animals. We conducted several field surveillances to investigate the fauna of hard ticks on domestic animals in seven governorates of Egypt during 2018-2019. A total of 3265 individual tick specimens were collected and identified to the species level; the specimens belong to 11 species within three genera (Amblyomma, Hyalomma, and Rhipicephalus). Tick infestation was highest in dromedary camels (70%), followed by dogs (52.5%), cattle (50%), buffaloes (38%), and horses (12%). Ten species were collected from dromedary camels, ...
Auer U, Kelemen Z, Engl V, Jenner F.Horses' behavior can provide valuable insight into their subjective state and is thus a good indicator of welfare. However, its complexity requires objective, quantifiable, and unambiguous evidence-based assessment criteria. As healthy, stress-free horses exhibit a highly repetitive daily routine, temporal quantification of their behavioral activities (time budget analysis) can assist in equine welfare assessment. Therefore, the present systematic review aimed to provide an up-to-date analysis of equine time budget studies. A review of the literature yielded 12 papers that fulfilled the inclus...
Bullitta S, Re GA, Manunta MDI, Piluzza G.Mediterranean farmers traditionally utilized plants, animals, and minerals sourced locally to treat their animals. Research is needed to understand at what extent such knowledge of domestic animal care still survives and to document such traditions for further developments. Methods: We carried out our field study to recover ancient ethno-veterinary practices by means of questionnaires and interviews to farmers in rural areas of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy). Quantitative indices were used to evaluate the distribution and diversity of the acquired information. Results: We report ...
Su Y, Zhu J, Salman S, Tang Y.The development of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology has revolutionized the world on the establishment of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) across a great variety of animal species. Generation of iPSCs from domesticated animals would provide unrestricted cell resources for the study of embryonic development and cell differentiation of these species, for screening and establishing desired traits for sustainable agricultural production, and as veterinary and preclinical therapeutic tools for animal and human diseases. Induced PSCs from domesticated animals thus harbor enormous sc...
Okamura H, Yamamura T, Wakabayashi Y.The hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is the regulatory system for reproduction in mammals. Because secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) into the portal vessels is the final step at which the brain controls gonadal activities, the GnRH neuronal system had been thought to be central to the HPG axis. A newly discovered neural peptide, kisspeptin, has opened a new era in reproductive neuroendocrinology. As shown in a variety of mammals, kisspeptin is a potent endogenous secretagogue of GnRH, and the kisspeptin neuronal system governs both the pulsatile GnRH secretion that dri...
Rivera-Páez FA, Labruna MB, Martins TF, Perez JE, Castaño-Villa GJ, Ossa-López PA, Gil CA, Sampieri BR, Aricapa-Giraldo HJ, Camargo-Mathias MI.The known tick fauna of Colombia includes 58 species (15 Argasidae and 43 Ixodidae). To add to the knowledge of the biology of ticks in Colombia, hard ticks (Ixodidae) were collected from domestic animals or vegetation during 2014-2016 in 10 of Colombia's Departments. Ticks were identified to species through morphological examinations. Taxonomic identification was confirmed for some specimens by molecular methods, including phylogenetic analyses inferred from three tick genes (cytochrome c oxidase, 16S rDNA, second internal transcribed spacer). A total of 1745 tick specimens encompassing 8 spe...
Lesimple C, Sankey C, Richard MA, Hausberger M.Domestic animals are highly capable of detecting human cues, while wild relatives tend to perform less well (e.g., responding to pointing gestures). It is suggested that domestication may have led to the development of such cognitive skills. Here, we hypothesized that because domestic animals are so attentive and dependant to humans' actions for resources, the counter effect may be a decline of self sufficiency, such as individual task solving. Here we show a negative correlation between the performance in a learning task (opening a chest) and the interest shown by horses toward humans, despit...
Elfving K, Malmsten J, Dalin AM, Nilsson K.Both Rickettsia helvetica and Anaplasma phagocytophilum are common in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Sweden. Knowledge is limited regarding different animal species' competence to act as reservoirs for these organism. For this reason, blood samples were collected from wild cervids (roe deer, moose) and domestic mammals (horse, cat, dog) in central Sweden, and sera were tested using immunofluorescence assay to detect antibodies against spotted fever rickettsiae using Rickettsia helvetica as antigen. Sera with a titer ≥1:64 were considered as positive, and 23.1% (104/450) of the animals scored positi...
Gupte CM, Bull AM, Murray R, Amis AA.The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence, position and relative sizes of the meniscofemoral ligaments (MFL) in three quadrupeds and humans and relate these to the caudal slope of the lateral tibial plateau. Canine, ovine and equine stifles and human knees were dissected to identify the presence of MFLs, their obliquity in relation to the caudal cruciate ligaments (CCL), the relative size and shape of the MFLs compared with the CCL, the points of femoral attachment of the MFLs and CCL, and the distance between the MFLs and CCL at their midpoints. The lateral tibial condyle was ...
Science (New York, N.Y.)March 30, 2023
Volume 379, Issue 6639 1316-1323 doi: 10.1126/science.adc9691
Taylor WTT, Librado P, American Horse CJ, Shield Chief Gover C, Arterberry J, Afraid of Bear-Cook AL, Left Heron H, Yellow Hair RM, Gonzalez M....The horse is central to many Indigenous cultures across the American Southwest and the Great Plains. However, when and how horses were first integrated into Indigenous lifeways remain contentious, with extant models derived largely from colonial records. We conducted an interdisciplinary study of an assemblage of historic archaeological horse remains, integrating genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon, and paleopathological evidence. Archaeological and modern North American horses show strong Iberian genetic affinities, with later influx from British sources, but no Viking proximity. Horses rapidly sp...
López-Fernández C, Crespo F, Arroyo F, Fernández JL, Arana P, Johnston SD, Gosálvez J.The mixed success of equine artificial insemination programs using chilled and frozen-thawed semen is most likely associated with the variable response of the sperm cell to the preservation process and the fact that stallions are not selected on the basis of reproductive performance. We propose that the traditional indicators of sperm viability do not fully account for male factor infertility in the stallion and that knowledge of sperm DNA damage in the original semen sample and during semen processing may provide a more informed explanation of an individual stallion's reproductive potential. ...
Höfner L, Luther AM, Waberski D.Ongoing progress in proteomic characterization of seminal plasma has stimulated research on the identification of biomarkers for male fertility and sperm preservability. So far, many studies have evaluated the benefits of reconstituting cryopreserved or sex-sorted semen with seminal plasma. Less information is available about the effect of remaining or added seminal plasma in liquid preserved semen. The interaction between seminal plasma and spermatozoa is species -specific, and within species often complex and ambiguous. This article aims to review the action of seminal plasma on sperm functi...
Pascottini OB, Aurich C, England G, Grahofer A.Endometritis is a leading cause of sub- and infertility in domestic animal species. The healthy uterus is colonized by commensal bacteria, viruses and yeast/fungi that represent the nonpathogenic microbiota. A shift in the number or type of organisms accompanied by immune dysfunction, however, may trigger uterine infection and inflammation. Metritis is associated with inflammation of all uterine layers (endometrium, myometrium and perimetrium), whereas endometritis is a more superficial inflammation involving solely the endometrium. Endometritis generally occurs at two time points in domestic ...
Baba C, Kawai M, Takimoto-Inose A.Emotions are important for social animals because animals' emotions function as beneficial cues to identify valuable resources such as food or to avoid danger by providing environmental information. Emotions also enable animals to predict individuals' behavior and determine how to behave in a specific context. Recently, several studies have reported that dogs are highly sensitive to not only conspecific but also human emotional cues. These studies suggest that domestication may have affected such sensitivity. However, there are still few studies that examine whether other domesticated animals,...
Jiménez-Clavero MÁ.Environmental changes have an undoubted influence on the appearance, distribution, and evolution of infectious diseases, and notably on those transmitted by vectors. Global change refers to environmental changes arising from human activities affecting the fundamental mechanisms operating in the biosphere. This paper discusses the changes observed in recent times with regard to some important arboviral (arthropod-borne viral) diseases of animals, and the role global change could have played in these variations. Two of the most important arboviral diseases of animals, bluetongue (BT) and West Ni...
Henry S, Richard-Yris MA, Hausberger M.Whereas the way animals perceive human contact has been particularly examined in pet animals, a small amount of investigations has been done in domestic ungulates. It was nevertheless assumed that, as pet animals, non-aggressive forms of tactile contact were as well rewarding or positive for these species, even though the features of intraspecific relationships in pet animals and domestic ungulates may be to some extent different. We test here the hypothesis that horses may not consider physical handling by humans as a positive event. When comparing different early human-foal interactions, we ...
Allen TE, Bligh J.1. The temporal patterns of cutaneous water vapour loss from the skin of the sheep, goat, ox, horse, donkey and llama during exposure to 40°C Ta and during i.v. injections and infusions of adrenaline are examined.
2. It is concluded that there are marked species variations in the extent to which the discharge of sweat is affected by periodic contractions of the myoepithelium, or by simple displacement of fluid from the filled lumen as more fluid is secreted into it.
Lun ZR, Fang Y, Wang CJ, Brun R.Trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi (surra) is a problem of great economic importance in livestock in China because it affects important working animals: buffaloes in the south and east, and horses and cattle in the north and west. In addition, buffaloes are an important source of meat and leather for the Chinese population. In the north and west, T. evansi is found mainly in camels, whereas in the east, the south and the southwest, it is primarily buffaloes, cattle and horses that are affected by this parasitic flagellate. Although trypanosomiasis is one of the most important parasit...
