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.
Bravo-Ramos JL, Sánchez-Montes S, Sánchez-Otero MG, Ballados-Gonzalez GG, Gamboa-Prieto J, Romero-Salas D, Olivares-Muñoz A.Equine piroplasmosis is a parasitic illness caused by various protozoa of the Babesia and Theileria genera, which parasitize within red blood cells. The transmission of these pathogens occurs through certain genus of ticks, including Amblyomma, Haemaphysalis, Hyalomma, and Rhipicephalus. In recent times, an increase in the identification of new Theileria species and genotypes has been observed. This is further complicated by the presence of mixed Theileria infections in both mammals and tick vectors, particularly in regions where wildlife and livestock share habitats and vectors. Therefore, th...
Chen J, Wang H, Li J, Liu S, Li B, Sun Y, Wang H, Manglai D.To date, the origins, domestication, and genetic structure of Chinese Mongolian horses (CMH) are poorly understood. Furthermore, there have been sparse reports on the genetic differences between CMH and Thoroughbred. In order to determine their genetic structure, understand their genetic relationships, and explore their domestication processes, we performed an extensive survey of creatine kinase (muscle isoenzyme; variations among six populations of indigenous CMH, cultivated Sanhe horses, and imported Thoroughbred. Twenty-three single-nucleotide polymorphisms were found among the 343 horse s...
Giontella A, Cardinali I, Sarti FM, Silvestrelli M, Lancioni H.Horse domestication and breed selection processes have profoundly influenced the development and transformation of human society and civilization over time. Therefore, their origin and history have always attracted much attention. In Italy, several local breeds have won prestigious awards thanks to their unique traits and socio-cultural peculiarities. Here, for the first time, we report the genetic variation of three loci of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) of four local breeds and another one (Lipizzan, UNESCO) well-represented in the Italian Peninsula. The analysis also inc...
Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Kakoi H, Hirota KI, Nagata SI.Individual identification and paternity testing are important for avoiding inbreeding in the management of small populations of wild and domestic animals. In horse racing industries, they are extremely important for identifying and registering individuals and doping control to ensure fair competition. In this study, we constructed an individual identification panel for horses by using insertion and deletion (INDEL) markers. The panel included 39 INDEL markers selected from a whole-genome INDEL database. Genotyping of 89 Thoroughbreds showed polymorphisms with minor allele frequencies (MAFs) of...
Rogers LJ.The specialized functions of each hemisphere of the vertebrate brain are summarized together with the current evidence of lateralized behavior in farm and companion animals, as shown by the eye or ear used to attend and respond to stimuli. Forelimb preference is another manifestation of hemispheric lateralization, as shown by differences in behavior between left- and right-handed primates, left- and right-pawed dogs and cats, and left- and right-limb-preferring horses. Left-limb preference reflects right hemisphere use and is associated with negative cognitive bias. Positive cognitive bias is ...
Tsachev I, Gospodinova K, Pepovich R, Takova K, Kundurzhiev T, Zahmanova G, Kaneva K, Baymakova M.In recent years, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has been found to be widespread among different animal species worldwide. In Bulgaria, high HEV seropositivity was found among pigs (60.3%), wild boars (40.8%), and East Balkan swine (82.5%). The aim of the present study was to establish the seroprevalence of HEV among dogs, cats, horses, cattle, sheep, and goats in Bulgaria. In total, 720 serum samples from six animal species were randomly collected: dogs-90 samples; cats-90; horses-180; cattle-180; sheep-90; and goats-90. The serum samples were collected from seven districts of the country: ...
Montaner-Angoiti E, Llobat L.Leishmania is a genus of parasitic protozoa that causes a disease called leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female sandflies. There are several different species of Leishmania that can cause various forms of the disease, and the symptoms can range from mild to severe, depending on species of Leishmania involved and the immune response of the host. Leishmania parasites have a variety of reservoirs, including humans, domestic animals, horses, rodents, wild animals, birds, and reptiles. Leishmaniasis is endemic of 90 countries, mainly in South Amer...
Mohammed MN, Yasmin AR, Ramanoon SZ, Noraniza MA, Ooi PT, Ain-Najwa MY, Natasha JA, Nur-Fazila SH, Arshad SS, Mohammed HO.West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne neurotropic pathogen with a wide host range that constitutes a significant risk to public and animal health. There is limited information on WNV infection in domesticated mammals in Malaysia; however, current reports indicate infections in birds, macaques, bats and pigs from Malaysia. In this study, 203 serum samples from cattle, goats, and horses were tested for the presence of anti-WNV IgG using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA). Additionally, using one-step RT-PCR, nasopharyngeal swabs were analyzed for WNV RNA from all 203 animals...
Krishnan BS, Jones LR, Elmore JA, Samiappan S, Evans KO, Pfeiffer MB, Blackwell BF, Iglay RB.Visible and thermal images acquired from drones (unoccupied aircraft systems) have substantially improved animal monitoring. Combining complementary information from both image types provides a powerful approach for automating detection and classification of multiple animal species to augment drone surveys. We compared eight image fusion methods using thermal and visible drone images combined with two supervised deep learning models, to evaluate the detection and classification of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), domestic cow (Bos taurus), and domestic horse (Equus caballus). We cla...
Elata A, Galon EM, Moumouni PFA, Ybanez RHD, Mossaad E, Salces CB, Bajenting GP, Ybanez AP, Xuan X, Inoue N, Suganuma K.Animal trypanosomosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases significantly affecting the Philippine economy. It is considered by the government to be the second most important disease of livestock after fasciolosis. A PCR-based molecular survey for trypanosomes in different animals in Bohol, Philippines, was performed to assess the prevalence of trypanosomosis in the area during the rainy and dry season. Methods: A total of 269 blood samples were collected in two batches in rainy and dry season from different animal species in Ubay Stock Farm in Ubay, Bohol, the Philippines, including...
Topp AK, Springer A, Mischke R, Rieder J, Feige K, Ganter M, Nagel-Kohl U, Nordhoff M, Boelke M, Becker S, Pachnicke S, Schunack B, Dobler G, Strube C.Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a tick-transmitted flavivirus, which can infect humans and animals, sometimes even with a fatal outcome. Since many decades, TBEV is endemic in southern Germany, while only sporadic occurrence has been noted in northern parts of the country so far. Nevertheless, autochthonous human clinical cases are increasing in the federal state of Lower Saxony in north-western Germany, and several natural foci of TBEV transmission have recently been detected in this federal state. In order to shed more light on the current distribution of TBEV in Lower Saxony, the pr...
Rock KD, Polera ME, Guillette TC, Starnes HM, Dean K, Watters M, Stevens-Stewart D, Belcher SM.Central North Carolina (NC) is highly contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in part due to local fluorochemical production. Little is known about the exposure profiles and long-term health impacts for humans and animals that live in nearby communities. In this study, serum PFAS concentrations were determined using liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry and diagnostic clinical chemistry endpoints were assessed for 31 dogs and 32 horses that reside in Gray's Creek NC at households with documented PFAS contamination in their drinking water. PFAS were detec...
Lean NE, Franklin SH, Steel C, Woolford L, White J, Ahern BJ.Little is known about potential differences in the left recurrent laryngeal nerve (Lrln) and left cricoarytenoideus dorsalis (LCAD) muscle between domestic and feral horse populations. If a difference exists, feral horses may provide a useful control population for research related to recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) and increase our understanding of potential population pressures influencing the incidence RLN. The objective of this study was to compare the Lrln and LCAD of domestic and feral horses using histological and immunohistochemical techniques (IHC). Sixteen horses, domestic (n = ...
Mousavi SF, Razmkabir M, Rostamzadeh J, Seyedabadi HR, Naboulsi R, Petersen JL, Lindgren G.Indigenous Iranian horse breeds were evolutionarily affected by natural and artificial selection in distinct phylogeographic clades, which shaped their genomes in several unique ways. The aims of this study were to evaluate the genetic diversity and genomewide selection signatures in four indigenous Iranian horse breeds. We evaluated 169 horses from Caspian (n = 21), Turkmen (n = 29), Kurdish (n = 67), and Persian Arabian (n = 52) populations, using genomewide genotyping data. The contemporary effective population sizes were 59, 98, 102, and 113 for Turkmen, Caspian, Persian Ar...
Faccin M, Wiener DJ, Rech RR, Santoro D, Rodrigues Hoffmann A.The skin covers the external surface of animals, and it is constantly exposed to and inhabited by different microorganisms, including bacteria. Alterations in the skin barrier allow commensal and/or pathogenic bacteria to proliferate and penetrate deep into the lower layers of the skin. Being the first barrier to the external environment, the skin is prone to injuries, allowing the penetration of microorganisms that may lead to severe deep infections. Companion animals, especially dogs, are prone to bacterial infections, often secondary to allergic dermatitis. When environmental conditions are...
Gu J, Li S, Zhu B, Liang Q, Chen B, Tang X, Chen C, Wu DD, Li Y.Understanding the genetic variations of the horse (Equus caballus) genome will improve breeding conservation and welfare. However, genetic variations in long segments, such as structural variants (SVs), remain understudied. We de novo assembled 10 chromosome-level three-dimensional horse genomes, each representing a distinct breed, and analysed horse SVs using a multi-assembly approach. Our findings suggest that SVs with the accumulation of mammalian-wide interspersed repeats related to long interspersed nuclear elements might be a horse-specific mechanism to modulate genome-wide gene regulato...
Gregersen T, Wild TA, Havmøller LW, Møller PR, Lenau TA, Wikelski M, Havmøller RW.Wildlife tracking devices are key in obtaining detailed insights on movement, animal migration, natal dispersal, home-ranges, resource use and group dynamics of free-roaming animals. Despite a wide use of such devices, tracking for entire lifetimes is still a considerable challenge for most animals, mainly due to technological limitations. Deploying battery powered wildlife tags on smaller animals is limited by the mass of the devices. Micro-sized devices with solar panels sometimes solve this challenge, however, nocturnal species or animals living under low light conditions render solar cells...
Kozytska T, Bassiouny M, Chechet O, Ordynska D, Galante D, Neubauer H, Wareth G.Anthrax is an acute infectious zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that mostly affects grazing livestock and wildlife. Furthermore, B. anthracis is considered one of the most important biological agents of bioterrorism that could also be potentially misused in biological weapons. The distribution of anthrax in domestic animals and wildlife in Europe with a particular focus on Ukraine as a country of war was analyzed. Between 2005 and 2022, 267 anthrax cases were registered at the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) in animals in Europe, including 251 cases in domestic animals ...
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 ...
Ratzlaff FR, Osmari V, da Silva D, de Paula Vasconcellos JS, Pötter L, Fernandes FD, de Mello Filho JA, de Avila Botton S, Vogel FSF, Sangioni LA.Leishmaniasis is a zoonosis caused by protozoan species of the genus Leishmania. It generates different clinical manifestations in humans and animals, and it infects multiple hosts. Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sandfly vectors. The main objective of this systematic review was to identify the host, or reservoir animal species, of Leishmania spp., with the exception of domestic dogs, that were recorded in Brazil. This review included identification of diagnostic methods, and the species of protozoan circulating in the country. For this purpose, a literature search was conducted across...
Kuckova S, Smirnova TA, Straka D, Meledina A, Santrucek J, Humpolakova K, Hoskova M, Cejnar P, Hynek R.The aim of this work is to offer an alternative or complementary analytical tool to the time-consuming and expensive methods commonly used for the recognition of animal species according to their hair. The paper introduces a simple and fast way for species differentiation of animal hairs called in-sample digestion. A total of 10 European animal species, including cat, cow, common degu, dog, fallow deer, goat, horse, sika deer, rabbit, roe deer, and 17 different breeds of dogs were examined using specific tryptic cleavage directly in hair followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-...
Torres Borda L, Auer U, Jenner F.Sociality is an ethological need of horses that remained unchanged by domestication. Accordingly, it is essential to include horses' social behavioural requirements and the opportunity to establish stable affiliative bonds in equine management systems and welfare assessment. Thus, this systematic review aims to provide an up-to-date analysis of equine intraspecific social ethograms. A literature review yielded 27 papers that met the inclusion criteria by studying adult (≥2 years) equine social behaviour with conspecifics using a well-defined ethogram. Social interactions were observed in 851...
Zollinger A, Wyss C, Bardou D, Bachmann I.In domestic conditions, adult stallions are mostly housed individually in internal stables to reduce the risk of injuries during social interactions. Social deprivation in horses results in physiological stress and behavioural problems. The aim of this study was to test the "social box" (SB), which allows closer physical contact between neighbouring horses. Eight pairs of stallions (n = 16) were filmed over a 24 h period in the SB and in their usual box stables, "conventional boxes" (CB), which strongly restrict tactile contact. The effect of housing in the SB on behaviour and the occurrence a...
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...
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...
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...
