Equids are members of the family Equidae, which includes modern horses, donkeys, and zebras, as well as extinct species. Equids are characterized by their long limbs, single-toed hooves, and herbivorous diet, which is primarily composed of grasses. Horses, specifically, have been domesticated for thousands of years and have played significant roles in agriculture, transportation, and sport. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of equids and horses, including their evolution, physiology, behavior, and interactions with humans. The collected works provide insights into the genetic diversity, adaptive traits, and conservation efforts related to equid species.
van Rijn PA, Wernery U, Feddema AJ, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Joseph S, van Gennip RGP.African Horse Sickness (AHS) is a devastating vector-borne viral disease of equids with a mortality up to 95 % in naïve domestic horses. The causative African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a distinct species of the genus Orbivirus of the family Sedoreoviridae, consisting of nine serotypes showing limited cross protection. AHSV is transmitted by Culicoides biting midges. Outbreaks cause huge economic losses in developing African countries. AHS has become a serious threat for countries outside Africa, since endemic Culicoides species in moderate climates appear competent vectors of the closel...
Tucker-Retter EK, Yamagata M, Gilger B, Oh A.To assess whether topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) with or without episcleral brinzolamide implants control intraocular pressure (IOP) in horses with glaucoma. Methods: 12 client-owned horses diagnosed with glaucoma. Methods: Medical records of horses treated with topical CAIs for ≥ 14 days, with a subset receiving episcleral brinzolamide implants, were reviewed. Diagnosis, signalment, concurrent ocular disease, medications, IOP, visual status, and additional procedures were recorded. Treatment failure was defined as horses with IOP > 30 mmHg resulting in phthisis bulbi o...
In light of the increasing reports of anthelmintic (AH) resistance in equids, a national survey on helminth control practices was distributed to 42 528 keepers. A total of 4 344 responses was obtained. Respondents implemented preventive pasture practices with varying frequency according to the age of the animals, such as pasture rotations (78.1-80.6 %), excrement removal from pastures several times a year (15.9-27.2 %) and/or mixed or rotational grazing with ruminants (14.5-18.1 %). A majority of keepers routinely used AH treatments even though they did not perceive any major risk to the...
Wickenden H, Lightbody KL, Peczak N, Stevens KB, Pollard D, Blake DP, Austin CJ, Matthews JB, Fox MT.Anoplocephala perfoliata is the most common equine tapeworm infection. This parasite is found at the small/large intestinal junction and has been associated with colic. The cestode has an indirect lifecycle involving oribatid mite intermediate hosts, though little is known of its epidemiology. This study aimed to monitor seasonal fluctuations in pasture oribatid mite numbers and the presence of Anoplocephala spp. DNA in mite samples collected from three equine premises in the UK. Exposure to infection in resident horses was assessed by measuring tapeworm-specific salivary antibodies. The data ...
Vidal-Cardos R, Fàbrega E, Dalmau A.The sustainability of extensive livestock systems is compromised. It is necessary to enhance our understanding of the activity and grazing behavior of different livestock species (cows, horses, and sheep) sharing the same mountainous areas. Nowadays, the observation and analysis of animal activity is greatly facilitated by remote tracking technology, especially in zones with difficult access. In this article, we proved that commercial geolocation collars can provide meaningful data on animal activity, behavior, and distribution, which can be used to model daily distances, activity patterns, gr...
Lugo T, Myers S, Nguyen TA.In vitro models have revolutionized our understanding of biological pathways and mechanisms, offering a viable alternative to direct patient testing. However, there is a significant lack of models for different animals, particularly equine models. This study presents a novel primary cell culture extracted from a 3-year-old horse diagnosed with multisystemic eosinophilic epitheliotropic disease. Tissue samples were collected from lymph nodes at various locations. Growth curves of extracted primary cells were analyzed and the optimal conditions were assessed. Biomarkers, such as CD31, ZO-1, CD79...
Riahi Z, Naeini AT, Zare R.Dareshuri horses are the predominant breed in Fars Province, Iran. Although disorders affecting their maxillary cheek teeth and maxillary sinuses are relatively common, limited fundamental data are available on the dimensions and relationships of these structures at different ages. Given the significant anatomical changes in the heads of young horses as they mature, this study aimed to evaluate age-related changes in the position and anatomical relationships of individual maxillary cheek teeth within the rostral and caudal maxillary sinuses (RMS and CMS, respectively), as well as changes in th...
Karlau A, Azcona F, Molina A, Trigo P, Sánchez-Serrano JP, Demyda-Peyrás S.The Peruano de Paso is a horse breed renowned for its smooth gait, traditionally selected based on breeders' empirical knowledge. Recently, the frequency of chestnut horses, a recessive trait, has increased substantially within the official studbook. This study evaluated whether preference for chestnut coat colour has influenced morphological traits and genetic diversity within the breed. A total of 8376 records of seven morphological traits, collected by the Peruano de Paso Breeders Association over eight years, were analysed, along with a pedigree including 41,357 individuals. Morphological ...
Zhou Y, Yao X, Meng J, Wang J, Zeng Y, Li L, Ren W.The Kazakh horse is a highly valuable indigenous Chinese breed known for its use in both milk and meat production. However, the mechanisms underlying color variation in the abdominal adipose tissue of this breed remain poorly understood. In this study, the sequencing of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) was conducted on abdominal adipose tissue of different colors from Kazakh horses, with the aim of investigating the molecular mechanisms responsible for this variation. A total of 205 differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (DELncRNAs) including , , and ; 52 differentially expressed microRNAs (DEm...
subsp. (SEZ) is a bacterium that primarily affects horses but can also infect other animals and humans. In 2021-2022, two SEZ outbreaks occurred in Abruzzo, Italy: one in humans linked to unpasteurized cheese (37 cases) and another in donkeys (4 deaths). These events led researchers to investigate SEZ in horses, donkeys, and a mule in the regions of Abruzzo and Molise, focusing on antibiotic resistance and genetic traits. A total of 490 nasal and genital swabs were collected from equids and analyzed for SEZ presence, with 61 positive samples. Isolated strains underwent antimicrobial suscepti...
Selecky ME, Louie EW, Donnelly C, Finno CJ, Morgan JM.Echocardiographic reference intervals for Quarter Horses are infrequently reported. Objective: To provide standard echocardiographic measurements for sedentary Quarter Horses and evaluate the relationship between physical characteristics (body weight, age, sex) and echocardiographic measurements. Methods: Forty-one sedentary Quarter Horses, free of cardiac disease, from a university research herd. Methods: A cross-sectional study evaluating standardized echocardiograms performed on sedentary Quarter Horses (41) between 2020 and 2022. Reference intervals were calculated for raw and weight-corre...
Kassymbekova SN, Bimenova ZZ, Iskhan KZ, Sobiech P, Jastrzebski JP, Brym P, Babis W, Kalykova AS, Otebayev ZM, Kabylbekova DI, Baneh H, Romanov MN.Mugalzhar horses are a relatively young native breed of Kazakhstan, prized for meat and milk production and adaptation. This study was conducted to investigate genetic diversity and pinpoint genomic regions associated with selection signatures in this breed using whole-genome sequence data. Variant calling yielded a total of 21,722,393 high-quality variants, including 19,495,163 SNPs and 2,227,230 indels. Most variants were located in introns and intergenic regions, while only 1.94% were exonic. Estimates of genetic diversity were moderate, with expected and observed heterozygosity and nucleot...
Baxley BH, Stellato A, Anderson NC.Horses involved in equine-assisted services (EAS) support the psychological and physiological health of individuals through mounted activities; however, limited research exists on how these sessions affect the horse's movement. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the influence of rider presence and posture on horses' gait parameters in EAS settings. Methods: Horses (n = 22) were observed during walk and trot, both with and without a mounted rider, in four EAS centers in the United States. Distal limb-mounted inertial measurement units collected peak ground reaction force (pGRF), stride ...
Yang S, Xiao J, Mu L, Li C, Dai S, Li S, Cui Y, Xu Y.Between the third and sixth centuries AD (Anno Domini), the Xianbei emerged as a dominant nomadic power in the Eastern Eurasian Steppe, distinguished by their exceptional equestrian culture and the pivotal role of cavalry in warfare. Despite their historical significance, detailed knowledge of their cavalry's weaponry and equipment-particularly armour-remains fragmentary. As a critical element of military technology, armour offers valuable insights into ancient combat strategies and cultural practices. However, research on early Chinese cavalry armour has been constrained by limited textual re...
Couto GR, Vigano DWA, Santos GDC, Allen WRT, Wilsher S.Vitrified embryos ≤300 μm give better pregnancy rates following warming and transfer than larger ones. Embryo recovery undertaken close to when the embryo enters the uterus (Day 6-6.5) helps in the recovery of embryos ≤300 μm. However, flushing early can mean missing an embryo not yet in the uterus, whereas later can result in embryos >300 μm. Objective: To evaluate if repeated embryo flushing on consecutive days from Day 6.5 would increase the number of embryos ≤300μm recovered. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: Four hundred and ninety-six inseminations with cooled ...
Wubuli A, Su Y, Yao X, Meng J, Wang J, Zeng Y, Li L, Ren W.The Kazakh horse, a versatile breed, is renowned for stable genetic performance and strong tolerance to coarse feed. Sex is a key factor influencing skeletal muscle development. However, the mechanisms underlying sex-specific regulation of equine muscle growth remain obscure. This study employed transcriptomic analysis to investigate sex-associated molecular differences in skeletal muscle of Kazakh horses. The experimental cohort comprised four three-year-old Kazakh stallions and four three-year-old Kazakh mares. After slaughter, six groups of muscle samples were collected immediately, includi...
Duderstadt S, Distl O.Dülmen wild horses are kept in a fenced wooden and marsh area around Dülmen in Westphalia, Germany, since 1856. Previous analyses supported early genetic divergence from other domesticated horse populations and the Przewalski horse. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate genetic diversity using high-density genomic data. Methods: We collected 337 one-year-old male Dülmen wild horses, captured at 12 annual auctions, for genotyping on the Illumina GGP Equine Plus Beadchip. All analyses were performed for 63,123 autosomal SNPs. Results: On average, each horse had 27.96 ROH with...
Krcal C, Licka T.Besides oral temperature, meteorological parameters are expected to be relevant for mouthpiece temperature, potentially influenced by the material, surface area and weight of the bit. This study measured the temperature of the mouthpieces at the corner of the mouth while they were in use on 58 carriage horses during the four 2024 seasons. Stainless steel, copper, and copper-steel bits were tested in three shapes: Butterfly Liverpool, Liverpool, and Loose Ring Snaffle with four rings. Additionally, surface temperatures of inner thighs, the ground, and buildings were measured using infrared ther...
Paksoy Y, Ural K, Erdoğan H, Erdoğan S, Paşa S.The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the relaxation, stress reduction and behavioral changes observed after manual therapy applied to horses exposed to racing and physical training stimulus. This descriptive approach is aimed at veterinary clinicians to evaluate the therapy process more effectively with behavioral feedback. For this purpose, the study was conducted in two different equestrian clubs in Adana (Adana Mediterranean and Suvari Equestrian Clubs) between 2023 and 2024. A total of 32 racehorses (16 Thoroughbred, 16 Arabian; 16 female, 16 male) of different ages, genders and bre...
Payette F, Kulp JC, Graves A, Janes J, Morrow J, Orr K, Reed S, Ruby R, Stefanovski D, Johnson AL.To measure and compare CSF cytokine concentrations among horses with equine neuroaxonal dystrophy (eNAD)/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM), horses with cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM), and control horses and to evaluate for associations with clinical parameters. Unassigned: Banked equine CSF samples from horses with neurologic disease that underwent a complete neurologic examination and postmortem diagnosis confirmation of CVSM or eNAD/EDM or from control horses were included. Cytokines were measured with an equine-specific cytokine/chemokine magnetic bead multiplex p...
Hunyadi LM, Sundman EA.Equine nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (NSHP, Bighead Disease) is a consequence of diets with abnormal calcium: phosphorus ratios. With the widespread availability of fortified feeds and legume forage, the disease has largely disappeared. The Hawaiian Islands are unique in that legume forage is largely unavailable and pastures have high oxalate concentrations. This was a cohort study that included seventeen adult horses imported from the continental US to the Waiki'i region, Hawai'i that grazed on kikuyu grass pastures. Plasma ionized calcium and parathyroid hormone concentrations at...
Norman AJ, Turner CM, Manfredi JM.Sedation is important for safe equine dental procedures, but it is unknown if there is a higher risk of sedation causing hypothermia in procedures performed during cold months. The authors hypothesize that sedation for a dental procedure will significantly decrease rectal body temperature in cold as compared to warm ambient temperatures. Adult equids ( = 246), from a private equine dentistry practice, that underwent dental equilibration, were selected for the study. Each horse's weight was estimated and sedation was administered intravenously (0.01 mg/kg detomidine and 0.01 mg/kg butor...
Taylor WTT, Delsol N, Oelze VM, Mitchell P, Stricker L, Lavin M, Ogundiran A, Hosek L, Barrón-Ortiz CI, Ojediran O, Quintero-Bisono D....Domestic equids were central to the initial colonization of the Atlantic coast of the Americas, a process partially chronicled by historical records. While Spanish colonists brought horses to the Caribbean decades earlier, settlement of the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, was among the first dispersals of horses to the eastern seaboard. Archaeozoological analysis of identifiable domestic equid remains from two contexts associated with the initial occupation of Jamestown demonstrates intense processing and consumption of the first Jamestown horses during the "Starving Time" winter of 160...
Mughal MAS, Khan MK, Lan H, Abbas RZ, Imran M, Abbas Z, Mehmood MS, Ali S.Parasitic diseases caused by Leishmania spp. create considerable health concerns in animals, resulting in a considerable financial impact. They causes a complex infection in equines, affecting weight gain, skin, liver, and spleen. To date, there is a lack of reports on the occurrence of Leishmania in equines in Southern Punjab, Pakistan, highlighting the need for molecular epidemiological surveillance. The current study focused on determining the prevalence of Leishmania in the equine population from District Rahim Yar Khan, Southern Punjab, Pakistan, through amplification of mitochondrial (Cy...
Kronenberg PA, Fouché N, Sekiya M, Liechti P, Frey CF, Mulcahy G, Eichenberger RM.Fasciola hepatica is a common trematode parasite of livestock in many regions, causing significant economic losses and affecting animal welfare. Horses rarely develop patent liver fluke infection. However, liver damage can affect animal health and welfare. Therefore, F. hepatica infection in horses may be underreported. Recently, a serological test for the antibody detection has been reported based on recombinant parasite cathepsin L1 (FhCL1) protease. Here, we optimized this enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibody-detection in horses with equine fasciolosis based on recombinant...
Steensma MJ, Ducro BJ, Dibbits B, Doekes HP, van Schipstal JGC, Kalblfleisch T, Groenen MAM, Derks MFL.In horses, genetic diversity is predominantly observed between breeds, with little variation within breeds. The studbooks of the two largest horse populations in the Netherlands, the Dutch Warmblood horse and Friesian horse population, have ongoing conservation projects including collecting large-scale genotype and sequence data. The current reference genome, derived from a Thoroughbred horse can lead to bias in genetic analyses of other horse breeds. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create high-quality breed-specific reference genomes of Dutch Warmblood and Friesian horses. We performe...
Furukawa R, Tozaki T, Mizukami K, Iwasaki Y, Kawate K, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Momozawa Y, Fukui E, Kakoi H.Thoroughbreds have been maintained as a closed breed for over 300 years since the crossbreeding between Arabian stallions and English mares. Despite interest in germline de novo mutations across species, their frequency in horses, particularly in Thoroughbreds, remains largely unexplored. Objective: This study aimed to identify de novo mutations in Thoroughbreds and estimate their frequency within a genetically closed population. Methods: We performed deep whole-genome sequencing (≥230× depth, 150 bp paired-end reads) and Sanger validation in a Thoroughbred trio (sire, dam, and foal). Reads...
Muñoz AM, Cribb N.Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgical techniques are desirable in horses and other equids. A new approach called "modified single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) for equine cryptorchidectomy" is described, along with the postoperative outcomes of 10 equids. A SILS Port device (Covidien) was placed a 30- to 40-millimeter incision in combination with 1 or 2 15-millimeter para-inguinal incisions to exteriorize the intra-abdominal testicles. Ten animals, 2 bilateral abdominal cryptorchid horses and 8 unilateral abdominal cryptorchid equids, underwent cryptorchidectomy using the SILS tech...
The typical vertebrate centromeres contain long stretches of highly repeated DNA sequences (satellite DNA). We previously demonstrated that the karyotypes of the species belonging to the genus are characterized by the presence of satellite-free and satellite-based centromeres and represent a unique biological model for the study of centromere organization and behavior. Using horse primary fibroblasts cultured in vitro, we compared the segregation fidelity of chromosome 11, whose centromere is satellite-free, with that of chromosome 13, which has similar size and a centromere containing long s...
Graïc JM, Peruffo A, Corain L, Finos L, Grisan E, Cozzi B.Cetartiodactyls include terrestrial and marine species, all generally endowed with a comparatively lateral position of their eyes and a relatively limited binocular field of vision. To this day, our understanding of the visual system in mammals beyond the few studied animal models remains limited. In the present study, we examined the primary visual cortex of Cetartiodactyls that live on land (sheep, Père David deer, giraffe); in the sea (bottlenose dolphin, Risso's dolphin, long-finned pilot whale, Cuvier's beaked whale, sperm whale and fin whale); or in an amphibious environment (hippopotam...
Chen L, Li S, Li W, Yu Y, Sun Q, Chen W, Zhou H, Wang C, Li L, Xu M, Khan MZ, Li Y, Wang T.The Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling pathway has been extensively studied for its role in regulating antioxidant and antiviral responses. The Equid herpesvirus type 8 (EqHV-8) poses a significant threat to the equine industry, primarily manifesting as respiratory disease, abortions, and neurological disorders in horses and donkeys. Oxidative stress is considered a key factor associated with pathogenesis of EqHV-8 infection. Unfortunately, there is currently a dearth of therapeutic interventions available for the effective control of EqHV-8. R...
Vidale P, Magnani E, Nergadze SG, Santagostino M, Cristofari G, Smirnova A, Mondello C, Giulotto E.Many human primary somatic cells can be immortalized by inducing telomerase activity through the exogenous expression of the human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT). This approach has been extended to the immortalization of cell lines from several mammals. Here, we show that hTERT expression is not sufficient to immortalize primary fibroblasts from three equid species, namely donkey, Burchelli's zebra and Grevy's zebra. In vitro analysis of a reconstituted telomerase composed by hTERT and an equid RNA component of telomerase (TERC) revealed a low activity of this enzyme compared to human te...
Harvey AM, Morton JM, Mellor DJ, Russell V, Chapple RS, Ramp D.We previously developed a Ten-Stage Protocol for scientifically assessing the welfare of individual free-roaming wild animals using the Five Domains Model. The protocol includes developing methods for measuring or observing welfare indices. In this study, we assessed the use of remote camera traps to evaluate an extensive range of welfare indicators in individual free-roaming wild horses. Still images and videos were collected and analysed to assess whether horses could be detected and identified individually, which welfare indicators could be reliably evaluated, and whether behaviour could be...
de Heus P, Kolodziejek J, Hubálek Z, Dimmel K, Racher V, Nowotny N, Cavalleri JV.The emergence of West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) in addition to the autochthonous tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in Europe causes rising concern for public and animal health. The first equine case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Austria was diagnosed in 2016. As a consequence, a cross-sectional seroprevalence study was conducted in 2017, including 348 equids from eastern Austria. Serum samples reactive by ELISA for either flavivirus immunoglobulin G or M were further analyzed with the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT-80) to identify the specific etiologic age...
Elsawy BSM, Nassar AM, Alzan HF, Bhoora RV, Ozubek S, Mahmoud MS, Kandil OM, Mahdy OA.Equine Piroplasmosis (EP) is an infectious disease caused by the hemoprotozoan parasites , , and the recently identified species . Hereby, we used a multiplex PCR (mPCR) targeting the 18S rRNA gene of and for the simultaneous detection of EP in Egyptian equids and examined the presence of infections in Egypt. Blood samples from 155 equids (79 horses and 76 donkeys) collected from different governorates of Egypt were examined by mPCR and PCR targeting . The mPCR method revealed a prevalence of of 20.3% in horses and of 13.1% in donkeys and a prevalence of . of 1.2% in horses. . was not de...
Devenport JA, Patterson MR, Devenport LD.The variability of most environments taxes foraging decisions by increasing the uncertainty of the information available. One solution to the problem is to use dynamic averaging, as do some granivores and carnivores. Arguably, the same strategy could be useful for grazing herbivores, even though their food renews and is more homogeneously distributed. Horses (Equus callabus) were given choices between variable patches after short or long delays. When patch information was current, horses returned to the patch that was recently best, whereas those without current information matched choices to ...
Boyce P, Bhattacharyya J, Linklater W.Conservation issues are often complicated by sociopolitical controversies that reflect competing philosophies and values regarding natural systems, animals, and people. Effective conservation outcomes require managers to engage myriad influences (social, cultural, political, and economic, as well as ecological). The contribution of conservation scientists who generate the information on which solutions rely is constrained if they are unable to acknowledge how personal values and disciplinary paradigms influence their research and conclusions. Conservation challenges involving controversial spe...
Domino M, Borowska M, Kozłowska N, Zdrojkowski Ł, Jasiński T, Smyth G, Maśko M.Infrared thermography (IRT) was applied as a potentially useful tool in the detection of pregnancy in equids, especially native or wildlife. IRT measures heat emission from the body surface, which increases with the progression of pregnancy as blood flow and metabolic activity in the uterine and fetal tissues increase. Conventional IRT imaging is promising; however, with specific limitations considered, this study aimed to develop novel digital processing methods for thermal images of pregnant mares to detect pregnancy earlier with higher accuracy. In the current study, 40 mares were divided i...
Little SV, Hillhouse AE, Lawhon SD, Bryan LK.While Staphylococcus aureus is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in equids (horses, donkeys, and mules), few studies have performed whole-genome sequencing to fully categorize large collections of equine isolates. Such sequencing allows for a comprehensive analysis of the genetic lineage and relationships of isolates, as well as the virulence genes present in each, which can be important for understanding the epidemiology of strains and their range of infections. Seventy-two clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates from equids were collected at the Texas A&M University Veterin...
Kaczensky P, Burnik Šturm M, Sablin MV, Voigt CC, Smith S, Ganbaatar O, Balint B, Walzer C, Spasskaya NN.The Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), the only remaining wild horse within the equid family, is one of only a handful of species worldwide that went extinct in the wild, was saved by captive breeding, and has been successfully returned to the wild. However, concerns remain that after multiple generations in captivity the ecology of the Przewalski's horse and / or the ecological conditions in its former range have changed in a way compromising the species' long term survival. We analyzed stable isotope chronologies from tail hair of pre-extinction and reintroduced Przewalski's horse...
Nielsen MK, Branan MA, Wiedenheft AM, Digianantonio R, Scare JA, Bellaw JL, Garber LP, Kopral CA, Phillippi-Taylor AM, Traub-Dargatz JL.Equine strongyle parasites are considered ubiquitous in grazing equids across the world, and cyathostomin parasites are known pathogens causing well-described disease complexes in horses. Decades of intensive anthelmintic treatments have led to anthelmintic resistance in cyathostomins, and current recommendations are to lower treatment intensity and base control strategies on fecal egg count surveillance. Little is known about risk factors associated with strongyle parasite egg shedding patterns in the United States equine population, as the most recent national survey was conducted 20 years a...
Argyle D, Ellsmore V, Gault EA, Munro AF, Nasir L.To determine the role of telomeres in cellular ageing in equids, we analysed telomere lengths in peripheral blood derived DNA samples from a panel of donkeys (Equus asinus) ranging from 2 to 30 years of age. The average telomere lengths ranged from 7 to 21 kbp and a statistically significant inverse correlation between telomere lengths and donor age was demonstrated. Similarly, telomere lengths in primary fibroblasts isolated from a horse (Equus equus) demonstrated telomeric loss with in vitro ageing when cultured to senescence. We extended this study to evaluate activity of the enzyme telomer...
Berlin D, Nasereddin A, Azmi K, Ereqat S, Abdeen Z, Baneth G.An outbreak of trypanosomoasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi involving horses, camels and donkeys occurred in a farm in Israel. A longitudinal study of two outbreak phases was conducted which included clinical monitoring, blood smears, packed cell volume (PCV), serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by reverse dot blot (RDB) for the molecular detection of infection. This was the first reported T. evansi outbreak in domestic animals in Israel. Most of the camels on the farm (8/10; 80%) were diagnosed with T. evansi infection whereas infection was less prevalent in the horses (3/7;...
The Journal of nutritionJune 15, 2006
Volume 136, Issue 7 Suppl 2094S-2098S doi: 10.1093/jn/136.7.2094S
Treiber KH, Kronfeld DS, Geor RJ.Insulin is a major regulatory hormone in glucose and fat metabolism, vascular function, inflammation, tissue remodeling, and the somatotropic axis of growth. Insulin resistance alters insulin signaling by decreasing insulin action in certain resistant pathways while increasing insulin signaling in other unaffected pathways via compensatory hyperinsulinemia. In humans, altered insulin signaling is implicated in reduced glucose availability to insulin-sensitive cells, vasoconstriction and endothelial damage, and inflammatory response. Although no direct evidence exists for insulin's role in thes...
The centromere is the chromosomal locus essential for proper chromosome segregation. While the centromeric function is well conserved and epigenetically specified, centromeric DNA sequences are typically composed of satellite DNA and represent the most rapidly evolving sequences in eukaryotic genomes. The presence of satellite sequences at centromeres hampered the comprehensive molecular analysis of these enigmatic loci. The discovery of functional centromeres completely devoid of satellite repetitions and fixed in some animal and plant species represented a turning point in centromere biology...
Haddy E, Burden F, Raw Z, Rodrigues JB, Zappi Bello JH, Brown J, Kaminski J, Proops L.Belief in animal sentience and the quality of human-animal relationships play a significant role in animal welfare. However, the link between an individual animal's welfare and the beliefs and emotional connection of the owner to the animal is understudied and focussed on single cultures, limiting generalisability. In this study, we explored potential links between owner attitude, beliefs in animal sentience, and working equid welfare across four continents. This study used a welfare assessment protocol alongside a questionnaire exploring owner attitudes to assess 378 participants across six c...
Li Y, Zhang C, Taylor WTT, Chen L, Flad RK, Boivin N, Liu H, You Y, Wang J, Ren M, Xi T, Han Y, Wen R, Ma J.Horseback riding was a transformative force in the ancient world, prompting radical shifts in human mobility, warfare, trade, and interaction. In China, domestic horses laid the foundation for trade, communication, and state infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road, while also stimulating key military, social, and political changes in Chinese society. Nonetheless, the emergence and adoption of mounted horseback riding in China is still poorly understood, particularly due to a lack of direct archaeological data. Here we present a detailed osteological study of eight horse skeletons dated to c...
Espunyes J, Lurgi M, Büntgen U, Bartolomé J, Calleja JA, Gálvez-Cerón A, Peñuelas J, Claramunt-López B, Serrano E.Changes in land-use and climate affect the distribution and diversity of plant and animal species at different spatiotemporal scales. The extent to which species-specific phenotypic plasticity and biotic interactions mediate organismal adaptation to changing environments, however, remains poorly understood. Woody plant expansion is threatening the extent of alpine grasslands worldwide, and evaluating and predicting its effects on herbivores is of crucial importance. Here, we explore the impact of shrubification on the feeding efficiency of Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra p. pyrenaica), as well as ...
Bourjade M, de Boyer des Roches A, Hausberger M.Adults play an important role in regulating the social behaviour of young individuals. However, a few pioneer studies suggest that, more than the mere presence of adults, their proportions in social groups affect the social development of young. Here, we hypothesized that aggression rates and social cohesion were correlated to adult-young ratios. Our biological model was naturally-formed groups of Przewalski horses, Equus f. przewalskii, varying in composition. Results: We investigated the social interactions and spatial relationships of 12 one- and two-year-old Przewalski horses belonging to ...
Cucchi T, Mohaseb A, Peigné S, Debue K, Orlando L, Mashkour M.The Plio-Pleistocene evolution of and the subsequent domestication of horses and donkeys remains poorly understood, due to the lack of phenotypic markers capable of tracing this evolutionary process in the palaeontological/archaeological record. Using images from 345 specimens, encompassing 15 extant taxa of equids, we quantified the occlusal enamel folding pattern in four mandibular cheek teeth with a single geometric morphometric protocol. We initially investigated the protocol accuracy by assigning each tooth to its correct anatomical position and taxonomic group. We then contrasted the ph...
Brosnahan MM.The genus Equus is made up of donkeys, horses, and zebras. Despite significant variation in chromosome number across these species, interspecies breeding results in healthy, although infertile, hybrid offspring. Most notable among these are the horse-donkey hybrids, the mule and hinny. Donkeys presently are used for everything from companion animals to beasts of burden. Although closely related from an evolutionary standpoint, differences in anatomy and physiology preclude the assumption that they can be treated identically to the domestic horse. Veterinarians should be aware of these differen...
Hybridization has been widely practiced in plant and animal breeding as a means to enhance the quality and fitness of the organisms. In domestic equids, this hybrid vigor takes the form of improved physical and physiological characteristics, notably for strength or endurance. Because the offspring of horse and donkey is generally sterile, this widely recognized vigor is expressed in the first generation (F1). However, in the absence of recombination between the two parental genomes, F1 hybrids can be expected to be phenotypically intermediate between their parents which could potentially restr...
Kilcoyne I, Watson JL, Kass PH, Spier SJ.To determine the incidence of complications and identify risk factors associated with development of complications following routine castration of equids. Methods: Retrospective case series. Animals-311 horses, 10 mules, and 3 donkeys. Methods: Medical records of equids undergoing routine castration were reviewed. Age, breed, surgical techniques (closed vs semiclosed castration and use of ligatures), anesthesia method (general IV anesthesia vs standing sedation with local anesthesia) and repeated administration of IV anesthetic agents, administration of antimicrobials and anti-inflammatory dru...
Ozubek S, Aktas M.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a protozoon disease caused by Babesia caballi and Theileria equi transmitted by ticks from the Ixodidae family. This study investigated the genetic heterogeneity and diversity of piroplasm genotypes using the Reverse Line Blotting (RLB) technique for piroplasm species in equids in Turkey. A total of 233 blood samples from 142 horses and 91 donkeys were collected in Şanlıurfa, Tunceli, and Iğdır. The RLB assay was performed for simultaneous detection of piroplasm species. The prevalence of piroplasm infection was 33.5% (95% CI; 27.4-39.9). T. equi was the most c...
Merkies K, Paraschou G, McGreevy PD.Horses and donkeys belong to the genus Equus, but important differences exist between the species, many of which affect their management and welfare. This study compared skull morphology between horses and donkeys. Horse ( = 14) and donkey ( = 16) heads were obtained post-mortem, sectioned sagittally close to the midline, and photographed for subsequent measurement of various skull structures. Skull, cranial, nasal, and profile indices were calculated for topographical comparisons between the species. The olfactory bulb area (OBA), OB pitch (the angle between the hard palate and the OB axis), ...
