What do horses think of us?

• From "Ask the Ethologist" via Horse Network, 30 April 2023. An ethologist is a zoologist who studies the behavior of animals in their natural habitats. Question: What areas of horse behavior would you personally like to see studied to a greater extent and why? » Begin Quote « Renate Larssen: I am personally very excited about the…

How a horse whisperer can help engineers build better robots

by Karen Dooley, University of Florida, 24 April 2023 • Note: AI in this case stands for Artificial Intelligence HUMANS AND HORSES have enjoyed a strong working relationship for nearly 10,000 years—a partnership that transformed how food was produced, people were transported and even how wars were fought and won. Today, we look to horses for…

Custom made horses

Argentine scientists have edited the genes in an equine embryo, which may allow them to create horses with customized DNA. Dr. Natalia Lucia led the team that used the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technique to genetically alter the cells that then were used to create edited cloned embryos, reports EQUUS magazine.  CRISPR uses…

The horses of meaning (poem)

Let their hooves print the next bit of the story:release them, roughmanedfrom the dark stable wherethey rolled their dark eyes, shifted and stamped— Let them out, and follow the sound, a regular clatteringon the cobbles of the yard, a pouring round the cornerinto the big field, a booming canter. Now see where they rampage,and whether…

Horse brain, human brain

Learn about trust by observing horses Source: PSYCHOLOGY TODAY THERE is nothing like a prey animal to teach humans how to trust. Prey animals, such as horses, are skittish. They’re suspicious of potential risk. Their brains are wired to leap away from new items or unexpected events without considering the actual risk involved from a…

Presidential Horses

IT is difficult to imagine that just one hundred years ago horses were still the primary means of transportation. For some presidents, horses were not just a necessity but also a part of their image. Before photographs, the military presidents, especially, were often portrayed in paintings on horseback. Numerous portraits of George Washington in his…

Horses successfully discriminate between letters of the alphabet in study

by Horsetalk.co.nz » Here are a few introductory paragraphs: Horses trained to use their nose on a touchscreen proved able to discriminate between the letters O, B, Z, V, and X, researchers report. The study team used an automated testing system to ensure their experiment was free from the “Clever Hans phenomenon” — so named…

Horses and dogs sailed with Vikings to Britain, say scientists

By Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterBBC News Vikings sailing from Scandinavia to England brought horses, dogs and perhaps even pigs with them, according to analysis of bone remains. Invading Vikings were previously thought to have largely stolen animals from villages in Britain. The findings also provide evidence Viking leaders had a close relationship with animals…

Horses have a crusty remnant of evolution stuck to their legs

Horse Chestnuts • Written by RACHAEL FUNNELL, IFL Science EVOLUTION has a funny way of leaving the residue of past adaptations in strange places on animals' bodies, and chestnuts on horses' legs are a fine example. Nobody’s quite sure what horse chestnuts exactly are, but they’re believed to be a remnant left behind from horses’…

Przewalski horses: Could cloning save this endangered species?

By Hannah Brown  with AP  •  Updated: 28/09/2022 - 17:12 Ms Brown writes: Thanks to sci-fi films, clones don’t usually have a good reputation. But what if it was the only way to keep an endangered species healthy? Formerly extinct in the wild, the Przewalski's horse has survived for the past 40 years almost entirely in zoos around the world. Several wild…