Order of equids (Perissodactyla). Horse family - characteristic features of horses Horse family

Horses are of medium size, excellent build, relatively strong limbs and a lean, elongated head with large, lively eyes, pointed, mobile ears of medium size and wide open nostrils. The neck is thick, with strong muscles, the body is rounded and fleshy, the hair is soft and short, but close to the skin; on the neck they form a mane, on the tail they are also elongated. A single toe, armed with a graceful hoof, is sufficient to distinguish horses from all other equids. In each half of the upper and lower jaw, the dental system consists of three incisors, six long tetrahedral molars with sinuous folds of enamel on the chewing surface and one small, slightly curved blunt-conical canine (the latter sometimes does not exist). In the skeleton, the length of the skull is striking, and only one third falls on the cerebral box, and two thirds on the facial bones. There are 16 dorsal vertebrae, 8 lumbar vertebrae, 5 sacral vertebrae, while the number of tail vertebrae reaches 21. Of the digestive organs, the narrow esophagus deserves special attention, the opening of which into the stomach is equipped with a valve. The stomach itself is a simple, not divided into parts, oblong-rounded small sac.
The initial area of \u200b\u200bdistribution of horses, the remains of which we first meet in the Tertiary strata, must be considered a large part of the northern hemisphere. In Europe, wild horses, apparently, became extinct not too long ago: they were found in Western Europe, for example in the Vosges, as early as the 16th century; in Asia and Africa, they still roam in herds over the mountains and high-lying steppes *.

* The most archaic forms of equines - donkeys and zebras - have survived in Africa, more progressive horses and kulans inhabit Eurasia.

In America, where horses had died out earlier, they first went wild; even in Australia there are already feral horses **.

* * At the end of the Pleistocene (10-12 thousand years ago), horses in the Western Hemisphere completely died out. Only in the XVI century. domestic horses were brought to the New World; some of them went wild.

Herbs and other plants are their food; in captivity, they learned to eat animal substances: meat, fish, locusts.
All horses are lively, vigorous, agile, intelligent animals; their movements are attractive and proud. The normal gait of free-living species is a fairly fast trot, and with a quick run it is an easy gallop. Peaceful and good-natured in relation to other animals that do not harm them, they fearfully avoid humans and large predators, but in case of extreme they bravely defend themselves from enemies with teeth and hooves. Their reproduction is insignificant: after a long pregnancy, a mare gives birth to only one foal ***.

* * * Perhaps one of the reasons for the rapid extinction of equids is the too low rate of reproduction.

At least two, and more likely - three species of this family are enslaved by man. No history, no legends tell us about the time when they were first turned into domestic animals; it is not even known for certain in which part of the world the first horses were tamed. We believed that we owe this to the peoples of Central Asia; however, we have no reliable indication of the time and people to whom this domestication took place ****.

* * * * Presumably the horse was domesticated by the ancient Indo-Europeans in the steppes of the Volga and Urals (and possibly South Siberia) about 5 thousand years ago.

“On ancient Egyptian monuments,” my learned friend Dumichen informs me, “images of horses do not come across until the time of the New Kingdom, therefore, earlier than the 18th or 17th century BC. Only after the liberation of Egypt from the foreign yoke of the Asian Hyxes, which ruled there for almost half a millennium , that is, from the beginning of the new kingdom, images and inscriptions prove to us that the horse was used by the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley. I do not at all think, however, that the horse was unknown to the Egyptians before the 18th century BC, on the basis of the absence of indications on ancient monuments or , it is better to say, on the basis of the fact that so far no monument has been found from an earlier time, which depicts a horse, so there is no evidence in favor of Ebers's hypothesis that the introduction of this animal into Egypt was carried out by the Hyks. this question, I fully share Shab's view that all the evidence that has come down to us It is believed that these barbarians did not have either carts or horses, the ancient Egyptians should have known the horse long before the rule of these wild tribes, since for the taming of the horse and the invention of the harness, it took, of course, a much longer time for the horse to stay in the land of the pharaohs. Here, since the 18th century, the horse was used for military purposes.
The expeditions of the Egyptians of the New Kingdom completely change their appearance. While on the monuments of the Old Kingdom we find only images of heavily and lightly armed foot troops, since that time, horse-drawn war chariots occupy the first place in the ranks of the Egyptian troops, since that time their campaigns of conquest extend far into the depths of neighboring Asia, to countries, lying on the Euphrates and the Tigris. And it seems that the Egyptians really learned this use of horse and chariot for military purposes, so characteristic of that time, only from Asian peoples, notable riders, of course well acquainted with the horse; these, however, did not belong to the Gix, as they were a shepherd people. But the horse was not used exclusively for war; various inscriptions testify beyond any doubt that the ancient Egyptians also used it for domestic and rural work. We read that a noble Egyptian rides out of his estate on a horse, he takes a journey on it *, brings harnessed horses to work the fields, at the farmer's "the horse falls, pulling the plow", etc. In short, many places indicate that already in ancient Egypt knew how to comprehensively use this noble domestic animal. "

* Egyptians. like most Mediterranean peoples, they used horses only as a draft animal, although contemporary Indo-Europeans probably already knew how to ride. For agricultural work, mainly bulls and donkeys were used, horses were harnessed to war and holiday chariots. Combat cavalry appeared at the beginning of the first millennium BC among the Assyrians; apparently, they adopted the skills of riding from the Scythian-Sarmatian (Indo-European) tribes. The Assyrians invented the saddle and some important parts of the horse harness. In Europe, the saddle was invented a second time by the Germans and Romans in the 4th century. n. e.

Incomparably less data than the Egyptian sources give the rest of the monuments concerning the first periods of horse domestication. We accept that it was used as a pet in India and China at about the same time as in Egypt, but we cannot prove it; we found its remains in the pile structures of Switzerland, dating back to the late Stone Age, but we cannot determine this time more precisely.
Even now, in the steppes of southeastern Europe, herds of horses roam in great numbers; some consider them to be the wild ancestors of our domestic animal, others think that they are its wild descendants. These horses that are called tarpanami (Equus cabal have all the qualities of real wild animals, which the Tatars and Cossacks consider them. The Tarpan is small in stature, he has thin but strong legs with long heads, a rather long and thin neck, a relatively thick hump-nosed head, pointed, forward-facing ears and small , lively, with an evil twinkle of the eye; the coat is thick, short, wavy, on the back it can be called almost curly; in winter it becomes tough, strong and long, especially on the chin, where it forms something like a beard; mane is short, thick, tousled and curly, tail of medium length.
In summer, uniform black-brown, yellowish-brown or dirty yellow color predominates in color; in winter, the hair becomes lighter, sometimes even white, and the mane and tail are evenly dark *.

* The most widespread color of tarpan was mouse-gray with black legs, mane, tail, "belt" along the back. Often, vague transverse stripes were visible on the forelegs.

Piebald tarpans are never found, blacks are rare.
The first detailed data on tarpan, as far as I know, was provided by Gmelin on the basis of observations that he could have made in 1769; we owe further information to Pallas. Their readings are fairly consistent with each other. "About twenty years ago," says the first, "there were quite a lot of wild horses here, near Voronezh; but since they did a lot of harm, they were driven further and further into the steppe and very often scattered them." Gmelin tells further how he received new news about the presence of these animals and, having left for a hunt, saw them in the vicinity of the district town of Bobrov. Together with them was a Russian mare. Having killed the stallion, the leader of the herd, and two mares, he, in addition, took possession of a living foal. Pallas also considers horse and tarpan to be one species.

“I am beginning to assume more and more,” he says, “that the wild horses roaming in the Yaik and Don, as well as in the Barabinsk steppe, are for the most part nothing more than the descendants of feral Kyrgyz or Kalmyk horses, or they descended from stallions, belonged to the pastoral peoples that roamed here before; these stallions took away either individual mares or whole herds and gave offspring with them. " Radde speaks differently; he writes to me the following: “In the early 1950s, east of the lower Dnieper, tarpan was called a horse of chestnut color, clumsy build, small stature, with a heavy head and a somewhat arched muzzle. This horse was considered not feral there, but wild. Messrs. Basell, who had large estates in the lower reaches of the Dnieper (you can rely on their words), the tarpan kept in the steppes in small herds, and hunted for him. With these stories, the reports of the Swiss Merz and Philibert in the Atimanai estate near the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, not far from flourishing settlements of Mennonites and Württembergians. And here the locals and settlers consider this animal wild. I join these views. "
About the way of life of the tarpans, they say approximately the following: tarpans are always met in herds, which may consist of several hundred heads. The usually large herd breaks up into smaller, family-like societies; each of them is headed by a stallion. These herds occupy vast open and elevated steppes and migrate from place to place, usually going against the wind. They are extremely attentive and fearful, look around with their heads raised high, listen, alert their ears, flare their nostrils and almost always notice the danger threatening them in time. The stallion is the sole master of society. He cares about his safety, but does not tolerate any disturbances between his subordinates. He drives away young stallions, and until they themselves entice or conquer several mares, they follow a large herd only at a certain distance. Noticing something suspicious, the stallion begins to snort and quickly move his ears, runs out, holding his head high, in a certain direction, whinnying piercingly if he notices any danger, and then the whole herd breaks off at the most insane gallop. Sometimes animals disappear as if by magic: they hide in some ravine and wait for what will happen. Brave and warlike stallions are not afraid of predatory animals. They rush at the wolves with a whinny and knock them down with the blows of the hooves of their front legs. The fable that they become a circle of the herd with their heads inward and continuously beat with their hind legs has long been refuted.
Inhabitants of the steppes who breed horses fear tarpans even more than wolves, as they often do them great harm. According to information collected by Gmelin, they willingly keep close to large haystacks, which Russian peasants often put at a distance from villages, and they like hay so much that two tarpans can destroy a whole haystack in one night. Gmelin believes that this circumstance can easily explain why they are so fat and round.
Tarpan is difficult to tame; this animal seems incapable of tolerating captivity. In front of his extremely lively character, strength and savagery, even the art of Mongols, experienced in handling horses, is powerless. “Osip Shatilov,” notes Radde, “received a live tarpan at the end of the 1950s and sent it to the Imperial Academy of Sciences, which handed it over to Brandt. When kept quietly in the stable, the tarpan behaved very well, as long as they demanded of him, only that he ate the hay given to him; otherwise, he was and remained an angry, capricious animal, which at every opportunity persistently tried to bite and kick anyone who approached him and did not give in to even the most gentle treatment. , then after some time they were presented to a horse lover.11 Due to the significant harm that tarpans bring to breeding horses in the steppes, often taking whole herds with them, they are zealously and fiercely hunted for them. and easily fall prey to hunters *.

* The last forest tarpans were exterminated in East Prussia in 1814, the steppe tarpans "held out" in the Tauride steppes until the 90s of the XIX century, the last of them died at a stud farm in 1918. In the 30s - 50s in In Germany and Poland, breeding work was carried out to identify the hidden signs of tarpan among domestic horses. The resulting breed possessed all the set of external features of the tarpan. However, genetically these horses are not Tarpan, but only "Tarpanoid".

The given data leave the question of origin unresolved domestic horse (Equus caballus ferus); existing views contradict each other **.

* * The ancestor of the domestic horse is usually considered the steppe tarpan, less often the Przewalski's horse.

The tarpan's lifestyle does not allow making assumptions about what it was originally, as horses run wild easily and quickly. This fact is convincingly proved by the herds inhabiting the steppe regions of South America. Let's take a look at them first of all, based on the instructions of reliable people.
“Founded in 1535, the city of Buenos Aires,” Azara says, “was subsequently abandoned. The outgoing inhabitants took care of collecting all their horses. But 5-7 horses remained and were left to themselves. When in 1580 the same the city was again occupied and inhabited, many horses were found, the descendants of these few abandoned, but completely feral. Already in 1596 everyone was allowed to catch these horses for their own benefit. Such is the origin of the countless herds of horses that roam south of the Rio de Laplata. " The Zimmarons, as these horses are called, now live in all parts of the Pampas in numerous herds, which sometimes may consist of several thousand heads. Each stallion collects as many mares as he can, but remains with them in the company of other horses of the herd. There is no special leader.
Zimmarons do a lot of harm, as they not only destroy good pastures, but also take away domestic horses. Fortunately, they never show up at night. One has to be surprised to notice that the roads along which they pass are sometimes covered with their manure for several kilometers. There is no doubt that they are looking for ways to defecate. And since all horses have a habit of sniffing the excrement of other animals of the same species and increasing their number with their own, such places covered with manure grow to the size of real mountains. Savages in the pampas eat the meat of cimmarons, namely foals and mares. They also catch some of them to tame; the Spaniards, however, do not use them for anything and very rarely catch a wild horse for taming.
The horses of South America spend the whole year in the open air. Every 8 days, they are driven together so that they do not scatter, their wounds are examined, cleaned and coated with cow dung, and from time to time, after about 3 years, the mane and tail are trimmed to the stallions. Nobody thinks about improving the breed. The pastures there are bad, as the soil is covered with a single type of grass. In the spring this herb grows strongly, but then produces diarrhea in horses and therefore exhausts them. In summer and autumn, mustangs gain weight and even get fat, but as soon as they start to be used for driving, they fall off the body. Winter is the worst time for them. The grass withers, the animals must be content with tough, rain-soaked straw. This food makes them need salt. You can watch them stay for hours on the salt marshes and lick the salty clay. When kept in a stable, they do not need salt. Horses that are better fed and cared for more will acquire a short and shiny coat, strong muscles and noble shape within a few months.
“Usually,” says Rengger, “these horses live in herds in a certain area, to which they are accustomed from youth. Each stallion is assigned 12-18 mares; he gathers them together and protects them from other people's stallions. If he is given too many mares, then he is more foals live with their mothers until the third or fourth year. Females show great affection for the foals while they are still sucking, and sometimes even protect them against the jaguar. Often they have to endure battles with mules, in which at times a kind of maternal love is aroused Then they try, by cunning or by force, to take the foals away and let them suck on their udders deprived of milk, but the poor creatures, of course, die in the process.
When horses reach the age of slightly more than 2 or 3 years, one of the young stallions is chosen, young mares are given to him and they are taught to graze with them in a certain area. The rest of the stallions are castrated and combined into special herds. All horses belonging to the same herd never mix with others and stick together so tightly that it can be difficult to separate several grazing horses from the rest. If this order is violated, for example, when all the horses of the same farm are herded together, then they immediately look for each other again. The stallion whinnies and calls his mares to him, the geldings look for each other, and each herd again goes to its pasture. For 1000 or more horses, it takes less than a quarter of an hour to split into piles of 10-30 horses. I seem to have noticed already that horses of the same size or of the same color get used to each other more easily than different ones, and also that strangers imported from Banda Oriantal and Entre Rios are connected mainly with each other, and not with local horses. These animals show, moreover, great affection not only for their companions, but also for their pastures. I have seen some who returned to their old, familiar places, covering a distance of 80 hours.
The senses of these almost wild animals seem to be sharper than those of European horses. Their hearing is extremely thin; at night, with a movement of their ears, they show that they catch the lightest, completely inaudible rustle for the rider. Their eyesight, like all horses, is rather weak; but thanks to life in freedom, they learn to distinguish objects at a considerable distance. With the help of their sense of smell, they form an idea of \u200b\u200bthe surrounding objects. They sniff anything that seems unfamiliar to them. With the help of this feeling, they learn to recognize their master, the harness, the shed in which they are saddled, they know how to distinguish bogs in swampy areas and find the way to their home or pasture on a dark night or in thick fog. Good horses sniff their rider when he gets into the saddle, and I have seen some who either did not allow the rider to sit on them at all, or did not obey him, if he was not wearing a poncho or cloak, which is always worn by the villagers. taming and driving around horses. If they are intimidated by an object, it is easier to calm them down by allowing them to sniff the object. At a great distance, however, they do not smell. I have rarely seen a horse that could recognize the presence of a jaguar 50 paces or less. Therefore, in the populated areas of Paraguay, they are the most common prey of this predator. When, in dry years, the springs from which the mustangs are accustomed to drinking dry up, they would rather die of thirst than find others, while cattle often go to fetch water for a distance of up to 10 hours. Their taste is developed in different ways: some easily get used to stable food and get used to eating various fruits and even dried meat, others are more likely to freeze from hunger than touch other food, except for ordinary grass. Their sense of touch is already very dulled from youth thanks to life in the open air and the fact that they are tormented by mosquitoes and horseflies. "
The life of feral horses in the llanos *, located further to the north, was masterfully described to us in short words by Humboldt: “During the summer, the vertical rays of the sun, never covered by clouds, completely burn out and turn into dust all the grass cover of these immeasurable plains; the soil is constantly cracking, as if torn apart by powerful tremors.

* Feral horses exist in all parts of the world. Particularly popular are North American mustangs, medium-sized horses of light build, descended from the horses of the conquistadors. The first mustangs appeared in America, probably in the 40s. XVI century Their numbers quickly grew to millions. Currently, no more than 17 thousand mustangs have survived in North America, in South America, apparently, they have been exterminated. Most of the feral horses are now in Australia. In Russia, feral horses are found in the Caspian region, on some of the Kuril Islands. Despite many generations raised in the wild and subjected to natural selection, mustangs and other feral horses have not regained the traits of a wild horse. They have long "recumbent" or semi-erect manes and bangs (all wild horses have only erect ones), and can be of a wide variety of colors. Only the wild Camargue horses, in southern France, are always light gray in adulthood.

Surrounded by thick clouds of dust, tormented by hunger and tormented by thirst, horses and cattle roam there, the former with their necks stretched high and sniffing against the wind in order to guess the proximity of a still not completely dry lake by the humidity of the air. More judicious and cunning mules try to quench their thirst in a different way. One spherical and ribbed plant, the melon cactus, encases an abundant aquiferous pulp under its prickly sheath. The mule knocks down the thorns with its front legs and drinks the cool juice of the cactus. But it is not always safe to draw from this living plant source; you can often see animals limping, being pricked by thorns. When at last, after the scorching heat of the day, comes the coolness of the night, just as long, then even then horses and cattle cannot rest. Vampires chase them while they sleep and sit on their backs to suck blood.
When the blessed rainy season comes after a long summer drought, the scenery changes completely. As soon as the surface of the earth is wetted, the steppe begins to be covered with beautiful greenery. Horses and cattle go out to graze, joyfully enjoying life. However, a jaguar hides in the tall grass and seizes a horse or foal with a sure jump. Rivers soon overflow their banks, and the same animals that languished for several months with thirst must now lead the life of amphibians. Mares with foals retreat to higher places, which protrude as islands above the water surface. Every day the land space is decreasing. Due to the lack of pasture, the embarrassed animals swim for hours on end and poorly feed on the flowering tops of the grasses that protrude above the surface of the brown bog water. Many foals drown, many are seized by crocodiles, crushing their bodies with blows of their tail and swallowing them. Often on the thighs of horses there are traces of crocodile teeth in the form of large scars. Among the fish, they also have a dangerous enemy. The swamp water is teeming with electric eels. These wonderful fish have sufficient strength to kill the largest animals with their electric shocks, especially if all their batteries are immediately discharged in a certain direction. One steppe road near Uri-Tuk had to be abandoned due to the fact that so many eels had accumulated in the small river crossing the path that they annually stunned many horses that drowned during the crossing. "
It must be said, however, that horses themselves often do themselves more harm than the most dangerous enemies. They are sometimes seized by the strongest fear. Hundreds and thousands of them, like madmen, rush to flight, not stopping before any obstacle, run up the rocks or break in abysses. They suddenly appear at the parking lots of travelers spending the night in the open steppe, rush between the fires through tents and carts, instill panic in the pack animals, unleash them and carry them away forever in their living stream. So says Murray, who experienced and survived such an attack. Further to the north, the Indians increase the number of enemies that poison the existence of these animals. They catch them, accustom them to the saddle and use them for hunting, while tormenting them so much that even the most vigorous horse dies in a short time. For both the Bedouin of the Sahara and the Indians, the horse is often the cause of the bloodiest battles. Whoever has no horses tries to steal them. Horse stealing is held in high esteem among the Redskins. Bands of thieves follow nomadic tribes or caravans for weeks on end until they find an opportunity to drive away all the mounts. American horses are also jealously pursued for their skins and meat. Near Las Nokas, according to Darwin, large numbers of mares are slaughtered every week for their skins. In war, detachments of troops sent on a long journey take with them only herds of horses to feed. These animals are also more convenient for them than cattle, because they allow greater mobility of the army.
That domestic horses can still run wild at the present time, we learn from Przewalski. During his travels in Mongolia, this wonderful observer saw small herds of feral horses, which had lived in a domestic state ten years earlier; Left to their fate by the inhabitants of the Chinese province of Gansu during the Dungan troubles, they became so fearful in a short time that they ran away from humans like real wild horses *.

* Horse Przewalski (E. przewalskii), found in Dzungaria by the second expedition of N. m. Przewalski in 1877, is sometimes considered as one of the subspecies of the wild horse along with tarpans. The last wild horses of this species were observed in Western Mongolia in the 60s of the XX century. The systematic breeding of Przewalski's horse in zoos is underway (there are more than 500 heads in captivity), the first batch (about 40 animals) has now been released into its former habitat.

A description or even a listing of almost innumerable breeds of domestic horses is outside the scope of this essay **.

* * More than 200 horse breeds are registered in the world.

It will suffice here to add a few words to the beautiful images that we owe to the skillful hand of Camphausen, more to explain the signatures than to give full descriptions.
Above all horse breeds still stands now arabian horse. "Thoroughbred horses," writes Count Wrangel, "have no nobler representative than a pure Arab horse; it stands on the border between natural and cultural races and, as the noblest animal in the world, equally delights the natural scientist, the horse connoisseur and the poet. ".

The antiquity of this race, in the first place, is not at all as great as is usually accepted and as the Arabs are willing to assure. They are of the opinion that the five most remarkable families of their horses are descended from the five mares of King Solomon, which Abd-el-Kader confirmed in an argument with Blunt. But Count Wrangel, relying on the research of A. Baranskis, points out that only in the 4th century AD Ammianus Marcellinus mentions the fast horses of the Saracens: “In the 7th century, during the time of Mohammed, the horse was used everywhere in Arabia and from that time it became the subject of a real cult sons of the desert. "
According to the generally accepted requirements of the Arabs, a noble horse should combine a proportional build, short and mobile ears, heavy but graceful bones, a dry muzzle, nostrils "as wide as the mouth of a lion", beautiful, dark, bulging eyes, "similar in expression to eyes of a loving woman, "a somewhat curved and long neck, wide chest and wide rump, narrow back, steep hips, very long true ribs and very short false, lean body, long legs" like an ostrich "with muscles" like a camel ", black one-colored hoof, thin and sparse mane and bushy tail, thick at the root and thin at the tip. An Arabian horse should have four broad sections: forehead, chest, hips and joints; four long: neck, upper limbs, belly and groin; four short: rump, ears, frog and tail. These qualities prove that the horse is a good breed and is fast on the run, since in this case it is similar in its constitution to "a greyhound, a pigeon and a camel at once". A mare must have "the courage and breadth of a wild pig's head, attractiveness, eyes and mouth of a gazelle, the gaiety and intelligence of an antelope, a dense build and swiftness of an ostrich, and a short tail like a viper."
A thoroughbred horse is also recognized by other characteristics. She likes trees, greenery, shade, running water, moreover, to such an extent that she laughs at the sight of these objects. She does not drink until she touches the water with her foot or mouth. Her lips are always compressed, her eyes and ears are always in motion. She quickly stretches her neck to the right and left, as if she wants to talk with the rider or asks for something. It is further argued that she never mates with her close relative. According to our concepts, the Arabian horse is very small, as it barely reaches 1.5 m in height, very rarely more. Real Nedjed horses, according to V.G.
Pelgrave and Vincenti, on average, also do not exceed this value. Pelgrave did not see a single one that would reach a height of 1.6 m.De Vogrenand describes the Nedjed horses even as very small and determines their height only 1.32-1.43 m.It goes without saying that the animals are of such small size, although and can argue with our large thoroughbred horses, but only in endurance, and not in speed on the run.
In the eyes of the Arabs, the horse is the noblest of all animals created, and therefore it enjoys almost the same respect as a noble person, and more than an ordinary mortal. A people who sparsely inhabit the vast expanse of this part of the globe, a people who are incomparably less tied to the land than we Westerners, whose main occupation is cattle breeding, the horse should be in the greatest honor. The Arab needs it for life, for existence, with the help of it he wanders, travels, riding on her grazes his flocks, thanks to her shines in battles, at festivals, public meetings; he lives, loves and dies on a horse. Love for a horse in an Arab is an innate feeling, especially in a Bedouin: he absorbs respect for this animal with his mother's milk. This noble creature is the most reliable comrade of a warrior, the most faithful servant of the master, the favorite of the whole family. That is why the Arab observes the horse with alarming solicitude, studies its disposition and needs, sings it in his poems, glorifies it in songs, finds in it the most pleasant subject for conversation. "When the creator wished to create a horse," the Eastern sages teach, "he said to the wind: I want you to give birth to a creature designated to carry my worshipers. This creature should be loved and revered by my slaves. It should inspire fear to everyone. those who do not obey my commandments. " And he created a horse and called to her: "I made you perfect. All the treasures of the earth lie before your eyes. You will thrust my enemies under your hooves and carry my friends on the back. You will become a seat from which prayers will be offered to me. Throughout the earth, you should be happy and revered more than all other creatures, since the love of the lord of the earth will belong to you. You should fly without wings and win without a sword! " As a result of this opinion, it is believed that a horse can be happy only in the hands of the Arabs; This, they say, explained the former reluctance to yield horses to the Gentiles, which, however, is no longer strictly observed. Abd-el-Kader, when he was still at the height of his power, punished with death all the faithful, on whom he was informed that they had sold one of their horses to Christians.
All Arabs believe that noble horses have been preserved in the same perfection for thousands of years, and therefore carefully monitor the breeding of their horses. There is a great demand for stallions of a good breed: mare owners travel far to get such stallions for mating. As a reward for this, the owner of the stallion receives a certain amount of barley, a sheep and a wineskin of milk as a gift. Taking money is considered shameful; whoever wanted to do so would acquire the infamous title of "horse love seller". Only in the event that a noble Arab is required to borrow his noble stallion for mating with an ordinary mare, he has the right to reject the request. During pregnancy, the horse is handled with great care, but it has not been ridden until the last weeks. While the mare is foal, witnesses must be present to certify the foal's parentage. The foal is raised with special care and from youth they look at him as a member of the family. That is why Arab horses have become pets, and they can be safely allowed into the owner's tent or to the children.
From the 18th month, the education of a noble creature begins. First, a boy tries to ride it. He leads the horse to a watering hole, to pasture, cleans it and generally takes care of all its needs. Both learn at the same time: the boy becomes a rider, the foal becomes a riding horse. But a young Arab will never force the foal entrusted to him to work too much, will never demand from him what is beyond his strength. Every movement of the animal is watched, treated with love and tenderness, but they do not tolerate stubbornness and anger. Only in the third year they put on a saddle; at the end of the third year, they gradually teach to exert all their strength. Only when the horse has reached the seventh year is it considered learned. Therefore, an Arabic proverb says: "Seven years for my

• - taxonomic category in biol. taxonomy. S. unites close genera having a common origin. The Latin name S. is formed by adding to the base of the name of the type genus the endings-idae and-aseae ...

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• - family -. One of the main categories in biological systematics, unites genera with a common origin; also - a family, a small group of individuals related by consanguinity and including parents and their offspring ...

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Order of equids (Perissodactyla)

Equidae family

To the detachment of equids ( Perissodactyla) we include horses, tapirs and rhinos. Of the 159 genera that lived mainly in the Tertiary period, only 6 genera have survived to this day. The current equine family ( Equidae), characterized by the presence of one hoof on each leg, evolved by evolution from small five-toed forest animals that lived more than 50 million years ago.

Hartmann's zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) is a rare race mountain zebra... This zebra, according to scientists, is threatened with complete extinction. This race is easily recognizable by its prominent dewlap on the neck and by a special pattern - a "ladder" at the base of the tail. The growth of this zebra at the withers is about 130 cm, it lives in a mountainous area in southwestern Africa, in the edge of Damara. It feeds exclusively on plant foods.

The largest zebra is desert zebra, or zebra gravy (Equus grevyi). Not the height at the withers reaches 156 cm. It is characterized by a thick striped pattern and protruding "donkey" ears. Of all the zebras, she is the most easily domesticated and learns to walk in a team or carry heavy loads. Distributed in Ethiopia (Abyssinia), South Sudan, North Kenya and Somalia. In small herds, she keeps in the mountainous area.

Above - the representative of the most numerous species of zebras - the steppe zebra - subspecies zebra Grant (Equus quagga granti). Its color consists of relatively sparse black and white stripes, without brown fields. A brownish-black spot stands out on the muzzle above the nose. Keeps in common herds with antelopes and other ungulates. Distributed in East Africa, mainly in Kenya.

Kulan (Equus hemionus) - an endangered species of wild horse - somewhat similar to a donkey, but the growth of a medium-sized horse. The picture below shows a subspecies of kulan jigetai (Equus hemionus hemionus), grows in length up to 2.5 m, height at the withers 115 cm.The color is yellowish-brown, the underside of the body is whitish. The mane, tail and "donkey" backbone are dark brown. The kulan lives in small herds in the endless steppes and mountains from Iran and Turkmenistan to Mongolia. Comes to a height of 5000 m (below).

The Eurasian wild horse was once found in several races from East Asia to Western Europe. Recently, only three subspecies have remained - one of them has already been completely exterminated, and the other two are artificially maintained in a number of reserves and zoos. Above - herd przewalski's horses (Equus przewalskii). Przewalski's horse is 220-280 cm long, height at the withers 120-146 cm. Summer color of the skin is reddish-brown, winter is grayish-brown; winter hair is longer and thicker than summer hair. In the middle of the back there is a dark "donkey" stripe ("belt"); sometimes there are poorly marked stripes on the legs. There is a bulge on the muzzle between the nose and forehead. According to the latest information, Przewalski's horse (about 40 heads) is still found in the steppes of Dzungaria at an altitude of 1000 to 1400 m above sea level. at. m., on the border between Mongolia and China. As of January 1, 1964, there were 110 Przewalski's horses in zoos around the world. However, most of them are mixed with domestic horses, and the purebred species can be counted on one hand.

On page 534 below, a jamb of unclean descendants of the exterminated tarpan is filmed.

Tarpan (Equus gmelini) - a European wild horse - had a muscular color, dark legs with spoiled stripes, a dark "donkey" belt along the ridge and a standing mane. Most of all, he held out in the Dnieper steppes and in Poland. He often mingled with domestic horses and left many of his traits in them. The last Tarpan mare was killed by the peasants in 1876. At present, attempts are being made to "restore" this form, genetically more or less complete.

About 5,000 years ago, wild horses were domesticated in Europe and Asia. Over time, they were brought to America and Australia, where until then horses were not kept. Over the millennia, many different breeds have been bred in different countries, sometimes significantly different from each other. By crossing riding and draft horses, the Lipizzan horse breed was bred (top right).

There are a number of races of domestic donkeys. They are distributed practically throughout the entire warm zone of the Earth. Their progenitor, most likely, was wild nubian ass (Equus asinus africanus). According to the latest data, they were domesticated even earlier than horses. In the East, domestic donkeys are widely used as riding and draft animals. Donkeys stubbornly retain their inner independence, which often manifests itself in a reluctance to follow orders. This is usually followed by a brutal suppression of the donkey's individuality in the form of beatings, which are not stingy with the drivers.

A cross between a stallion and a donkey is called a hinnie. The hound is an animal the size of a donkey and looks more like him than a horse. Only the ears of the mule are shorter. If you cross a donkey with a mare, you get a mule. A mule is much larger than a donkey, it has long ears, slender legs and a color inherited from its mother. In the picture you can see a couple of bay mules.

Tapir family (Tapiridae)

The second family of equids are tapirs ( Tapiridae). Outwardly, tapirs somewhat resemble pigs, but apart from this external similarity, there is nothing in common between them. Their nose is extended into a short mobile proboscis. In the Tertiary period, many types of tapirs lived, and where they no longer exist today: in North America, in Europe and in Asia. Nowadays, one species is found in the Indian region and three species in Central and South America.

Plain tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is a nocturnal animal, about 1 m high at the withers and 2 m long, with short sparse brownish-gray hair. Tapir inhabits the dense humid forests of northern South America. It feeds on fruits and branches of plants. Tapir often falls prey to jaguars, pumas and humans. A tapir caught in his youth is easily tamed and gets used to a man like a horse.

Family of rhinos (Rhinocerotidae)

Family of rhinos ( Rhinocerotidae), rich and varied in the past, is now dying out. More than 20 extinct species have been described, and the days of the five remaining species are also numbered. They can only be saved by consistent and rigorous protection. Of the remaining five species, the most numerous black african rhino (Diceros bicornis). It is found only in some regions of Central and East Africa. The length of its body is 3.4 m, the tail is about 70 cm, the height at the shoulders is about 160 cm.His hairless skin is brownish-gray in color, but the specific color of the body depends on the dirt or dust in which the specimen fell out. Two horns are planted on the nose at a short distance from each other, the first horn in some cases is up to 1 m long. The rhino is found in open steppes and in areas covered with bushes. It feeds on branches and foliage, cutting them off with a movable proboscis-beak on the upper lip. Sometimes it twists the roots and eats the tubers of plants. The eyesight of the rhinoceros is weak, but the scent is without flaw. He throws himself at a person only in desperate situations or in case of injury.

• Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 \u003d Mammals
• Subclass: Theria Parker et Haswell, 1879 \u003d Viviparous mammals, real animals
• Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872 \u003d Placental, higher beasts
• Superorder: Ungulata \u003d Ungulates
• Order: Perissodactyla Owen, 1848 \u003d Equid-toed, odd-toed
• Family: Equidae Gray, 1821 \u003d Equidae

HORSE FAMILY FAMILIA EQUIDAE GRAY, 1821

The sizes are small. Body length in wild species is 200-280 cm, tail length 40-50 cm, height at withers 110-146 cm.Weight 120-350 kg. In domestic horses, the height at the withers is from 104 to 168 cm, and the mass is from 136 to 1000 kg. The physique is light and slender. The limbs are high and thin with one functional toe - III. Only rudiments in the form of so-called "slate" bones are preserved from II and IV fingers. The hair is low, dense, close to the body. End of muzzle without hair. On the neck, there is a short, erect mane of elongated hair (in domestic forms, the mane is hanging). The tail is covered with long hair along its entire length, or long hair forms a bun only at its end. The color of the hairline is one-color, yellow or gray, or black-brown transverse stripes are located on the light background of the body (sometimes only its front part). There may be a dark stripe along the midline of the back. The testes are located in the scrotum.

The facial region is greatly enlarged in the skull. The nasal bones are long and narrow. The orbits are small, closed. The postorbital processes are wide.

The upper and lower jaws (in the latter less often) sometimes have the first premolar teeth. Cheek teeth with very high crowns (extreme hypelodontosis) and a complex system of enamel loops on the chewing surface. The canines of the males are similar in size to the incisors, laterally compressed. Females have little or no canines. There is a diastema between the incisors and cheek teeth.

The ulna is greatly reduced in size and fuses with the radius. The tibia is rudimentary and fuses with the tibia.

Distributed in Africa from Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan to the south to the Republic of South Africa, in Iran, Afghanistan, in the USSR - in Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Northwestern China, Tibet, Nepal, Western India.

They inhabit steppes, savannas, semi-deserts and deserts, foothills and mountain plateaus. They are adapted for fast running and are able to run for quite a long time at a speed of 50-60 km / h, sometimes up to 75 km (kulan). They keep in small schools of 3-5-10 heads, sometimes in large herds. They feed on herbaceous plants. In kulan, cereals, wormwood and hodgepodge are of the greatest importance in nutrition. During the rainy season, when the plants contain a lot of water, they do without a watering hole. During the rest of the year they periodically go to the watering hole. They are active mainly during daylight hours. Some species have seasonal migrations. Kulan rut from June to August. The zebra has no seasonality in breeding. The duration of gestation in the wild ass is 331-374 days, and the zebra is 336-350 days. There is one, rarely two foals in a litter. Soon after birth, he is able to follow his mother. Female kulans, especially young ones, give birth annually. Sexual maturity in females on the kulan occurs at 2-3 years, in a male at 3 years, but he begins to reproduce at the age of not earlier than 4-5 years. In zebras, maturity occurs at 1-1.5 years.

The abundance of most species in recent years has greatly decreased and some (for example, Przewalski's horse) are on the verge of complete extinction. Tarpan and quagga became extinct in the recent past.

They have no economic value in the wild.

Family Equine - Equidae - the most progressive and highly specialized in adaptation to fast and long running equids.

They have only one (III) finger on their front and hind limbs; from the lateral fingers, only rudiments (II and IV) are preserved in the form of the so-called slate pits hidden under the skin. Teeth - 40-44. Hair fits snugly to the body. On the neck there is a mane, a tail with long hair, along the entire repina or at the end forming a brush. The marginal representatives of the family are the small four-toed Hyracotherium (or Eohippus) from the Upper Paleocene and Eocene and the modern genus Equus, which includes horses, wild donkeys, onagers and zebras. The fossil record contains an almost continuous series of transitions linking these two forms.

The natural range of modern horses of the genus Equus is limited to the Old World and covers South Africa, South and Central Asia; even in historical times, horses lived in the steppes and forest-steppes of Europe. Habitat, food and protection from enemies were undoubtedly important factors in the evolution of horses. It is necessary to take into account both direct and indirect effects of these and other factors.

In Equus horses, dental functions are closely related to those of the specialized digestive system. This digestive system, characterized by the presence of a cecum and rapid passage of food, is adapted to process large quantities of coarse grasses and to extract sufficient nutrients from scarce and poor quality vegetation. Such features of Equus open up steppe habitats for them. Equus are able to survive in barren steppes, unsuitable for most other ungulates.

Animals that nibble on grass in open areas of savannah and plains are much more visible to predators than animals living in the forest. Increased body size and greater strength are one of the most effective ways to protect against predators in land animals.

Another way is the development of higher nervous activity, and, finally, the third is the ability to run quickly. Trends in the development of these traits in the equine family are likely to be largely due to the need for protection in plain animals. Large body sizes solve some problems, but they also create new ones. A large grass-fed horse needs larger, harder and stronger teeth to feed than a small grass-fed horse.

Therefore, the direction of evolution of dental signs was probably adaptively correlated not only with a change in the nature of nutrition, but also with a change in body size.

Horses appeared in North America, where a significant part of their evolution took place, and only in the Tertiary period did they penetrate the Old World. The ancient ancestor of the horse, the Eohippus, found in the Lower Eocene of North America, was as tall as a small dog, had four-toed front and three-toed hind legs. The molars of the eohippus were low with tubercles on the chewing surface. He lived in subtropical forests and ate lush vegetation. Larger, the size of a greyhound, the mesohippus (Mesohippus), found in the Oligocene deposits, already had only three fingers on both limbs, but his lateral fingers still reached the ground, and the crowns of the molars were low, although they had a flat, folded chewing surface. Apparently, he lived in the forest and resembled tapirs in his lifestyle.

The same structure of the hind limbs, but with shorter lateral fingers, no longer reaching the ground, and significantly larger body sizes, were distinguished by the Protohippus from the Miocene of North Africa and the Hipporion, widespread in the Miocene of Eurasia (lateral branch of the equine).

Subsequent Pliocene and Quaternary horses are characterized by already one-fingered limbs and long crowns of molars, the chewing surface of which was flat and covered with complex folds. In addition to the tertiary horses mentioned, many other fossil species are known from both the western and eastern hemispheres.

However, by the end of the Pleistocene in America, horses became extinct completely and did not live to see humans. Only after the discovery of America by Europeans was the domestic horse brought to the continent. The running and feral horses quickly multiplied into huge herds of mustangs that roamed the steppes of America for several hundred years until they were destroyed. Modern representatives of the horse family are considered as belonging to the same genus, or genera (or breeds) of horses and donkeys are distinguished.