Roles and Behavior Flashcards
What roles did/do horses play? (10)
- Sport
- Breeding
- Recreation/pleasure
- Racing
- Working
- Meat production
- Pregnant Mare Urine Industry
- Therapy
- Entertainment
- Feral
What are some sports in which horses are used? (7)
- Dressage and Para-dressage
- Driving
- Endurance
- Eventing
- Jumper
- Reining
- Vaulting
What is the maximum height for a pony?
14.2 hands
What is the average life expectancy in wild and in captivity?
Wild: 20
Captivity: 25-30
What type of reproductive cycle do horses have?
seasonally polyestrus
- Mate and foal in late spring and midsummer when daylight is long.
What are the characteristics of a Northern horse breed?
- Cold bloods, trotters and drafts
- Heavier built, deep bodies, short stocky legs, small ears, large heads, thick coats, less reactive temperaments
- -> Adaptions for energy conservation and survival in cold climate
What are the characteristics of a Southern horse breed?
- Hot bloods, gallopers
- Gracile with long slender legs, fine coats, small heads and large ears
- Fast, highly reactive and enduring
- Adapted to aid in heat dissipation?
What are some Northern horse breeds?
Shetland pony, Haflinger, Clydesdale
What are some Southern horse breeds?
Persian, Arabian, Thoroughbred
What are Warmbloods?
Horses that are a mixture of hot and cold bloods
What enviroments do horses usually live in?
Plains or mountains but can adapt to a range of environments
Do horses defend their home ranges? How do they move around in the ranges they stay on?
Horses do not defend their home ranges which contain central core use areas within which they undertake predictable seasonal movements.
What kind of grazers are they and what can they also feed on?
preferential grazer bu can feed on forbs, sedges, shrubs and trees.
Do diets change seasonally?
yes
How many hours a day can a feral horse spend eating?
up to 16 hours (60-70%)
What is the defecation behavior of captive horses?
separate latrine and grazing areas
What is the defecation behavior of Free-Ranging horses?
Defecate indiscriminately (except for marking behavior of stallions)
What are the two major types of social organizations of horses?
- Domestic donkey, Grevy’s zebra, African and Asian wild asses
- Domestic horse, Prezewalski horse, Burchell’s zebra and Mountain zebra
What are the behaviors of Domestic donkeys, Grevy’s zebras, African and Asian wild asses?
- Territorial males
- Adults do not form lasting bonds
- Females range over territory of several males and will accept matings
- Sub-adult males disperse to join/form roaming bachelor groups
- sub-adult females range over several territories
- Adaption to predictable but marginal semi-desert conditions?
What are the behaviors of Domestic horses, Prezewalski horses, Burchell’s zebra and Mountain zebra?
=Stable, long lasting non-territorial family bands
- sub-adult males leave to join/form bachelor groups
- Sub-adult females join/form new harems
= adaption to unpredictable environmental conditions with changing but constant food supply
–> prompt migration?
Define a band of horses.
Group with stable adult membership and their pre-dispersal offspring
How big can a band be?
2-20 members
What kind of members make up a band of horses?
- 1-several unrelated adult mares
- 1-a few stallions and immature offspring (foals and 1-3 year olds)
When might bands group together?
in winter when risks of predation increase
Why might multi-stallion bands have a negative effect on mares?
- greater parasite load
- poorer body condition
- reduced fecundity
All due to harassment by stallions
What are multi-stallion bands the result of?
strong selection for stable, long-term stallion-mare relationships
- artifact of this selection that occasionally results in more than one such relationship forming.
- Mares solicit more than one stallion.
What kind of bonds do adult horses tend to form?
Dyadic social bonds
- spatial proximity and reciprocal positive interaction such as allogrooming
- Stable linear dominance hierarchies formed with occasional reversals and triangles
Can dominance relationships be changed once established?
no, usually maintained
What does dominance provide?
priority access to food and breeding(stallions)
What is social behavior important for?
minimizing conflict and maintaining stable groups
What is an example of horses complex communication system?
ritualized behavior between stallions
Are serious injuries due to aggression rare?
yes
What are the most common aggressive interactions?
lower intensity displacements -> threats to bite -> threats to kick (highest)
What is rank associated with?
age, longevity in band, body weight
What type of horse participate in the most and least number of aggressive interactions?
most: stallions
Least: foals
What is the rank of a foal correlated with?
the rank of the mother
How is the foal-mother bond formed?
Prior to and after birth mare separates from group and forms bond with foal alone.
When do foals start interacting with other foals?
2-3 weeks
When does weaning occur?
before birth of next foal (~7 months) but foal-mother relationship is still close
What is critical for the social development of foals?
social interactions with others
When do young foals leave their natal bands?
2-3 years (at sexual maturity)
What do males do after leaving their natal band?
- form bachelor groups or be solidary
What is characteristic of a bachelor band?
- home ranges of bachelor males overlap entirely
- do not form stable associations
- acquire females at 5-6 years old
What is characteristic of a young mare leaving a band?
- 1-2 years old
- disperse non-randomly
- -> join harems with 1 stallion and at least 2 sub-adult mares
- -> prefer familiar females
What may be the cause of the sub adult dispersal?
keep inbreeding low and no costs to leaving
What is an ethogram?
a formal description of a species behavioral repertoire
- may list all behaviors or particular functional classes
What is considered maintenance behavior?
- grooming, comfort, standing alert, elimination
What is considered social behavior?
- harem social, herding, harem tending, reproduction, sun basking or cuddling
What is considered reproductive behavior?
reproductive tending, vocalization, and flehmen response, rubbing head/chin rest on flanks of mare and extending penis from prepuce, copulation
What is the mares reproductive sequence?
- Presents facing away from stallion, lifting tail, vocalizing.
- posturing her body with hind legs apart and turning head posteriorly
- frequently emits small stream of urine (often concurrent w/ rhythmic winking of vulva)
- Urine emitted from female horse in estrous consists of specific variations of urinary volatile compounds that may facilitate chemical communication during reproductive behavior.
What are some agonistic behaviors?
- threat, threat(neck arched), bump or push, chasing, kicking and biting, circling, rearing (male only), stomping and striking, boxing and dancing
What is play behavior?
- modified forms of serious survival activities
- can be distinguished from serious intent
- solitary or social
What adaptive functions does playing serve in horses?
- muskuloskeletal and cardiovascular fitness
- practicing and honing specific survival skills
- gaining familiarity with an environment
- building social relationships
- building communication skills
What are some forms of play behavior?
- object play, locomotor play, play sexual behavior, play fighting, object play - circling, pawing, pulling, resting rear, kick ups
What are some forms of locomotor play?
frolicing, leaping, bucking, prancing
What is play fighting?
similar to serious adult fighting behavior but with more of a sporting character
What has initiation of play behavior been seen to follow?
head threat tossing motion
What are some forms of play fighting?
- head/neck/chest nip and bite, neck grasp, neck wrestle, fore leg nip/bite/grasp, rump nip or bite, push, stamp, rear, hind quarter threat, kick
What are some evasive behaviors?
- evasive balk, jump or spin
What is play sexual behavior?
elements of pre-copulatory and copulatory behavior sequences may be out of order or exaggerated from the adult breeders.
- common in foals, young adolescents of both sexes and among young and bachelor stallions
What is tease?
horse sniffs and or nuzzles head, shoulder, abdomen, flank, inguinal, tail or genital areas of another horse, but usually more playful than mature adult.
